No matter if a company is growing, or cutting cost, there is nothing more important than providing quality and consistent output to customers. To guarantee the best of service and streamline operations the discussion of insourcing versus outsourcing is a valid one and many factors have to be taken into consideration.
There are however a few, general aspects which can be used as a rule of thumb:
What should stay inhouse?
Consider your technology standards. Up-to-date technology is critical. Projects can be outdated very quickly if you don’t know what current technology to use. Especially in this field, rapid changes disrupt industries.
If you have a task at hand that is hard or costly to outsource and requires extra management resources think twice. You do not want to undermanage such projects.
Furthermore, all functions, tasks, or operations that provide fundamental competitive advantage need to stay inhouse as well as employee development. The future of your company are your people therefore the development lies with you.
All supporting services, directly relating to your core or supporting certain capabilities can and should be outsourced.
Time spent on non-essentials means giving up growth
Many times, tasks are put off since they consume a lot of time and teams would rather focus on the growth of the business. Every minute a business spends on something that it could outsource it is losing time and capacity on the core business goals employees should focus on.
Expertise, Flexibility and Cost = Competitive Advantage
From marketing teams this means that many jobs can be outsourced to help empower these teams with the ability to redirect scarce resources from business-as-usual activities towards higher value-added, strategic initiatives and long-term business development that drive enablement. The key 3 reason are:
- Expertise – A remote talent pool with diverse skill sets, breadth of experience up-to-date know-how which can work on tasks with focus, efficiency, and speed.
- Flexibility – Quick access to resources and a wide range of services. Flexibility to up- or down scale. It also guarantees continuity, since outsource partners make sure that the work will get done regardless of vacation time or nonattendance.
- Cost – A skilled workforce in other nearshore locations can operate more cost efficient as labor and rental cost might be lower. You can use the scale and know-how of a larger organization.
Outsourcing is a Strategy
No matter if your team grows or you are under pressure to cut cost, it is worth to integrate outsourcing into your strategy to continuously improve results for your customers. There are many different ways how you can set-up workflows and teams.
Focus on what makes you better than the competition and on your people. Outsourcing your supporting work can give you the opportunity to innovate, grow and strengthen your competitive advantage.
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