Know-How Exchange : Strategy

From my experience speaking with software companies and end-users in the US on this issue, most people expect Indian software companies to be less expensive than their US counterparts, but more difficult to communicate with. If I were marketing such a company, I would focus on building a core competancy around personal and effective communication. (Please note: this is not a technical issue, e.g. a better web based collaborative project management system, this is an interpersonal communication, relationship, and cultural issue).

You might employ a US based project manager, but also a US based copywriter. For example, I've never heard anyone say, "... in the US West Coast". I'm not a copywriter, but I can quickly see ten errors in your short paragraph above. These minor problems add to the perception that you don't really understand the US language and culture. These errors make you appear "foreign", and therefore people are somewhat uneasy.

Yet it is these uneasy folk who may be your best prospects. I'm sure most folk who are comfortable dealing with Indian development companies are doing so already. Some of your best prospects may be those companies who have been reluctant to do so to date.

This issue of language is increasingly important since so many projects today are web-based. You will therefore be speaking on behalf of companies to their prospects and customers, and visitors to the web site or intranet will not see your technically excellent XML / HTML / whatever, but they will read the text.