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5 Smart Outsourcing Tactics for Small Businesses

Successful entrepreneurs are aware of and apply these five smart outsourcing moves.


Want to know how some entrepreneurs effortlessly seem to strike gold when it comes to outsourcing while others flounder in hit-and-miss messes? What sets apart the successful ones from those still seeking their elusive El Dorados? Horror stories abound regarding outsourcing debacles, but then so do those about hugely successful ones. So, there has to be something that some blokes that are doing right?

The thing is that successful entrepreneurs are aware of and apply these five smart outsourcing moves:

1. Know when and why to outsource.

Outsource because you want to and not because you’ve heard of other companies doing it.It will work only when you have a need for it without creating an artificial requirement just to be able to jump onto the outsourcing bandwagon.

2. Destination matters, unless you have an inner goblin that craves strife.

Choose a country that has a stable, pro-development, and pro-outsourcing government, is fairly free from ethnic and political violence, and above all, has an abundant talent pool of English-speaking professionals.

So, say you want to outsource several skills and build an entire virtual team of mixed skills professionals. In that case, a great outsourcing destination that boasts a rich repository of talented experts will ensure that all your remote resources are working together, if not from the same office then at least from the same time zone.

3. Know which outsourcing partners to utilize.

Differentiate between a freelancer, a project outsourcing company, and a virtual employee— understand who suits your requirements the best. Smart entrepreneurs are only too aware that the most common landmine behind the maximum number of outsourcing disasters is ignorance about the choice of anoutsourcing partner.

A freelancer is totally unfit for long-running and complex tasks while a project outsourcing company may be way too expensive for an SME (small to medium-sized enterprise) or a startup that doesn’t have either the necessary volume of work or the resources to foot their expensive bills. A virtual employee may suit only those who wish to work with dedicated and permanent remote resources with whom daily and ongoing tasks can be outsourced.

4. Know when to retain control and when to relinquish control

Nobody likes a “hovercraft” employer, irrespective of whether the employee sits in the same building or a couple of continents away. So, if you have outsourced work that doesn’t place too many demands on your time, intervention, and inputs to an offshore freelancer, then just let the remote resource get on with it.

Don’t hover over their heads 24/7 because not only will it be a waste of your time, but it may just backfire if the freelancer decides to just up and leave due to needless interference. On the other hand, taking a laid back attitude while outsourcing work that is crucial to your overall business on the premise that the outsourcing service provider will take care of everything might also prove to be disastrous.

5. Always have a backup plan ready in case something does go wrong.

Even the most wise do stumble and it is no big deal if an outsourcing venture does go awry. Don’t panic, but just calmly lift the curtains off Plan B and get on the road again.

So, outsource the smart way by using the blueprint that successful entrepreneurs have created.

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Photo: 7Diamonds

Daya Mukherjee is Head of Content at a remote staffing outsourcing company in India, that helps clients set up their own offshore office in India at zero investment cost. Learn more about how virtual employees are an alternative to local hiring and expensive offshore outsourcing.

 

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