How to Manage Outsourcing Partners’ Strikes a Chord at the IIBA

London, United Kingdom, March 20, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Huw Price, Managing Director at Grid-Tools, gave a warmly received talk at the sold out event held by the London Chapter of the International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA) on Thursday 13th March.

Hosted at North Highland in Covent Garden, the opening session focussed on soft skills that can help Business Analysts (BAs) manage and engage stakeholders and Huw led the second session, which provided practical insights into common mistakes organisations make when developing software with outsourcing partners.

“I have found that if a company is unsystematic, their outsourcers will mirror that,” said Huw, “and if they are organised, the same is true. So, we now provide companies with a practical and logical tool that removes ambiguities in requirements specification documents. Companies can then be confident that their outsource partners will deliver what is expected.”

With almost 30 years experience in software development, Huw has witnessed repeated failures as organisations develop new applications. “Ours is the only industry I suspect where a lack of control over time and money spent on project development is accepted as the norm.

“It is why we have developed Agile Designer, a tool where Business Analysts can accurately determine and control project costs and the time needed to complete a project. Even if there are changes to a specification, Agile Designer has the ability to reveal exactly what impact that can have on complexity and cost. It puts control back into the hands of the organisation commissioning the work.”

Huw offered a free trial to all the BAs who attended the event and added: “BAs are critical to project success; they talk to technical teams but also all the way through the hierarchy and up to C-Level personnel. It is a demanding role as they solve problems for business and that means getting everyone to understand and agree to the changes underway.

“It’s why I think Agile Designer will help. It is visual and shows the logical flow of decisions and the pathway that will need to be followed to get to the right result.”

For further information, contact Grid-Tools at www.grid-tools.com.