The process of outsourcing some of the different areas of your business to other companies is a great way to free up time for yourself to concentrate on other departments as well as saving a bit of your budget that would have been spent on training costs. You also have the added bonus of knowing that the job is being done by a specialist in that particular area of business, but it’s not always smooth sailing when you choose to outsource.
If your outsourcing were to go wrong then you could cause damage to your business’s reputation as well as losing valuable customers, and in these times of austerity no one can afford for that to happen. So what advice would I give to anyone looking to outsource part of their business?
Be Wary Of The Language Barrier –
Sometimes it can be very cost effective to outsource something to a different country but you need to be very aware of the language barrier if you choose to do this. That’s not to say that people in countries where English isn’t the first language won’t do a good job; just that certain things may get lost in translation and this could lead to the work not being completed to your specifications.
It’s best to speak at length with the company first in order to establish that they have an efficient grasp over your language and then you can be confident that the work will be carried out correctly. This also depends on what type of work it is too. For example if the work doesn’t involve writing then you may be less concerned over the language issue.
Choose which departments You Outsource Carefully –
Outsourcing certain departments may bring about great results for your business but not all areas are best outsourced. It’s always a good idea to outsource parts of the business that you don’t feel you can do justice or that involve complicated processes and resources that you don’t have.
For example, one of the most outsourced areas of a business is payroll. This is largely to do with the fact that the legal ins and outs are somewhat confusing and so leaving it to the specialists may be the best option. You are also faced with substantial fines should you not comply with payroll regulations so most businesses will elect to put their trust in one of a variety of different outsourced payroll services.
On the other hand, it may not be a good idea to outsource something like customer service as this could seriously harm the reputation of your company if an issue isn’t dealt with in the way you would want it to be. This is more likely to be something that you want to keep within your control.
Stay In Touch And Involved –
The biggest thing to remember when you outsource part of your business to another company is that you need to stay in regular contact with them and keep yourself involved. If you just leave them to get on with things you may find that standards start to slip or that you aren’t kept in the loop with the work that they are doing.
You also need to insure that you keep them up to date with any company changes that may affect the work that they do on your behalf. The last thing you want is to forget to inform them about your rebrand only to find that they have been obliviously putting your old logo on everything they have done.
