Key Foundations to Successfully Build and Manage Productive Global Virtual Teams

With global competition and cost pressure increasing, companies are forced to find the most cost-effective ways to develop and support their products. The cost advantages have however introduced many variables to the way business used to be conducted. Concerns include the protection of intellectual property, retaining core competency, and managing off shore locations. Automated Regression Facility (ARF) at Cisco Systems is one of many organizations that decided to leverage the available pool of talent overseas and outsourced some of its work to Taiwan, and India. While the rest of the world may be looking at cost as the major factor for globalizing the human resources and development centers, ARF looked at the technological advantages and business excellence as the key factor. In this paper we share our experience of how working together corporations can create "One Team" consisting of many virtual teams, and overcome the challenges posed by the global economy.