Will outsourcing of your company’s activities be beneficial to its health? No one can really give you the answer to it. None of the business strategies (no matter how well defined, empirically validated and taught through) will be appropriate if not seen through a specific organization’s lens. Before opting out for outsourcing your activities, some of the questions which need to be answered first by the key decision-makers within your company are as follows:

Do I have an actual need for it and what is my need based on?

As for any business challenge, the key first step towards resolving the problem is nothing other than defining the problem.

What are some challenges my company is facing, which outsourcing can be a solution for?

This can be either:

  • Lack of talents (some accounting firms are facing troubles in getting people to send their applications in the first place)
  • Lack of long-term talents (many are facing challenges in retaining their existing talents, due to a declining trend of average time an employee stays within one firm)
  • Lack of skilled talents (some firms are having hard time in finding high qualified staff due to specific market conditions or other similar factors)

or even a combination of all three above.

On the other hand, a decision like this could also be money-driven (which would be just as reasonable):

I deliberately used the word “money” as it gives more room for nuances: Do we want to save some money or generate more money? Depending on the answer different types of remote staff will be chosen. As a general rule, there is always a tradeoff between two key dimensions: quality and cost.

Not that there is anything bad with wanting to cut as much cost as possible, but one needs to bear in mind possible implications to the quality of output. On one hand, we are cutting salary costs by choosing the cheapest workers possible. On the other, our product loses in quality for a number of possible reasons. Be it:

  • Low motivation due to uncompetetive compensations
  • Not enough focus due to working on multiple projects simultaneously
  • Communication issues within a team due to prevailing cultural differences

*All above are quite common in more “traditional” outsourcing solutions.

There is always a tradeoff between two key dimensions: quality and cost.

Degrading a product’s or a service’s quality could lead to clients losing trust in a company, the value it provides for them and therefore could lead to loss of existing contracts, markets and moreover- loss of growth opportunities. To the contrary, outsourcing your operations to a skilled remote team, can significantly boost your overall productivity and output quality. New people can give new ideas and new energy to the team. Thinking “outside the box” regarding your staff structure could, in turn, lead to your team thinking “outside the box” for the benefit of your business.

After putting it like this – the math is simple. In case you’re trying to expand, outsourcing could be a great solution, but try to think about how much money it can make for you instead of just thinking how much cost it can save.

How much money outsourcing can make for me vs. how much cost it can save me

How dependent are my operations on the physical location of the resources? (employees, work equipment, infrastructure)

If your company is already operating in a remote/hybrid manner, there would practically be no major changes in that regard when introducing a remote team to the existing one. Are all departments needed on the location or only some of them? (this is probably why it’s more common to see an IT guy wearing flip-flops around the office rather than an HR or a Sales guy 😜) Joke aside, some of the job positions are more client-facing than others. Maybe this factor can rule in favor of outsourcing, or against it?

What kind of work culture is cultivated within my company?

Are your people cool, tech-savvy, open-minded and always willing to grow and explore? If not all teams within your company are like that (but rather a bit more conservative) make sure you first introduce remote employees to the teams that actually reflect those values. Potentially, within time they could positively influence others to embrace new perspectives. If a completely conservative and non-assertive culture is cultivated within, this is definitely not a good option for you → Aligning your company’s values and culture with any type of strategic action is necessary.

Are my processes automated and procedures set up?

A really important one: both for your existing practices and your future remote team. These two points are quite different in their essence but go hand in hand as they both reflect one thing, which is a good structure.

Automation of the processes is becoming a necessity rather than simply an option, but not all companies have embraced it just yet. With the availability of various cloud-based software and tools, it’s easier than ever to boost your operations’ efficiency, relieve your employees from dull, repetitive tasks and thereby make room for addressing issues of greater complexity.

Well-set procedures within a company definitely make one’s life easier, especially when there is a remote team to be onboarded. It’s basically “a must” if you want to spare yourselves and your new team a ton of stress and idle time:

  • From the employer’s POV - having clear procedures can help you assess your new team’s performance much easier. Also, direct results from their work will follow more quickly.
  • From the employee’s POV having clear procedures help focus on the task at hand, rather than figuring out the optimal way of structuring the steps according to the company’s needs (a company one is still to be familiarized with).

Do I plan on visiting my remote team often?

Frequent visits of your team and vice versa can be super beneficial to strengthening your company’s team spirit and easier incorporating the remote team into the existing one.

In this case geographical location, flight connectedness, flight and accommodation prices, visa demands are something to bear in mind.

Becky community’s team spirit is strengthened at the end of each quarter (worst-case scenario) and we have our team building photos to prove it! 😎

What is my and my company’s outlook on global collaboration?

Not before a company perceives the whole world as one big market, will it be able to ripe the fruits any individual market may bring them.

Answering the questions above will (apart from helping you determine whether you need outsourcing at all) help you choose the best outsourcing solution for your specific needs.

Finally, let’s end this article with a question as simple as: Are you curious enough?

You might also like