Outsourcing can be a great way to cut expenses while driving your business forward. However, as attractive as outsourcing sounds, it doesn’t come without risks. As such, this article will discuss eight tips for achieving a successful outsourcing journey.

Tips for Successful Outsourcing

1. Consider your needs, objectives, and goals

Before you jump on the outsourcing bandwagon, one of the first things you should do is think about your needs. Which department needs the most help? Do you need help with accounting, recruiting, or perhaps customer service? Consider your short-term and long-term goals and what you hope to accomplish through outsourcing. 

2. Choose the right management team

You must be prepared to manage your outsourced team’s everyday operations. To achieve successful outsourcing results, you need to take the time to explain your company’s culture, mission, goals, and daily business processes. Consider a dedicated team manager that will put in effort on building up, training, and supervising your outsourced team. 

3. Start small

A popular outsourcing advice is:

“Don’t try to outsource everything at once.”

You can test the waters by initially outsourcing just one or two tasks. Start with tasks you feel comfortable delegating. Once you feel satisfied with the outsourced results, you can gradually outsource more tasks.

By starting small you avoid the stress or overwhelming sensation of outsourcing numerous teams to perform tasks outside your view range. After understanding the process by having outsourcing hands-on experience, you can add more tasks or projects to the selected service provider.

4. Choose the ideal contract structure for your projects

In 2006, the state of Texas outsourced services from IBM to integrate 27 state agencies’ data centers into two data centers. This entailed a $863 million contract for seven years. Regrettably, IBM had only completed 12% of the project after 4 years. The state was unable to achieve the goal of integrating the IT system and lost a significant amount of money.

You can avoid outsourcing failures by designing a set fee model for short-term contracts, or a material and time model for longer-term contracts. You can also design a contract with scheduled due dates. These options can be beneficial for small companies or start-ups. 

5. Identify possible obstacles and challenges

Before moving forward with outsourcing, conduct research concerning possible obstacles and challenges. Could language and cultural differences be a barrier? Will your data be protected? Will you be allowed to exert some level of control to oversee your teams and operations?

Make sure you fully understand the process of outsourcing, its risks, challenges, and possible solutions to obstacles. An adequate service provider will guide you along the way. They will provide you with all the necessary information to make you feel comfortable about this new business endeavor.

6. Be clear and transparent about your expectations

A successful outsourcing partnership is based on trust and communication.

A strong communication with your service provider will help prevent misunderstandings. It is also crucial to be clear about your expectations. A way to ensure a proper relationship based on trust is by keeping all communications open about every business process. Have weekly or monthly meet-ups that address the latest updates about the ongoing operations. This will strengthen your partnership and will thereby create a seamless and successful outsourcing experience.

7. Research different outsourcing models

Before you start looking for an outsourcing partner, you must decide which outsourcing model will best meet your company’s demands. 

You can opt for staff leasing. With this model, the service provider hires your employees, and while they handle all the office and infrastructure aspects, you can focus on managing the outsourced team. You can also decide to outsource per project. Paying per project is ideal for short-term projects where you can establish fixed cost rates for a determined amount of time. 

8. Choose the right service provider

Choosing the right service provider can be crucial to your company’s security, sustainability and success. Consider affordability, location, employee training and technological resources. You should also look up into the company’s reputation, level of expertise, and capacity.

For a list of apt service providers, check out our article: Top Outsourcing Companies in the Philippines. We invite you to follow us on social media and to visit our website to learn more about our services.

About Us: Sourcefit is a widely recognized US-managed business process outsourcing company based in Manila, Philippines. We proudly serve over 100 clients with a workforce of more than 1,300 employees. Our global centers can serve multiple markets, and our staff is highly proficient in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Whether you need a few or many employees, we can help you achieve your business goals and build high-quality offshore teams.

Latest Awards

Sourcefit’s commitment to excellence has been recognized through numerous industry awards and certifications.

We recently received the Fortress Cyber Security Award from the Business Intelligence Group. Sourcefit was also honored with the prestigious recognition of Best Outsourcing Solutions Provider in the Philippines during the 2023 Business Excellence Awards.

Other awards include: FT ranking of 500 high-growth Asia-Pacific, The Marketing Excellence Awards, Inquirer Growth Champion,  HR Asia Awards, among others.

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Not sure where to start? Connect with us and see how Sourcefit can help you grow your business.