We have all known outsourcing as the barter system where one party utilizes the services offered by another. Even though the idea of outsourcing has gone viral of late, yet the understanding and acceptance of many small to medium businesses is still limited. Flooding a company’s testimonial columns with feedbacks and endorsements have never been sufficient if the business process stays vague.
Believe it or not, but offshoring has always missed the attention it deserves. Although a sizeable amount of work is delivered with respect to time and quality at the lowest expenses, yet there is a void persisting between local and offshoring companies.
In this blog, you can get your head around the reasons why clients who offshore their business should tune in with the real idea of outsourcing. Before implementation, we ought to learn how to outsource, when to outsource, and whom to outsource.
Hold on!
What instills the worry of outsourcing in the minds of small and medium business owners?
Let us find the myths attached to SMBs that pull them back from relying on outsourcing firms.
Debunking the myths of outsourcing
- Outsourcing companies can’t match the local companies? Outsourcing streamlines business practices with a virtual team of experts scaling high and creating six-figure turnovers. They can produce better results for businesses with better knowledge, state-of-the-art technology, and hands-over experience.
- Outsourcing interferes in the power and credibility? Outsourcing does not mean that you do not have the capability of handling tasks alone. It means you are looking out for helping hands who proficiently, with years of working experience, can implement the same within fewer hours and utmost effective costs.
- Does outsourcing mean deviating from business responsibilities? Not at all! It means strategizing the back-office tasks better by delegating them. Furthermore, it allows owners to shift their focus on core business matters.
- Outsourcing is a matter of MNCs only! That is a No-No. With technological lifts, outsourcing has become accessible and affordable for both SMBs and MNCs. The resources from your outsourcing partner do not subtract but add to your expertise and efficiency.
- Offshoring is quite a negligible process? That is not the case. Although offshoring is executed for tasks that are cumbersome for business owners, it has the power to handle both trivial and in-depth tasks that can compete and topple the biggest players in your sphere. For instance, you can hire a data scientist and a virtual assistant at almost a fraction of in-house hiring costs.
- Outsourcing is seasonal and acts as a substitution? Outsourcing can go either individually or simultaneously with local in-house employees without disrupting work. It is not seasonal because the resources tend to be updated with the latest versions of technology. Also, they keep up with the new trends in industries, catch hold of competitions, and manage the day-to-day business needs of your company wholeheartedly, without diverting attention or focus from revenue generation.
- Do business owners have no control over offshoring vendors? They certainly do! If you are deciding what to outsource and who to select for outsourcing, it becomes easier to take control of the selection process of vendor resources to find if they are the potential fit. Furthermore, you can assign them the tentative targets and deadlines, check on their transparent work progress and also generate fruitful results.
- Is there a limit to what can be outsourced? Trust me when I say this, there is no limit or constraint on what can be outsourced. From trivial to huge work commitments, almost any task can be outsourced to qualified professionals.
- Is communication is a constraint? With the blessing of digitalized tools, communication is no more a barrier. Communicate your expectations and the way you want to monitor the work in the beginning, so that there is no room for complaints and regrets later.
- Is there is a lack of trust and reliability? Trust lies at the centre of business and demands both parties to participate equally. Both the vendor and business owner need to exchange some measure of trust to make things work.
After resolving most of the myths surrounding outsourcing, let us take a glance at why should small to medium businesses select outsourcing as their best foot forward?
Why do SMBs need outsourcing?
Marketing for small to medium businesses is no cakewalk. Attracting new customers and achieving the targeted revenue are some of the biggest challenges faced by SMBs. Apart from that, small to medium sized businesses lack the hefty budgets and resources that can uplift the brand image.
Since the pandemic, economy has not been the same with crisis reaching peaks. Pressed under millions of responsibilities, business owners feel constricted by multiple demands simultaneously.
The silver line is that work from home has not been a fad, but a facilitator in most parts of the world. Advancements in technology have allowed VPNs, video conferencing, and online collaboration tools to kick-start businesses at a rapid pace.
Amidst this modern mindset, some companies have still not been able to give up on local in-house hiring to watchdog physically. Added to which, staff who work remotely work on their own devices to access data that puts on the fear of the loss of real data security.
SMBs are inclined towards deploying right talents but often do not have the budget to pay for the experience and expertise that they demand. With desirable technology up gradation, diligence in performance, and cost efficiency, offshoring stands as the real growth hacks.
Who is an outsourcing Guru? How can it help businesses?
There might be a lot of similarities among businesses, but what tops the list is desire to grow in terms of rank and revenue. No matter how versatile you are at work, “but jack of all trades, master of none” will not be helpful.
So, dividing work and prioritizing the tasks acts as a relaxant, saves loss of productivity, and deviation of focus. An outsourcing guru acts as the navigator who knows about the heart and soul of outsourcing with all its fundamental benefits.
Connecting with the right offshoring vendor drives in technological innovation proving to be cutting edge for your organization, big or small. When you are putting all your raw efforts on the core competencies of business modules, why not push the operational functions to ripen with experienced offshoring vendors?
According to Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2020, the top reasons why companies (of all sizes) have chosen outsourcing as their convenient partner are:
- 100% cost saving
- 40% flexibility
- 20% speed to market
- 15% access to tools and processes
- And 15% agility
This proves that outsourcing is not just extending a hand for help to regulate a large amount of work, but also to improve results, elevate technical expertise, and retain the top-notch professionals who have the potential for resolving an array of challenges arising in businesses.
Now, with a mentoring program for outsourcing, you can better understand the needs of your organization, save costs and efforts of hiring local in-house professionals, and alleviate pitfalls to quantify turnovers.
13 reasons why SMBs need an outsourcing expert
- Offshoring is a remote practice: The offshore vendors work remotely on your projects, but you always have the upper hand about selecting the resources. The fear of being duped prevails among business owners as the eligibility check is difficult in an outsourcing company. But there is an option of verifying the company’s working history and interviewing the vendors personally to check their credibility.
- Time is universal: To check the viability of vendors, clients are expected to take out time from their busy schedules. This would resolve any trust issues before hiring the vendor company. Assessing the resources consumes the same time as hiring a local company, but the ratio of assessments for offshore services stays negligible.
- Minding the money matters: Cost is the most significant thing that attracts clients towards an outsourcing partner. But there are matters above and beyond the cost-saving factor as well. It is possible to hire multiple resources for projects without incurring hefty expenses. Just ask your vendor how you can go about it. At Virtual Employee, clients have saved over 70% with outsourcing.
- Value and validity: The offshore market is dynamic with perennial resources. Therefore, staying oblivious to the information on why, how, and whom to invest time and money on, takes your business out of competition. As a business owner, your prerogative should be to play smart and look for options that grow your business, not slow it down.
- Communication is key: It has been noticed quite often that even if the clients are willing to hire offshore services, they end up with zero communication. Some either opt for outsourcing advice or consultation, but more often than not, SMB owners are reluctant to just hand over the payment to a foreign entity. Most vendors do not lay much emphasis on the communication, or fail to make any impression in the first call! However, the right firm will not only listen to your requirements keenly, but will also come forth with their own views and ideas to make your project even better.
- The process is not a bar: Outsourcing is not rocket science! It is away from any pre-defined notion and relatively simple than hunting for talent resources in-house. It is a random rapport built between a client who has a requirement concerning the business and a vendor company that performs it under prescribed directions. But, the process of outsourcing has step-by-step methods that can make work easy, relations reliable, and outcomes outstanding.
- Avoiding blame games: Due to lack of time and efforts to assess the right vendors, clients may sometimes end up feeling that they have committed to the wrong contract. During this situation, the expectations do not replicate the resources and failures start appearing! The clients may shift the faults towards the vendors, whereas the truth is not hidden. It is not the lack of offshore resources, but the lack of interest in recruiting the vendors with a keen assessment so that the mistakes aren’t realized when it is too late! This saves both time and money.
- The real role of offshoring: Offshoring is boiled down to become the last resort but it is far beyond only getting the work done. If you are outsourcing overseas, then information about the virtual world is needed. Everything concerning remote work, take on technology, communication calibre, and the prior role of assessments for finding the right talents is the need of the hour. The world is small and yet lacks comprehension, thus the concepts of distant working systems need clarification over ignorance.
- Experiment before judgment: Outsourcing needs cannot be decided before application. The business goals of every enterprise are different and so is the pool of talents. Every coin has two sides. Some clients deny opting for offshoring to save the local economy, whereas others decide on adding more value and achieve greater returns with lower investments and interferences. An outsourcing specialist adds economic value by adding tech-savvy tactics, reaching competitiveness, understanding the market, and further aids the local economy instead of gobbling up local jobs.
- Outsourcing is not just an option: Portraying outsourcing as an option when nothing works out is brutally wrong. Outsourcing has been serving the small, medium and large businesses for over three decades. It is the fall-back option for a majority of businesses when everything else fails to work! It is economically feasible, and encompasses almost all the niches. There is just a lack of a capable outsourcing Guru who can explain the grassroot realities of outsourcing services and all its leveraging factors that follow.
- Trial and Testing: Some outsourcing companies offer a trial and testing method to help the clients come to a right conclusion. Most mistakes or faults are as trivial as the ones that the in-house resources make on projects. Often times, they are corrigible with a company like Virtual Employee where clients can assess the resources and choose who to select for complying with their projects. So, this way, it becomes effectively easier for the clients to decide with all cards on the table.
- Research for returns: Trusting and relying on an outsourcing professional based on mere words is not enough, as research plays a vital role. Clients are responsible for researching about an agency whether within the country or while offshoring, so that they know where they are investing and whether the vendors deserve to be appointed for their business targets. Ask, communicate, and then decide, for it is not just a seasonal fruit that would disappear post the season, but would make huge differences in your future goals.
- Appoint an outsourcing Guru: A guru is a mentor who knows the nitty-gritty of SMB outsourcing services with all their pros and cons that would affect the business targets in the long run. Understanding is the root of every business decision and everything you plan to do for your objectives matters. For all these reasons, be open to guidance on outsourcing before including it in your life.
The crux of the matter is, clients must dig deep into outsourcing models to understand how to outsource, where to invest, and who to recruit. Whether a company is local or distant, clients must take their time to connect with vendors to avoid risks and losses at a later stage.
Counting on an outsourcing guru would let you in on all aspects of offshoring will prove fruitful. Leave no stone unturned if you want to ace the game with a legit offshoring company offering you its never-ending support.
Searching for qualities of a local agency in offshoring companies would only lead to disappointments. It is not a comparative study or an analogy between the local company and the outsourcing company, but since every partner has their own strengths. But, opting for an outsourcing company as a new approach to stand out, proves to be insightful.
