Outsourcing continues to be a crucial motivator for startups and small-to-medium businesses to develop capacity, enhance productivity, and gain a competitive edge all while expanding their worldwide footprint in today’s fast-paced business world.
While the success of outsourcing relies on a strong partnership, choosing the right outsourcing partner isn’t always easy. It’s not merely about who provides the cheaper service; it takes thorough research, background checks, and due diligence in order to make an informed decision, minimize risk, and generate success for your business. Keeping that in mind, the selection of additional outsourced talent should strategically align with your company’s roadmap to success, and seek to benefit your customers as well.
Here are five tips to look out for when choosing the right outsourcing partner.
- Look for clues of reliability
Don’t hold back on delving into a thorough exploration of potential outsourcing partners, as reliability is key. Get useful information on their experience in the industry, their track record, customers catered to, and look into whether the clients are satisfied with the work. Check their social media and discussion forums for pointers and feedback. Are they responsive? Do they seek to solve problems quickly when they arise? It’s important to grasp as much information as possible and focus on the hard questions.
- Establish open and clear communication channels
Nothing is worse than having an urgent problem to deal with, and not being able to get hold of your outsourcing partner. Nowadays with the advancement of online connectivity, communication has become much easier. Initially, make sure the outsourcing partner has clearly stated and accessible communication channels be it phone line, email, or direct messaging. Gauge how responsive they are to your initial conversations. Setting up regular communication protocols from the start of the partnership will allow for a smoother process. Make sure that you are informed throughout every milestone, risk, and issue that takes place — and know who to call when you need a quick reply.
- Gauging a cultural fit
For the partnership to be a success, compatibility with the outsourcing partner is a necessity. A cultural fit is necessary to ensure smooth completion of the project. Speak to them about their work culture, values, and beliefs to test how well the companies will work together. If you can, speak to prior clients to ask what they noticed about the internal culture of the outsourcing company — those with a healthy, supportive work culture will be more likely to provide helpful, well-supported talent.
- Check technical and project competence
You’ve confirmed the credibility of the outsourcing partner, and it’s now essential to know if their technical knowledge and project experience meet your requirements. Put in the effort to know your partner inside out rather than diving in head-first just because one thing grabbed your attention. Understanding their levels of technical expertise, knowing what methods they use, the processes they follow, and how they track and resolve issues, will all give you a clear idea of how your project will be handled.
- Assess all risks
Regardless of a company’s stellar reputation, it is worth assessing all the potential risks and creating mitigation strategies before going into the partnership. Usually, the highest risk is around data and IP security. Guarantee the safety of your data, check the fine print, and make sure they fulfill security requirements with firewalls, access points, data control, and data encryption.
Keeping these five tips in mind, you will be well placed to choose the right outsourcing partner for your company, laying the foundation for success, and minimizing risk.
Contact GGateway to find out how we can help with all your IT and project management outsourcing needs.