How To Choose The Right Outsourcing Company
What’s the best way to choose an outsourcing company? Do I just pick one at random? Ask my friends or colleagues for recommendations? Google it?
It may seem like a daunting task, but luckily there are some simple steps you can take. Let’s walk through them now.
First, an outsourcing company is not the same thing as a foreign worker recruiter. A recruiter takes care of hiring and disbursing workers (or even entire teams) to clients while an outsourcing company focuses on managing an existing team or providing additional capacity for your project, department, or silo.
Let’s assume you need some extra help. A one-off project, a new product launch, or you’ve outgrown your in-house capabilities and need to beef them up.
The first thing you should do is establish what it is exactly you want to outsource.
What do you want to outsource?
The most common outsourcing requests are for tech, design, and writing. Assuming you don’t already have someone working full-time on these tasks (and if you do, maybe your needs aren’t as urgent as others), let’s focus on getting help with development or design projects.
Next, you must establish what type of work the outsourcing company will do for you.
What type of work will they perform?
There are four main categories of outsourcing:
Low-cost, labor-intensive and repetitive tasks such as research, copywriting, data entry, etc. This usually involves simple grunt work where the worker performs a relatively small number of tasks repeatedly. For example, someone who inputs a large number of social media messages into a spreadsheet for you, or someone who performs a large number of keyword searches in Google.
Low-cost, labor-intensive but not repetitive tasks such as maintaining your website and blog while adding new content every month. This involves non-repetitive work where the same task is performed multiple times (like updating an existing web page) but not necessarily the same task every time. For example, someone responsible for reorganizing and restructuring your blog content to make it more readable and enjoyable is a low-cost labor-intensive but not repetitive task.
Lower-skilled tasks like programming or design where training is required, such as getting an existing WordPress theme modified to look and function differently (like a basic white label product), building a simple landing page, or putting together the elements of a more sophisticated design project.
Upper-skilled tasks like programming or design where short training is required to get up and running (usually less than a week). This could include setting up an ecommerce website, integrating new apps and tools into a website, or intervening on existing code.
This is why it’s important to be specific about what you want your outsourcing company to do for you. You may need them to work on the development of a simple mobile app or a complex ecommerce website—both are very different projects with very different requirements.
It’s also important to note that there isn’t a clear line between each category, but rather it’s something you understand after getting to know your project and the people who will be performing it for you.
Does the outsourcing company have an office in my country?
This is not always essential. Sometimes your only option is to work with a company in another country if they can perform the required task for you at an affordable price. That said, if your budget allows and there is a company in your country that has the capacity to perform the work, we always recommend going this route as it helps reduce both cultural barriers and communications issues.
How to choose the right outsourcing company
You don’t need to hire a company that responds first. In fact, you should probably avoid doing so—they’re likely the least busy and have more time on their hands to reply to your request. What you should do instead is choose a few candidates based on what they can offer and then interview them over email or even Skype.
This is something we have to do with almost all of our clients before we start any work—it’s a process that can take anywhere from 1-5 days, depending on the size of your project.
Here are some things you should consider:
Deciding the right outsourcing company for your business can be a difficult task, but now that you know the questions to ask and the areas of focus, it shouldn’t take long before you find someone who’s right for the job.
How much experience do they have?
Experience is important because it shows you what kind of work they do and how long they’ve been doing it. It’s also important to see if the company has any major projects on their plate—if so, there is more evidence that they can perform the tasks at hand.
Are there reviews available online?
An easy way to evaluate a company is by checking its online reviews/ratings. Just make sure they’re legitimate!
Do the employees have experience in your business or industry?
Experienced developers and designers can be significantly more valuable to your project than someone without that experience. This is because they know what works (and what doesn’t) in terms of design, development, and marketing strategies—even if they don’t have much work to show for it.
Do they have the required skills?
A big part of working with an outsourcing company is finding a team that’s qualified to perform your project, which could be anything from basic HTML and CSS work to full-blown complex ecommerce software integration. Don’t expect a developer or designer to start off knowing everything about every particular field—they most likely have a specialty that they’re more comfortable with, which is why it’s important to know about their skills beforehand.
Do they have references from previous clients?
This is usually a good way to find out more about the company. Ask them for references and then contact previous clients to see if they’re satisfied with their work.
Do they offer the required services?
It’s important to choose an outsourcing company that has everything you’ll need for your project. For instance, if you plan on having them build an Android application, make sure they have experience with this type of work and can provide references to back it up.
How soon can we get started?
It’s great if the company is ready to start working with you immediately, but don’t take too long to decide whether or not they’re right for your project. Sometimes procrastinating can lead to missing an important deadline—if you want them to work on a time-sensitive project like this, make sure they are available before reaching out.
These are some important things to consider when looking into an outsourcing company, but you should also be aware of how much work they can handle. Make sure to specify exactly what kind of work they will be doing on your project so there are no surprises.
What are the benefits of outsourcing?
Outsourcing has several benefits that can help your business grow and succeed. Some of the most important ones are:
It’s cost-effective.
We all know that hiring a team to work for your company is incredibly expensive, so outsourcing can be a cheaper alternative. However, it also depends on the job—some small tasks may be more expensive to outsource due to the cost of setting up a team and keeping it running, but large projects can help keep costs at an acceptable level.
Many types of work are best performed by someone else.
For example, graphics design work, editing videos, some software development tasks—there’s no reason for you to spend your time and energy doing these types of work, when you can pay a company to do it for you. This kind of work can be outsourced very inexpensively, or even for free if you find the right people.
It allows your business to grow/keep up with trends in technology that might be relevant to your industry.
It allows more time to be spent developing the core business.
Have you ever heard the saying “the money isn’t in the product, it’s in the sale?” It’s true—being able to sell your products effectively is much more important than designing intricate packaging for them. Many types of work can simply be outsourced so that you have more time to focus on the core of your business.
It allows you to get work done quickly.
When you’re working with a team or an agency, it’s important that they know exactly what needs to be done, and are aware of deadlines so everything can be finished in a timely manner. Outsourcing allows for this type of efficient work and quick turnaround.
Outsourcing can be an effective way to reach your business goals faster, which is why it’s important to find a team that will not just complete the work you need to be done but will do it in a satisfactory manner.
iTech Creators is an India-based company specializing in outsourcing development services. With an experienced team of software developers, project managers and designers, we can help your business grow with the best results possible.