Expansion is a natural, normal and expected course in any growing business. And that expansion often crosses geographical boundaries. A car manufacturing unit may decide to set up its assembling unit in a developing country; a software giant may set up an entire department overseas. Both companies are basically doing what is known as offshore outsourcing, but with their own employ ees. However, this kind of expansion understandably calls for huge amounts of investment, not to mention considerable running around and liaisoning with the local authorities in a new country. Is there a simpler option? Yes, there is! Hire a fulltime, dedicated virtual employee.
Cost-saving. Efficient. Convenient. Profitable. These are just a few of the adjectives that crop up when one uses the term ‘virtual employee’.
Let’s see what all is involved when a company decides to set up a separate offshore office independently in a far-away foreign country, say, in India. They have to spend time and money in first zeroing in on the city where they wish to set up their offshore office. Then they have to send representatives all the way to India to arrange for those logistics – rent office space, arrange for hardware and office equipment, technology support and back-up (generators), telephone and internet connections, and finally, recruit employees. The whole process is highly time-consuming, stressful and ultimately may not yield the desired results. While a big multinational company can toy with the idea of opening an independent offshore office outside the country, the average SME frankly cannot factor these extra costs into its limited budget.
It is exactly for such SMEs that hiring a ‘virtual employee’ is the best alternative to the traditional offshore outsourcing model. Here are 5 reasons why this is so.
1. It is highly cost-effective. Isn’t that what outsourcing is all about? Cutting down on costs, increasing productivity and increasing profits? The logic behind hiring a remote employee is simple. Why set up an entire offshore office when you can get the employee at a fraction of the cost AND the benefits of an offshore ‘office’? Despite the rising rupee, outsourcing to India still remains extremely cost-effective.
2. You get the best talent available. Say, the SME in question is a medium-sized accounting firm in the UK. Hiring a top-notch CA can be cost-prohibitive and they may have to make do with mediocre talent. But, if they outsource to a company in India that specializes in providing the best talent available, they can easily have an extremely qualified CA (a virtual employee) working for them – at almost one-eighth of what it would cost them in the UK. Since India has an abundant talent pool of some of the most qualified and professional skilled men and women in the world in almost every field, you can have a virtual team of highly skilled people working for your organization – be it data entry, content writing, software development or medical transcription, all under one roof. Small wonder then that 82% of the US companies ranked India as their first choice for software outsourcing
3. It is easy! You don’t have to leave your office or your country to have the equivalent of having your own independent offshore office in India. Thanks to the modern means of communication, you are just a mouse click away from realizing your dream of having an offshore set-up abroad. When you outsource to a reliable offshore outsourcing company in India, the latter takes care of all the other logistics like hardware, software, office rent, etc.
4. You are spared the cultural divide to a large extent. One of the biggest hurdles in setting up an independent offshore office in an unfamiliar country is the cultural and language divide. But when it comes to outsourcing the non-core activities to a virtual employee, these concerns get considerably whittled down. Of course, certain customs and traditions need to be kept in mind, because after all your virtual employee does belong to that country, but these are usually manageable.
5. The quantity of work does not matter. If a small to medium-sized company wishes to open its independent offshore office in another country, the quantum of work needs to justify that decision. Statistics have shown that as many as 99% of the SMEs wish to employ anywhere between 1-50 employees when they outsource. This obviously far less a number to warrant a transfer of a large chunk of human and monetary resources overseas for that purpose. MNCs, on the other hand, outsource entire departments comprising of above 100 employees when they do offshore outsourcing. An outsourcing service provider who helps you recruit your own virtual employee does not demand that kind of investment at all. You can offshore one project or ten, your virtual employee will still make it a feasible option.
So, offshore outsourcing is a great cost-saving measure to increase profits and efficiency. But only if harnessed properly.
Daya Mukherjee is a Senior Content Writer and Editor working for a Remote Staffing Outsourcing company in India. You can find out more information by visiting our Outsourcing Services, Outsource, offshore outsource Websites.
Off shore outsourcing has become one of the most popular management practices and India being the most preferred location. Generally there is a belief that cost reduction is the sole purpose behind offshore outsourcing. Reduction of cost is just one of reasons why companies prefer taking BPO services. The BPOs in India not only provide cost-effective services but deliver quality output within the required timeframe.
Offshore outsourcing has been popular for several years and countries like India are preferred locations due to the cost-effective solutions they offer. If you are thinking about outsourcing a part of your job in any sectors like finance, insurance or retailing, you need to determine the need for outsourcing before taking a decision. Even though cost reduction is the main factor behind outsourcing, you need to know that the cost advantage is not an overnight process. Results may not be seen immediately but there will be turnover is long turn. You need to consider factors like initial investment in infrastructure, training and other such necessities. The initial hiccups may take a while before you actually receive some ample profits. But if you are ready to establish a committed relationship and understanding with the BPO service provider, cost advantage is sure to be established.
Reports suggest that outsourcing service companies frequently have to make substantial investments in IT equipments, facilities and personnel. Even then the multinational firms value the offshore contracts for they receive high margin sales of their products and services through a long-term interdependent relationship with customers. This proves that the money savings aspect of BPO services is true to the sense. But the company should be ready to do the initial investments. The future result will provide you with savings and moreover great value addition. Usually the value addition of the work is realized by the companies once they start outsourcing at a later time. When many companies start outsourcing they barely recognize the talent pool and efficiency of labor in India.
The shift in motivation is prominent these days and as many companies continue to outsource, the fact is reinforced. The BPOs in India possess talent and expertise and the sheer work volume flowing to the country is the best example to substantiate this. Most of the analysts believe that cost is no longer the only reason why outsourcing is flowing to India. There are companies in Russia and China offer better rates than India and even then, the priority is given to the country following value addition. The main reason is the scalability of the Indian BPO companies who focus on quality and experience for delivering a wide range of services.
Furthermore the Indian software vendors have developed more of a global service delivery capability than any of their counterparts in other countries. Consider the workforce available in the country with the largest pool of technical skills in the world and the universities contribute to large numbers of engineering graduates every year. So before taking the services from BPO, you need to understand that offshore outsourcing is not only about cost reduction but quality solutions. When you outsource your work, you are receiving improvement in productivity and quality along with savings.
Although offshore outsourcing of call center services became widely popular, there are things that can make these advantages turn into a great disadvantage. Like any other offshore investments, there are several key factors that can determine whether or not call center outsourcing will work for the company and these include the outsourcing destinations and the government’s support of the country where the BPO requirements will be outsourced.
The risks posed by the offshore outsourcing destinations will all depend on the company’s views about risky investment. Aside from the risks brought about by the offshore call center outsourcing destinations, legal issues also play a vital role in the success of the offshore outsourcing venture. So in order to avoid lapses and misconstrued judgments, companies are advised to follow all the regulations implemented in a particular country with regards to offshore outsourcing ventures. So, if you are still in the first stage of planning your offshore outsourcing for call center services, it is a must to know at least some of the risk – prone offshore outsourcing destinations around the globe. By doing so, this can give a clear idea as to whether continue your outsourcing ventures in these countries or establish a contingency plan on as how to face the risks presented head on.
Ten Risk-Prone Outsourcing Destinations
This list is presented so that readers will have an idea of risk prone offshore outsourcing destinations
* Bangkok, Thailand
* Bogota, Colombia
* Jerusalem, Israel
* Johannesburg, South Africa
* Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
These countries make it to the top five due to various reasons including;
* The instability of their currency,
* Increased rate in personal crime due to the lower ratio of police force to the number of the citizens in the city.
* The threat of terrorism
* Local rebel uprising also plays a major part in determining the level of risks faced by offshore call center services and offshore outsourcing in general.
The following cities and countries also made it to the list of risky offshore outsourcing destinations due to minor reasons including climate threats, various geo-political issues, and corruption in government, organized crime and other related issues. These countries include:
* Manila, Philippines – Climate threats
* Juarez Mexico – Corruption in the government
* Colombo, Sri Lanka – Geo – political issues
* Kingston, Jamaica – Immaturity of the legal system
* Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Environmental issues including pollution
Although the risks presented here do not encourage companies to turn down their plans for offshore outsourcing call center services, it is best to evaluate all the key details with regards to their business objectives and BPO requirements in order for their companies to fully understand the risks they will face and how they would deal with should they decide to continue their offshore outsourcing from these destinations.
Offshore outsourcing is the best possible solution in today’s highly competitive environment as quality customer service is the sole mantra for business success. InSO offers inbound and outbound call center services through a skilled team of professionals.
CLICK CC FOR DUTCH AND GERMAN SUBTITLES bridge-outsourcing.nl In this video, Hugo Messer, CEO of Bridge Outsourcing explains about the key problem that our clients face especially in western Europe in finding the right person for the right position in terms of highly skilled IT people and how Bridge’s offshore and nearshore staffing solutions solve this problem. Summary Hugo explains 1. What are Bridge’s main services? –Offshore and near shore staffing solutions to Western European clients 2. What are the two key promises we make to our clients? –We always find the right person for the right position –We offer personalized support to make the transition from working with local staff to offshore staff more easily 3 .How do we help clients in finding the right person for the right position? –Size of the labour market that the client can tap into is much higher which increases the probability of finding the perfect match –The people we recruit for the client are people we employ in our local office –The client does not need to set up an office, they do not need to think about local tax structures, paying salaries, doing recruitment etc. that’s all done by Bridge 4. How we offer personalized support? –We have native speaking people for the countries that we help. –Our support is around the recruitment procedure, so we try to look at how the client today recruits people –We have a clear offshore process which is a step by step approach in which both sides know exactly …
Eric Hulbert – CEO from Opus Interactive Recommends ISHIR for offshore outsourcing for software development in .net nad microsoft sql, testing, documentation, project management and Search Engine marketing services. Video Rating: 5 / 5
Today’s business sector is enjoying a massively changing and dynamic industry, particularly when it comes to subcontracting jobs. In the past, the conflict were between doing the job through in-house workforce or outsource it but with the rapid changes in the global economy, this has changed to whether Offshore outsourcing or onshore outsourcing will serve the purpose of getting the jobs done. Onshore outsourcing refers to when the job is sent on locally based service or product supplier while offshore outsourcing is exporting the business process outside the country where cheaper labor cost is available. Both these types of business models have become largely popular even if each one has its advantages and disadvantages that can significantly affect the entire business.
Both onshore and offshore outsourcing is geared towards achieving the same goal and that is to minimize and significantly reduce operating costs while raising their productivity levels and reallocating the financial resources on other areas.
Onshore and offshore outsourcing like inbound call center has a number of benefits, but if you learn more of these business models, it can help increase the potential of a particular business, it is best to also know the disadvantages that come with onshore and offshore outsourcing.
More often than not, onshore and offshore outsourcing models like most of the inbound call center today offer excellent deals for majority of companies opting to integrate this in their business operation.
With onshore outsourcing, companies are able to take advantage of the proximity of the mother company to the organization where the business process is being outsourced. This means that there is no communication barrier to deal with and that makes traveling a lot easier than with offshore outsourcing. The only drawback to this is that the company has to deal with a much higher labor cost and various business regulations implemented locally. For example, onshore inbound call center has a much expensive labor cost compared to its offshore counterpart.
With offshore outsourcing on the other hand, the company can take advantage of a much lower labor cost because the operational expenses spent in business processing are largely minimized when it is outsourced outside the country. Most inbound call center opts to outsource the process out of the country because it is cost effective in their operation while allowing them to obtain qualified workforce at a fraction of the price when the business process is done onshore. Although there are additional operational expenses that must be considered in offshore outsourcing, companies are still able to compensate their losses from the cheap labor cost they can obtain outside the country.
The bottom line here is that as long as it can serve the business purpose for success and great profitability, onshore and offshore outsourcing is designed to perform effectively. It will all come down to the company’s decision on which of these models will allow them to enjoy the maximum opportunity for profits and ROIs while keeping their operational expenses down.
Offshore outsourcing is the best possible solution in today’s highly competitive environment as quality customer service is the sole mantra for business success. InSO offers outbound and inbound call center services through a skilled team of professionals.
From the 2004 CALI Conference for Law School Computing Audience: Technical Level: This session explores the dimensions of the offshore outsourcing of US IT jobs to India, China and other countries. What impact will this movement among American technology companies have upon the market for IT jobs and wages for IT workers? How will law school IT jobs be affected by this growing trend? Mr.. Marcus Courtney, President of the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, will be exploring these and other issues. Robert M. Linz Associate Library Director and Information Technology Coordinator Ave Maria School of Law Marcus Courtney President Washington Alliance of Technology Workers
One of the most frequently cited causes of problems in (offshore) outsourcing is ‘communication problems’. When I hear people mention this, I always wonder what they mean by ‘communication’. Because the term itself is very broad and vague, I believe it can not lead us to the solution. More specific causes would be ‘it was very hard for us to handle the extra documentation needed to transfer project requirements’ or ‘because we are not in the same room, we miss the frequent interactions which we normally have with colleagues’. If we look at such specific causes of problems, we get threads that lead to a clear vision of what to improve.
What can we do to improve communication?
I believe the starting point is not communication itself, but process. Of course it will help if we give the team members training in communication and if we teach them how the cultural differences influence communication. But the key to success lies in a clear process.
Three very practical process ingredients that accelerate performance in (offshore) outsourcing:
This is by far the strongest tool available to the outsourcing world. In the Agile software methodology, daily standups are by default organized. But not all outsourcing is software development and not all software firms use Agile. By letting all the team members meet every day for 15 minutes and every week for about an hour, something happens. Communication problems seem to solve itself, because people have a daily chance to mention them and to align behavior. Teams start finding their own solutions, without management having to spend days on training and problem solving sessions. Issues that got people stuck in their work, get solved right away without waisting time.
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The times, the people attending and the agenda should be nailed down in a clear process description. If the process is followed in a structured way and the meetings become a routine, you have laid the most stable foundation under the outsourcing engagement to streamline communication. But there is more.
Especially in an international outsourcing setting, an online project management tool is essential. In the case of software development, this tool should have distinct sections for reporting bugs, tasks and questions. Again, building a routine around this tool is crucial. This starts with writing clear guidelines on how to use the online system (if 3 people use the same system, but in a different way, that’s where the communication problems will start!). Management should check whether people use the system in the planned manner. And the golden rule should be: ALL communication happens in the online tool. Management should outlaw emails and should ask everybody to upload a summary of any (skype) call or instant messenger chat to the online system.
This might be the biggest hurdle in software projects: writing clear requirement documents. Teams spend hours writing documentation only to find out that the external team has 5 pages of questions the next day. The problem is that frequently, there is no standard for developing specifications. If there is one format, both the authors and the readers will understand requirements better. Above that, a set of guidelines gives a learning framework: whenever a misunderstanding appears, it can be added to the guidelines as an improvement.
Another simple but often overlooked instrument is organizing a one hour phone call at the kick off of a project in which the teams can discuss the requirements. Frequently, everything is written on paper and people try to understand eachother by writing/reading, whereas in spoken word, unclarities get cleared much faster and more effective.
As an Offshore IT Staffing Expert, I help IT companies and organisations with an IT department to achieve growth and profitability.
Many people wonder what Global sourcing or outsourcing can do for their organisation. They want to save on IT costs and are looking for IT staff. There are many stories about companies that move (IT) work to India or Eastern Europe. But how do you do this?
How do you make outsourcing work? How do you find the right supplier? Does India fit better or Eastern Europe and why?
Global sourcing is a complex arena and not something you do overnight. Many entrepreneurs, directors, CIO’s and COO’s have difficulties taking the right steps and have different reasons for that:
- They don’t know where to start and which steps to take (how do I develop an effective strategy? How do I setup my processes? How do I find the right supplier? What are the pitfalls, what should I pay attention to?)
- It looks like something which other people do but not them or something only multinationals do, but somewhere in their mind they wonder if it is the right thing to move part of their work overseas.
Do you know people who say such things? Or do you recogize it yourself?
Take the first steps to make offshoring work for your organisation
- Develop a clear strategy for the next years - Find the right supplier - Develop effective processes and continuously improve them - Put the right man on the right seat in your offshore team
www.outsourcinglive.com To get the show notes of this podcast visit: www.outsourcinglive.com Inside this podcast I interview the CEO of Microsourcing which is a firm that hires over 1500 employees and helps numerous companies around the world outsource their work. Discover how Microsourcing works and can be tailored for your business. Podcast / Audio Version: traffic.libsyn.com Items Mentioned In This Episode: Max Lifestyle: www.maxlifestyle.net MicroSourcing www.microsourcing.com Video Rating: 5 / 5
