7 steps in building a fail proof strategy for outsourcing

Strategies for outsourcing may vary from company to company—not every single business out there is built to adapt business models. But with time, you can grow stronger to join forces with external partners.

That being said, business executives and decision-makers can’t go head straight into outsourcing without formulating a plan first. A key to being successful is seeing the big picture.

A quick refresher on outsourcing

Outsourcing is the practice of transferring business processes, tasks, and responsibilities to an external partner. With outsourcing, you don’t get to control every aspect of the activity—trust is a big player here. 

However, you, as their client, can set benchmarks, parameters, and best practices to ensure high-quality output.

Many companies adopted outsourcing as a tool for their inevitable expansion and to save up resources.

Benefits of outsourcing

There are a lot of benefits to outsourcing. Some of them are subtle and some are more prominent. Listed below are the general benefits a company gets when outsourcing its services to third parties.

Flexible employees

When working with an outsourced team, your in-house employees may have less workload and less repetitive work on their daily and weekly roster.

This way, they can focus on tasks that truly matter to the department and the company itself. Flexibility in the workplace is pertinent to having a satisfied and productive team.

Lowers overhead costs

As mentioned above, outsourcing was developed to save companies’ resources and lessen overhead costs. While this venture isn’t a cheap one, it will surely pay off in the long run.

Outsourcing responsibilities mean that businesses don’t have to hire in-house employees but rather pay billed seats instead. You don’t have to take care of the employee’s workspace, benefits, and insurance because your outsourcing partner covers them already.

Access to worldwide talents

There was a time where businesses thought that they can only hire employees from the city or country they are in. Thus, limiting the talent pool and depriving employers of qualified applicants.

Then came outsourcing partners and companies. They opened the doors to organizations that want to expand their labor force and access the world’s talent pool.

Building steps to smarter strategy outsourcing will pay off in the long run.

Seven steps to smarter strategy outsourcing

1. SMART method

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. These five words will help business heads—even anyone—plan goals that are foolproof.

Strategic outsourcing starts with plans, ideas, and the people behind the venture.

2. Expanding your network

Another way to plan an outsourcing strategy is to expand your professional network.

These connections, existing or new, may have leads as to where or who can make your outsourcing venture successful. Meeting new colleagues and making connections never hurt anyone, as long as it’s mutually beneficial.

3. Weighing pros and cons of outsourcing

To make your strategy even more failproof, weigh the pros and cons of outsourcing.

As said before, certain businesses just aren’t ready to take the leap yet. There are roles and responsibilities that heads can’t outsource too.

By taking time into putting together a cohesive pros and cons list, decision-makers will be able to identify problem areas that should be addressed before committing to an outsourcing contract.

4. Engaging your employees

Engaging your employees with decision-making will not only make them feel seen and validated but also humanize the senior management team. This allows them to further connect with the rest of the employees.

Make sure to include them with employee surveys to get a general idea of how your workforce feels about outsourcing some of their responsibilities out of the company.

5. Budgeting your outsourcing strategy

Outsourcing is not cheap. It’s not an inexpensive business model. But that being said, it’s more cost-efficient than expanding your business in the physical sense.

With outsourcing, you could expand your workforce in a sense. People are employed under the outsourcing company but they work for you.

In any business decision, the management team has to think about the cost and the overall budget to make the plans even more effective.

6. Acknowledging outsourcing risks

There are risks in outsourcing—third-party service providers work hard and fast to mitigate these risks but accidents and miscommunication happen.

In order to have a fail proof strategy in outsourcing, you have to acknowledge these and plan ahead.

7. Tracking the progress

Tracking the progress of your outsourcing venture is important as this is where all it starts and ends. Progress tracking means that you have a working timeline and that you can almost always pinpoint problem areas before they get bigger.

Outsourcing as a business model in 2023

Outsourcing continues to be one of the most popular business models this year. The benefits alone are enough to convince corporations to look into it.

With companies outsourcing their jobs and responsibilities to independent contractors, freelancers, and service providers, there’s no doubt that outsourcing will prevail in the next coming years.