The Internet has made it possible for many entrepreneurs to grow their companies quickly through outsourcing. While a lot of commercial establishments have enjoyed great success with this strategy, it is important to remember that not all businesses equally benefit from it.
If you have finally decided that this approach is right for your company, you need to be aware of the common outsourcing mistakes that business owners make. Here are the top 3 blunders for you to remember and avoid.
Not Knowing Exactly What to Outsource
There are many entrepreneurs who jump on the bandwagon of outsourcing without fully understanding how it might affect their company. While it has many benefits, such as improved flexibility, lower labor costs, and expanded capacity, outsourcing also brings some operational challenges if inefficiently used.
There are crucial questions that you need to think through:
- Which areas of my business do I want to outsource?
- How will my internal stakeholders be affected by this move?
- How long should I outsource a part of my business before I evaluate its success?
It is important to plan ahead and look at how outsourcing will impact all the other aspects of your business. Remember, managing external resources requires a different skill set than handling the same assets internally. Therefore, you should be as careful and as thorough as possible during the decision-making stage.
Not Setting the Right Expectations
After going through the list of qualified outsourcing companies, you must identify key outcomes that you are targeting from a specific project. The expectations should be clear and milestones have to be identified in advance to ensure smooth operation.
During the planning phase, you can then involve your chosen outsourced company to set proper expectations.
Not Communicating Enough
For many outsourced businesses, it is easy to make small mistakes that might result in problems that will snowball into something more serious if left unchecked. Sometimes, such issues come about because of miscommunication.
If you are sharing a project brief with your business partner, do not make the mistake of omitting pieces of information because you assume that they are obvious. It may be challenging to discuss each small detail of a project, that is why constant communication and cross-checking with people involved is crucial.
You want to make sure that the scope is properly understood and everyone knows what they are supposed to do. The rule of thumb is to constantly communicate to avoid missing seemingly obvious but important details.
KDCI has been in the business of digital outsourcing for over 10 years, and we specialize in offshore staffing in the fields of Creative Design, Digital Content Creation, and eCommerce Back Office support. We pride ourselves in our ability to efficiently and seamlessly act as an extension to our client’s in-house teams, as well as our ability to provide top-notch services for businesses of all sizes.
Contact us today and start outsourcing to the Philippines! Let us start building your team of experts to help streamline your workflow and send your business into hypergrowth.
