Outsourcing is a popular and quite common business phenomenon that saves tons of money each year. The US alone gets 14.3 million jobs done through outsourcing. To get the most benefits from this, you need a proper offshore outsourcing planning and execution strategy.
Outsourcing is indeed a cost-cutting option for companies that are looking for quick work. Hiring talent through traditional routes is costly, and it doesn't happen quickly. However, getting the right talent quickly and at a cheaper price is possible when you think about outsourcing.
To get the most out of your outsourcing talents, you need to go ahead with a strong offshore outsourcing planning strategy. Let's discuss how you can start outsourcing with the help of this blog. In this comprehensive blog, we will explain different types of outsourcing models and how they are going to benefit you.
Let's get started.
What offshore outsourcing planning includes
Organizations in the United States or any other European countries that are planning to outsource can have different options. Each organization, before outsourcing, has to plan how to proceed with the work. If you're planning to outsource some of your tasks, you need to know what the options you have here are.
Let's talk about different types of outsourcing models that you can try.
Option 1: Production Offshoring
BPO or production offshoring involves relocating a physical business unit to a new location where labor and material costs are low. If your business is located in the USA, then you can shift your BPO to India because material and labor costs are low there. Under production offshoring, there are two options or you can ranges, which are
⏵ Front Office Solutions
Work like telemarketing, help desks, call centers, virtual assistants, technical support, etc, are front-end solutions.
⏵ Back Office Solutions
Solutions like accounting, graphic designing, HR & recruitment, and web development are categorized into back-office tasks. These tasks can be easily done through offshore outsourcing planning and execution.
Option 2: System Services Offshoring
In the mid-1990s, India and other South Asian countries became some of the popular destinations for outsourcing. Companies from the US and Western Europe mainly started outsourcing IT processes from India. Because people here in India are technically proficient and can speak professional English.
Tech giants like IBM, Microsoft, HP, Oracle, etc, have opened multiple offices in India to acquire and utilize talented people. Even today, the practice is still relevant and adds benefits to these big companies.
Option 3: Innovation and Software Offshoring
For the development of innovative software, companies in the US outsource their processes to developing countries like South Africa, Mexico, etc. This process not only saves their costs but also shorten their production cycles. People from these countries are highly skilled in technology and hence can easily meet the innovative demands.
What's Included in offshore outsourcing planning for an organization
Planning comes first before anything in any goal-driven strategy. Outsourcing is a strategy, and it needs a proper plan to execute. Companies that have tried outsourcing for the first time always have a strong planning system. If you have decided to outsource your tasks to outside companies, then you have to follow a proper plan accordingly.
Understand your business needs.
Before delegating your tasks to any foreign company to handle them, you need to know your business first. It means you must have a clear idea of the work your business does and the way it does the work. Plus, you have to find out where exactly you need the help.
Conduct a thorough audit of your business operation as a part of your offshore outsourcing planning. In most cases, it has been observed that firms' internal teams get too occupied to take on new tasks. In that deadlock situation, firms take additional steps to outsource the work. This way, they do not affect the businesses and do not burden employees with more work.
If you're facing the same issue, you need to document it and proceed with the next task, which is requirement assessment.
Mark down your requirements.
Once you understand what your business needs, you can mark down all the requirements in one place. Defined requirements are always better than having all requirements mentally. However, you need to define everything that you require in proper format when you're outsourcing.
The following things you must consider here are;
Set achievable goals and objectives.
Having goals and objectives are must when you are offshore outsourcing planning and executing tasks accordingly. Setting realistic expectations is important to perform all the tasks. Sometimes setting goals too high ends up getting delayed in execution. Thus, it's better to set easy and achievable goals and frame objectives to provide goals a direction.
Prepare the outsourcing roadmap.
A clean and clutter-free outsourcing roadmap is essential to get the plans done right. Basically, a roadmap means you need to know the ways to outsource your exact requirements. Here, you need to lock your mode of communication, budget, payment plans, and the contact person who will deal with the matter.
Choose an Outsourcing Destination
For IT outsourcing, Indian companies are the best. You can get the right infrastructure and skilled individuals here working for your company. However, the following things you must check before fixing any destination to outsource your requirements;
Initiate the Deal
When the right way of offshore outsourcing planning works well, it will be a success. Once you go through the plan and execute each element correctly, you'll land at this stage. Here, you need to find a suitable company to sign up for the deal.
Remember, a suitable company must sign an NDA agreement with you to protect your valuable information. Apart from that, choose only those companies that are ISO certified and follow GDPR and other regulations accurately.