With everything from the pandemic to the economy affecting how and where people work, it can be extremely hard to run a business smoothly in the world we live in today. Finding enough skilled staff to complete tasks can be hard, with red tape and paperwork slowing down progression.
If you’re struggling to meet deadlines or feel like your business is stagnating, outsourcing might be the solution for you. We put together this guide so you can better understand the concept of outsourcing jobs, while also getting a stronger feel for its implications.
What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing is when you look outside of your company to complete tasks or work on projects. When doing this, companies will often look to other countries to find the staff, as a means of accessing a wider talent pool as well as potentially keeping labor costs down.
Outsourcing is generally operated within the world of contracted work. This means that those doing the outsourced work for you aren’t really your employees, but rather they are staff at an agency who are working for you on a specific project or branch of the business. The tasks that are outsourced can range from things that staff at a company used to do but had to stop due to cutbacks or changes in technology, or things that the staff are incapable of doing due to lack of equipment, expertise, or otherwise.
Examples of companies using outsourcing
- Alibaba: Alibaba is an interesting case of a company using outsourcing, as it concerned the Chinese company outsourcing work to the US, rather than the other way around. They used American staff to get their website looking spick and span for an international, English-speaking audience.
- Apple: This tech titan’s relationship with outsourcing is well-documented. Apple utilizes Chinese manufacturing company Foxconn in the mass-making of all of their tablets, smartphones, and computers, partnering with them as a means of keeping manufacturing costs low.
- Google: Google, being one of the largest companies in the world, outsource a LOT of their work, covering everything from software development to their virtual assistant tools. In 2011 alone they outsourced customer service jobs to over 1000 staff members across 60 countries.
Pros and cons of outsourcing
If you’re considering outsourcing work for your company, it’s important to understand the impacts it will have on your business. Every decision will have its pros and cons, and knowing them inside out will help to inform the correct choices.
Cons of outsourcing:
Company culture: Outsourcing jobs can negatively impact your company culture. By taking jobs out of the business, you risk causing damage to morale, especially if people lose their jobs. If you’re outsourcing for jobs that your staff can’t do/never have, this is less likely to cause issues.
Communication issues: With your own staff, you should be able to stay on top of issues through clear lines of communication. When outsourcing work you may have little to no relationship with the individuals on staff, with potentially only one real point of contact. You need to make sure that this is a contact that you can rely on if you want to make it work.
Potential lack of control: Much like in the case of communication, your presence will be less profound in an outsourced workplace. You need to be sure that the contractor you’re working with is dealing with truly qualified and trustworthy staff.
Pros of outsourcing:
Reduced labor costs: When you outsource staffing to other countries you can greatly reduce your labor costs. Many countries across the world have a much lower cost of living when compared with the US and other western states, meaning that you can have the same quality of work done for less money, without diverging into immoral territory.
Wider pool of talent: If you can’t find the right person for the job in your own backyard, there’s no rule that says you can’t look in someone else’s. The US is full of talented individuals, but it can be hard to find the perfect candidates that will work within your budgetary and technological limitations. By branching out you get to see the talent that the world has to offer, which could greatly benefit your business.
No need for permanent employees: As outsourcing is completed through contracting to other businesses, you don’t have to worry about providing the same level of security and benefits that you would for permanent employees within your own business. People are coming in to complete a job and then they can leave, no ill-feeling, no questions asked.
Increased efficiency: In businesses big or small, in-house staff will often have to wear more than one hat at a time. This is a testament to hard work, but can also slow things down when it comes to progression. With a dedicated team of outsourced workers tackling one area of work in particular, you can allow your in-house staff to focus on their primary functions better, while an outsourced team can also provide extra manpower to complete the tasks quicker.
More comfortable work environment: This goes in tandem with the last point, in how outsourcing can relieve some of the pressure from your in-house team. By reducing their responsibilities somewhat the workplace can become a smoother running, happier place for everyone.
How we work @Vsolution
At VSolution, we provide outsourcing services for common B2B challenges that businesses face. We’re based in Dehli with over 15 years in the industry, dedicated to helping you deal with things like data integrity issues, Voice of customer analysis, lead enrichment and engagement, and B2B data intelligence.
We work with companies in over 25 countries, and you can check out the bottom of our homepage to see some of the active tasks we’re currently undertaking, as well as some of our success stories.
If you’re interested in outsourcing work for our IT services, get in touch today.
