From Offshore Outsourcing World
There are no set guidelines for determining if an entrepreneur should outsource or not. Even medium businesses can now avail of affordable call center management, telemarketing, and even software development services offshore!
Your choices are not even limited to these; there is a vast diversity of consultants out there offering all sorts of specialized services.
So which projects should you outsource? If you are just starting out, the key is to farm out non-critical projects, and keep your core projects onshore.
Of course, the most basic concern is if you can afford to outsource a project in the first place.
Figuring this out requires much planning and evaluation. Consider your resources. How much are you willing to spend on handling a project in-house?
And how much less are you willing to spend on this project, by having it outsourced?
Outsourcing may seem like an easy way to solve a lot of your financial troubles. But as you've been warned, it is a complicated venture, which involves a lot of time and attention; it is by no means an "easy fix." Unless you can afford to personally invest time and energy in keeping in touch with your contractors, you might want to invest in infrastructure and in-house labor, instead!
Remember that outsourcing doesn't automatically mean you can leave a project in your consultants' hands, sit back, and lazily watch the profits roll in. It takes a great deal of vigilance, patience and foresight to be able to deal with the various risks that may occur where you cannot deal with it yourself!
Another major concern faced by most entrepreneurs is skill base. Are you confident that your project is going to consultants who are adequately trained and professional enough to give you your money's worth?
It is important that an employer have the utmost faith in his workers' abilities. If you are not comfortable with the consultants that are available to you, and are more convinced that onshore laborers will be able to give you a better deal despite the higher service fees, perhaps you should consider keeping your projects onshore.
In a later lesson, this course will give you some pointers on where to outsource which projects. But in the meantime, let's stick to how to be sure that you're getting a good deal when outsourcing.
So...how do you know when NOT to outsource?
John Norcross, principal of Celerant Consulting, gives us some tips on this in his article, "Avoiding the Five Pitfalls." In summary, he says you should NEVER outsource when:
- You only want to escape dealing with normal operational dilemmas. Solve your in-house concerns, don't move them offshore!
- You are not prepared to get down and dirty with the details. Outsourcing is a complicated task, which involves plenty of planning and preparation!
- You want to turn over a project you have already managed poorly, in the hope that your consultants will be able to handle it better. If you don't have a thorough understanding of the project you are outsourcing, chances are you and your consultant will suffer a lot of communication problems.
- You are not ready to follow through on your outsourcing project step by step. The success of a project depends on a smooth working relationship between you and your consultants.
- In the long run, you will not be able to devote as much time and energy in maintaining your outsourced operations as you originally expected. Exercise a measure of foresight. And in any case, invest in safeguards.
Next: Where Should You Outsource?
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