Outsourcing Web-services to an Indian Company -SmartData Inc. is not Smart Business

Our company, Universal Network which has changed its name to protect its clients from any legal or branding liabilities hired an oversees company named Smartdata Inc in Mohali, India; http://www.smartdatainc.com. Essentially we advise never to do business with any overseas developer.
Smartdata Inc is one of 1,000’s of companies that caters to businesses in the United States wanting to hire experienced software and website developers for low wages.

A typical scenario for a company is to have a software or website programming need. Most US companies will find that software and website developers will be very expensive. The typical programmer in the US is approximately $50-100 per hour. Therefore as most prudent business owners they will log into google and type in a “keyword search” for a web developer. Many of us find ourselves on websites such as Odesk and Elance which is where these large sweatshops post their low wages and long list of skills and qualifications. They function as a modern day Labor Ready job posting service. The sites look very professional and safe for users. They are not.

Our experience has been so below a standard of good service and financial accountability that I felt it was prudent to post this Blog.
This is the second time I have fallen for the inexpensive hourly rates for the greatest, smartest web developers in the business. The temptation is that we would save thousands of dollars in programming. We were originally quoted $15,000 from a reputable US software development company to program the original project. At the end of this project the work we had done was so bad we needed to scrap the whole project . It was a waste of 9 months and $13,000.00.

The main problems you will encounter with a company based in India, Eastern Europe and Asia is;
1.    Different time zones.
2.    Language barrier.
3.    Poor technology and connectivity.
4.    Inability to understand western business thought.
5.    Disorganization

Many times we would go over the project management specs and get affirmation and clarity only to realize there never was an interest to accommodate our needs.

We have now gone back to the original US programmer. The company has been very gracious to accommodate us and offer us a very reasonable price.

Stay away from Odesk.com and elance.com; www.smartdatainc.com