Whether you’re outsourcing to a call center in the Philippines or to an all-around voice and non-voice service provider, there’s a chance of you encountering mistakes if you aren t properly guided about the venture. Forbes gathered the common mistakes that you might encounter during an outsourcing contract so that you can avoid committing them.
1. Relying the whole management practice on the vendor
Outsourcing doesn t mean that you have to completely let go of the outsourced department or activity. You should still have control over the sent-out roles and collaborate with the vendor in managing the outsourced staff.
2. Thinking that high-speed Internet automatically guarantees clear communication
No matter how reliable your communication technologies are, cultural and lingual match is still the key to excellent performance and productivity, so work on an effective training strategies as well.
3. Outsourcing everything
Just because outsourcing offers significant savings doesn t mean that you should subcontract every aspect of your business. Know which core processes you should handle directly, and determine activities that are outside your field of specialty because they are likely the ones that service vendors can help you with.
4. Putting a fixed price on all solutions
Availing services for a fixed price can work for short-term projects like programming. But for call center and marketing solutions that are prone to changes due to customer demands and staffing matters, you should be flexible and ready for budgetary adjustments.
5. Having the wrong idea about fair compensation
A hefty salary in one area may be below industry standards in another location. Be knowledgeable about different labor rates, and be reasonable in compensating your outsourced workers to get great value for your money.
6. Not adapting to the other party’s culture
It’s not just the workers who should adapt to the demands of you, the client; both parties should be able to adjust to the culture, work ethics, social status, time constraints, and language differences of each other. Only then can effective communication be achieved.
7. Assigning unwilling or incapable individuals to lead
In relation to the first point, there should be someone from your internal workforce to manage the outside staff. However, if you don t have anyone willing to work on different work hours/location or adjust to cultural differences, then you might need to look for someone else who could fulfill the job.
8. Cutting down on IT budget
You could expect expenses to go down once you outsource, but since your staff is in a possibly overseas location, you need to prepare or update your equipment to be able to ensure clear and constant communication with them. Of course, this may incur costs.
9. Not getting involved in the outsourced staff’s development
Your outsourced team may not work directly under you, but as previously pointed out, you should still take part in managing them, which includes helping their skill and personal development. After all, their satisfaction and welfare are part of the foundation of your project’s success.
10. Having no idea about the outsourced services
Yes, part of the reason you outsource is that you lack expertise in the tasks you farm out. Still, you should have knowledge about the services you avail or at least have an idea on the path you want the outsourcing deal to take you. You only hired others to carry out your business processes, not plot your company’s direction for you.
Outsourcing is not just a quick solution to a business’ monetary problem; it is an important tool for attaining certain company goals, so it should be treated like a carefully planned strategy. To be successful in this venture, you should devote enough time to learning about its different facets and understanding your vendor’s capability, customers’ demands, and employees’ needs.
