ONSHORE OUTSOURCER DRIVES ENSIM’S DASHBOARD PROJECT DOWN ROAD TO SUCCESS

When Santa Clara-based Ensim Corporation decided the time was right to develop a troubleshooting Dashboard for Microsoft’s Active Directory, the first question to be answered was, “Do we do this in-house, or do we take it outside?”

Certainly, the company could have achieved its goal with in-house resources. Ensim - the leading provider of infrastructure management software enabling, access control, identity management, change audit and reporting, and automated provisioning for enterprises and service providers – has extensive Microsoft development experience, so that particular capability presented no special challenges. Ensim’s overall technical expertise was also beyond question: the company’s products have regularly received industry recognition including, most recently, Technology Marketing Corporation’s 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award for the company’s Unify Service Provider Edition.
And, of course, whatever technological gaps existed could likely be filled by prudent hirings from within the local IT community. After all, the company’s location in the Silicon Valley gives it access to some of the best technical minds available.

But it was this last point that gave the company pause. Taking on permanent staff for a single project might not prove to be fiscally responsible. Once the project was completed, Ensim would either have to quickly generate another project to capitalize on the expertise of the new personnel or send them packing; neither option was particularly attractive.

As it turns out, the knowledge required for the Dashboard was indeed just outside of Ensim’s core expertise; consequently, outside assistance would be necessary. But rather than bringing on full-time employees – and encountering the problems that arise with such a choice – Ensim went with a different option: outsourcing.

By outsourcing the project, Ensim would get the Dashboard application developed quickly and cost-effectively. Further, when the project was complete, the relationship with the outsourcer could be easily terminated. And assuming the project progressed smoothly, Ensim would have a reliable outsourcer whose services could be periodically sought out as the need arose.

The question, naturally, was which outsourcer to choose. Obviously, one well versed in Windows and Microsoft development was a must. In addition, development expertise in the telecommunications industry and the .net environment would be a major plus. Ultimately, Ensim chose MapleWorks Technology, an “onshore” software outsourcing company with R&D centers in Ottawa.

MapleWorks was certainly qualified from a technological perspective: the company focuses exclusively on software development outsourcing for network communications, from network management to telecom products to voice, data and video convergence. Further, MapleWorks' development center in the Ottawa (Canada) Tech Region provides the company with access to a deep pool of best-in-class engineering talent, as that city is home to 82,000 experienced technology workers and the campuses for RIM, Nortel Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, IBM, and Mitel.
However, one of the key reasons why an onshore firm is frequently a better outsourcing option is the issue of proximity. When a North American company begins working with an outsourcer only a few hundred or even a thousand miles away, hopping on a plane for an in-person meeting, generally speaking, is convenient as well as affordable. What’s more, the potential for language barriers when one uses an “offshore” entity is, for all intents and purposes, eliminated.
In the end, it was MapleWorks’s technological acumen that sealed the deal for Ensim.

“We had both the telecom background and staff with expertise in the requisite areas Ensim was looking for, as well as extensive Microsoft skill,” said Richard Langevin, a senior manager at

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