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Outsourcing is an arrangement in which one company provides services for another company that could also be or usually have been provided in-house. Outsourcing is a trend that is becoming more common in information technology and other industries for services that have usually been regarded as intrinsic to managing a business.

 

Things to consider when outsourcing

 

Cost-efficiency - Put simply, the majority of outsourcing takes place to increase profit margins, lowering expenditure on labour and operational costs, while improving the bottom line. However, the cost-efficiency of taking this approach comes into question if the wrong processes are left in the hands of a third party.

 

Business Reputation - Businesses live and die by their reputation and in the social media age, each product and service they offer is scrutinised under the microscope. It’s therefore vital that the highest possible standards are maintained continuously, especially for external facing processes. Failing to take your reputation into account before outsourcing may be the biggest mistake you ever make.

 

Innovation -  Many businesses aim to transform their offerings and innovate like a ‘start-up’. However, internal constraints and practices can stifle this. Established businesses investing capital in disruptive innovation should be the cornerstone of their development plans. Outsourcing innovative processes such as software development often breeds the best results, as internal team members may be too close to the business’ existing processes to ‘think outside the box’.

 

Communication & Collaboration - Agile development has continued growing in popularity, with continuous communication and collaboration at the heart of innovative projects. It’s therefore vital to keep this in mind before outsourcing project work to a third party, especially when considering offshoring.

 

Calculated Risk - Outsourcing is often unfairly viewed as a risky option, and although there is risk involved this depends on the type of processes outsourced. If core business practices are offshored the risk is huge, as you have little control over what is a central element of your organisation, which can have disastrous results.