How to drive efficiencies through outsourcing (3 ways)

The number one reason most organisations look to outsourcing is to reduce costs. And for good reason; being able to manage your resources is key to the success and longevity of any organisation.

Another reason is to improve business efficiencies.

One of our clients agrees, they said “the flip side and the part that we don't talk about a lot, is how much more efficient your organisation is when you've got appropriate processes, structure and people in place.”

Let’s explore three ways to drive efficiencies through outsourcing in more detail:

1. Process

   When discussing processes, it’s easy to think of different tasks that can quite easily be outsourced. In fact, the most common way to outsource is to delegate the more “process” driven tasks to your offshore team at a much more cost-effective rate. Doing this will free up your team in Australia to focus on income generating tasks that drive growth.

   This was the main reason our client looked to outsourcing, “a major challenge we had was the amount of time administration was taking, affecting our ability to complete other tasks in a timely manner. We needed more support and we didn't want to spend more money.”

   In recent times, outsourcing has become far more versatile with clients now seeking more technical roles offshore. With the added capability of an offshore team member, organisations are increasing their capacity to take on more work. As a result, these organisations are experiencing substantial cost savings and business growth.

   A hidden benefit of outsourcing tasks is that it allows you to step back and begin to really look at ‘how’ you do things, not just ‘why’. As you begin to look at this with your offshore team there is an opportunity to further streamline your processes to ensure you are using everyone’s time more effectively.

   When you have your team working on the right things in the right way, you develop a much more efficient organisation.

2. People

   Recruiting the right offshore team member is extremely important and it all starts with choosing the right outsourcing provider. Do this by asking the right questions. You want to make sure you have a good understanding of their services and how they’re able to assist you in building your virtual team.

   It’s important that your outsourcing provider has a good understanding of what your objectives are as they need to match your requirements to the right staff member.

   Having the right staff is all about identifying key skill sets, employment history and other attributes that will help them fit into your organisation’s culture.

   To ensure you’re recruiting the right person for the right job, do the following:

   • Create specific and detailed job descriptions

   • Skill test applicants

   • Question resumes

   • Ask open ended questions in interviews.

3. Structure

   Last but not least is your organisational structure. How does having a virtual team member fit into your organisation? Who do they report to? How will they support your current team?

   Think about keeping strategy onshore and implementation offshore. This is a common outsourcing model that has worked well for us and many of our clients.You can read first hand how one of our clients achieved a 104% increase in leads through this particular strategy.

   Another key step that will guarantee success in any outsourcing relationship is to ensure that your new staff member/s are well integrated into the organisation. Consciously creating this space and place allows for more effective role separation as well as task management.

   To effectively integrate both teams you must:

   1. Tell your staff
   2. Manage any initial push-back your existing team may have
   3. Have the two teams meet virtually
   4. Inject your organisational culture into your offshore team
   5. Have the two teams communicate on a daily basis across an array of tasks.

Doing this will allow your onshore team to experience first hand how an offshore team can positively impact their workload. This inturn will create more offshore opportunities for your organisation in the future.

Check out our three-part video series on how to do just that.