Sometimes, carrying out certain business operations in-house becomes daunting and cost-intensive. Also, lack of expertise in certain segments of an organization (e.g. information technology) can hinder business growth significantly. For these and other reasons, Philippines offshoring services are increasingly sought after by companies of various sizes. In considering whether outsourcing is good for your organization or not, a quick look at the top benefits of outsourcing may reveal certain truths about this business strategy;

1. Concentrating on the Core Activities of an Organization
When a company steps into its growth peak periods, its back office functions will also grow. Consequently, the bulk of an organization’s human and material resources are concentrated on the expansion, while the core activities of the company are left unattended to. Interestingly, the success of an organization may be largely attributed to its core activities.

Therefore, when a company decides to outsource some of its expansion functions, it will help them re-distribute both human and material resources, so that no aspect of the organization’s functions is relegated to the background. Philippines offshoring services cover business expansion operations as well.

2. Contractual Certainty
Contractual certainty is one of the reasons why companies embark on outsourcing. You will have peace of mind knowing that a contractual relationship is existing between your company and the outsource provider. On the other hand, you can only discipline or fire an in-house employee for poor performance, while the company is left to bear the loss resulting from employee’s laxity, negligence or total incompetence. Therefore, outsourcing is a mutually beneficial contract. Each party to the contract is adequately compensated in the event of breach of agreement. The terms of the contract are legally binding on the parties.

3. Low Overhead
Certain back office functions incur high overhead costs. Sometimes, it is more cost-effective to outsource such office functions. For instance, if a company experiences growth that requires office space expansion, it may cost less to hire offshore employees than paying for additional office space.

3. Staffing Flexibility
Using outsourcing, a company’s functions that have cyclical or seasonal demands can usher in extra resources when it is needful, and they are disbanded afterwards. A typical example is the financial/accounting department that requires more hands during auditing and tax preparation periods. Outsourcing these operations at such times could provide extra human resources temporarily and affordably.

Other benefits of Philippines offshoring services include business risk sharing, creation of leisure time (especially for a sole proprietor), tax incentives, significant cost saving, access to large talent pool, reduced time to market and more.

A company should be thorough in searching and selecting a vendor for its business functions outsourcing. Careless selection can result in loss instead of benefits.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

Getting Started: the basic outsourcing strategy is to analyze your business operations, in order to find out the areas that would be most beneficial when outsourced. Also, see if outsourcing would be best for your business strategic plan. No doubts, outsourcing has been immensely beneficial to both small and large organizations over the years. However, the benefits are guaranteed when proper analysis and decision are undertaken.

Introduction
Interestingly, a lot of businesses today outsource on a daily basis without seeing the act as outsourcing. Perhaps, the reason is simply because of the media’s presentation or opinion about outsourcing. The present day media see outsourcing as job shipment to overseas locations where low wages are prevalent. However, outsourcing is a powerful tool that any organization can use to achieve cost benefits among other advantages.

Outsourcing Strategy
As mentioned earlier, the first strategy in outsourcing is proper analysis, to find out the business areas that would be most beneficial when outsourced. First, weigh the cost of outsourcing the intended business function against the cost of running it in-house. Also, consider if the potential benefits have long term effects on your business. Your analysis should be thorough and spelt out in numerical values (if possible) for clarity.

Also, in hiring a vendor, outsourcing strategy is highly required. You would not want to end up with shallow and shabby result. So, your vendor hiring technique should be profound and well-structured. Refer to our previous post on “Guide to selecting outsourcing vendor”.

Outsourcing Success Tips
Successful outsourcing is guaranteed if the best practices are employed in managing the process. Thus, well-articulated outsourcing strategy is necessary before and after sealing off the contract. Hiring the lowest bidder does not mean successful outsourcing. Obviously, the lowest possible cost is beneficial. But, you may end up spending more due to low standard result. Of course, you will certainly re-outsource a shabbily completed business function at extra cost. Therefore, profound vendor selection process is necessary, it is the beginning of successful outsourcing.

Vendor selection process should not be done hastily. A company should set up an in-house or in-country committee that would act on behalf of the organization to supervise the entire contract. The supervision starts from the point of hiring a vendor down through the lifespan of the contract.

A company may also consult an expert to get direction on outsourcing best practices. So, achieving the best possible benefits with outsourcing requires a lot of strategizing and effort. Outsourcing has evolved to become a strong pillar for organizational growth. Consequently, the entire contract should not be handled with levity, from scratch to finish. The necessary internal structures should be put in place to achieve the best result.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

Effective outsourcing comes with loads of benefits such as cost-saving, improved performance, improved risk management, access to large pool of talents, reduced time to market, tax benefits, competitive advantage and more. Therefore, a company needs outsourcing strategy to achieve the best result with outsourcing.

Here are valuable tips for effective outsourcing;

Tip One: There should be a Justifiable Reason for Outsourcing

The importance of outsourcing for the right reasons cannot be overemphasized. If you outsource just because it is a trendy thing among businesses, you may not reap the reward of outsourcing. In fact, outsourcing for the wrong reason may result in loss instead of profit.

If your company’s customer support department is not operating at optimum capacity, yet incurring huge cost, it may be justifiable to outsource your company’s call center. However, you must analyze the cost benefit between re-equipping your call center and opting for offshore call center services. If the cost saving will be significant compared to in-house call center restructuring, then you have a strong point for outsourcing. Thus, proper analysis of cost advantage among other benefits is a great outsourcing strategy for achieving effectiveness.

Tip Two: You May Need an Expert’s Assistant

You may have to consult an expert before embarking on outsourcing. There are outsourcing consultants whose major task is to provide the right direction or guide regarding a company’s decision to outsource. Therefore, a company that does not know how to make the right moves for outsourcing should consult an expert. Surprisingly, it may cost very little to get an expert’s advice on this matter. An expert’s advice may cover how to determine the outsource-able business functions, including proper vendor selection process.

Tip Three: Profound Vendor Selection Process

This is a critical outsourcing strategy that guarantees success or otherwise. First, consider the expertise of the vendor in line with your business function outsourcing need. A general vendor may not be an expert in a specific area, except the provider works with a team of experts in various business areas. It is not enough for a vendor to claim expertise in a particular business area. Ask technical questions related to the specific business function you wish to outsource. The response of the vendor will provide some clues about his expertise or inexperience in such area.

Strong Legal Support

Business function outsourcing should be contracted on a strong legal platform. This way, each party to the contract can lay claims on damages or breach of agreement. As a service seeker, you would certainly love to be compensated for any laxity on the part of the vendor. This is only possible with strong contractual agreement.

In all, a company or business wishing to outsource some of its business functions must employ profound outsourcing strategy in order to achieve enhanced effectiveness.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

Outsourcing has become a popular trend in the United States, Europe and other first world countries. Outsourcing Philippines as well as Indian vendors tend to be on the lead. Outsourcing popularity is largely attributed to strategic goals achievements which organizations and businesses achieve through outsourcing. Also, companies achieve cost reduction, customer satisfaction enhancement and other top benefits through outsourcing. However, outsourcing requires effective management just like any other organizational decision. So, from the evaluation phase through the entire duration of the contractual relationship, adequate monitoring and management is required.

In this post, we will examine top 4 critical factors for achieving success with outsourcing;

1. Objective Definition

A company must understand what it wants to achieve with outsourcing before venturing into it. This can be determined through objective or goal definition. One of the goals of an organization considering outsourcing should be cost reduction. For instance, a department that incurs high costs should be considered for outsourcing. This is essentially necessary if such costs cannot be reduced. Also, lack of competency in specific areas could be handled through outsourcing.

Therefore, when considering outsourcing Philippines vendor, a company must ensure there are justifiable reasons for its decision to outsource. This is the only way to benefit from such strategy. In summary, a company should outsource for the right reasons.

2. Analyze Your Reasons for Outsourcing in the Light of these Factors;

• Is there a significant cost-difference between handling the function in-house and delegating it to an external provider? This still refers to efficient or significant cost saving as the most justifiable reason for outsourcing a business function.
• Will your company gain a competitive advantage by choosing to outsource a particular business function? For instance, quick product delivery into the market (faster than the competitors) is one of the top benefits of outsourcing. Also, competitive advantage in the area of pricing is one of the advantages of outsourcing rightly.  Ultimately, an organization that leverages outsourcing for the right reasons will become first among the best.
• Can the job be transmitted over the internet?
• Can the task be teleworked? This is a critical factor when considering offshore outsourcing Philippines services.

3. Well-Structured Vendor Selection Process

Vendor selection is one of the critical factors to successful outsourcing. Vendor selection should not be approached shallowly and shabbily. A company should develop a profound vendor selection structure in order to hire the best skill for the required task. The standard of selection should not be solely focused on cost. Instead, it should be a thorough process that would also consider the expertise of the vendor in the required business area.

Successful outsourcing begins when a company plays its own roles by defining its objectives, analyzing the reasons for outsourcing, and employing a well-structured vendor selection process. This quick guide will help you hire the best outsourcing Philippines vendor.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

One of the largest areas of outsourcing today is IT. Information technology is the engine room of any organization. Virtually all business aspects are controlled by information technology platform. Therefore, the IT needs of organizations are growing by the day. Sometimes, it gets so overwhelming that a company cannot manage its IT requirements alone. Outsourcing of IT is a common solution when information technology requirements of a company become overwhelming.

However, a company may decide to handle some aspects of IT in-house, while outsourcing the complex and cost-intensive areas. Generally, the most outsourced IT areas include;

• Hardware support
• Help desk operations
• Network management
• Telecommunications
• Desk top support
• Software development

Among other numerous benefits, outsourcing of IT helps commercial businesses and organizations worldwide to concentrate on their core competencies, while allowing IT experts offshore to manage their IT infrastructure affordably and effectively. A professional IT vendor would design, develop and deliver customized information technology solutions that would streamline a company’s IT functions and improve its competitive stance.

Effective Vendor IT solutions are based on these summarized techniques;

• Information collation regarding an organization’s specific business needs
• Employing the most suitable technological expertise to process and analyze the information collated.
• Alignment of a company’s business goals and objectives with 24/7 support
• General quality IT services.

Key Players in IT Outsourcing

When it comes to outsourcing of IT, especially at the offshore level, some countries are known as major market players. The reason is directly associated with the exceptional expertise of IT personnel in those countries. Today, Philippines and India are known as the key players in information technology.
Here’s a summarized list of the world’s experts (countries) in IT outsourcing and their different areas of specialization;

• The Philippines are renowned for Programming, Data Entry, R&D, Customer Support and Animation
• India – Programming, Software Development and General IT solutions
• Ukraine – Programming and R&D
• Brazil – Web and Software Programming, Network solutions
• Bolivia – Network Solutions, Web & Software Programming
• China – Data Entry, Programming, customers support
• Russia – Programming and R&D

Other key players for outsourcing of IT include Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Romania, Malaysia, Mauritius, Republic of Macedonia (known for mobile software solutions, web software and network solutions), and many others.

Indeed, it pays off well to use external expertise in managing an organization’s IT platform. This is particularly necessary when a company is lacking strong IT expertise. Besides, it is cost-effective to hire an IT vendor. Delegating such complex business function to an expert would help an organization to refocus on its core competencies – this is one of the top benefits of IT outsourcing.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

Outsourcing is a popular practice in today’s business world. Small and large organizations are increasingly outsourcing some or most of their business functions. In previous years, cost-saving was the driving force behind outsourcing. However, outsourcing benefits have gone beyond cost saving. Several aspects of a company’s activities can be outsourced. One of the most outsourced business functions is customer support. This is popularly known as call center. Outsourcing call center brings a lot of benefits in addition to cost saving.

What Type of Business Requires Call Center Outsourcing?

Customer support issue is common with a company that manufactures or distributes technical products. A typical example is companies that manufacture or distribute electronic gadgets. Installation or usage issues would usually arise among customers. Therefore, a lot of customer support tasks are required. Consequently, the company’s budget could be over-stretched. The in-house employees may also be over-tasked. The core activities of the organization would be neglected eventually.

Therefore, outsourcing call center is a worthy decision for the type of company mentioned above, as well as other companies that handle bulk customer support services. An offshore call center can take over routine customer support calls on behalf of a company. Luckily, there are lots of oversea vendors undertaking call center services affordably and effectively. You can find both local vendors and large call centers spread across the ocean.

Tips for Successful Call Center Outsourcing

Generally, the success of any business function outsourcing is hinged largely on vendor selection process. Customers are the life-wire of any business – no customer, no business. Therefore, any business function that involves customer management should be handled delicately. Outsourcing call center shouldn’t be a hurried task, especially the vendor selection process.

Strategic plan is required in hiring a call center vendor. Analyze your company’s customer support needs extensively and choose a vendor based on the outlined needs. No doubts, low cost is highly essential when considering outsourcing. However, it should not be the major driving force when trying to select a vendor for your call center support. Consider other criteria such as the expertise required for the task, and the technology and facilities required for optimum result. You certainly would not want to lose your customers due to poor quality customer support.

So, take heed that you do not end up getting what you paid. On the other hand, if you will end up achieving the best customer support services at the lowest cost possible, you should definitely embrace the offer. However, you must be sure of the service quality beyond any doubt.

Also, success in outsourcing call center requires intensive supervision and monitoring throughout the contract’s life. There should be a well-structured performance measurement to gauge the progress of the contract, as well as the final outcome.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

Virtually all organizational functions can be outsourced. An organization can achieve juicy benefits by hiring outsource services vendor. However, a company needs to analyze the office functions that would be most beneficial when outsourced. As you consider the office functions that can be outsourced, consider the benefits that follow as well. The benefits are the general reasons why organizations embark on outsourcing.

For a small office, it could be helpful to outsource secretarial functions such as confirming appointments, scheduling as well as making travel arrangements. These functions can be outsourced to someone in a different location or on-site. The present dispensation’s technology makes it people for people to work from any part of the world. Interestingly, a small office can share an outsourced secretary across two or more offices, especially when the distance between the offices is close.
Each business comes with its unique functions, and virtually all the functions can be outsourced.

The following office functions can be delegated to outsource services vendor;

Accounting/Financial Functions
There is outsourcing competition in this area. A lot of vendors provide accounting and financial functions, both offshore and in-country. The tasks performed by these outsourcing accountants include preparation of financial statements, payroll processing, general billing functions, and specialized services such as legal and medical billing.

Typing and Transcription
Typing/transcription is also handled by outsource services vendors. It is possible to dictate and send through e-mail, clerical work that requires conversion to written words in a stipulated format. Such clerical tasks can also be sent via regular mail. For instance, a legal organization can leverage the service of a specialized vendor for its legal notes that require conversion.

Customer Support
For a manufacturing or distribution company, support is one of the major issues, especially when the product is technical in nature. One of the effective solutions for support issues is to outsource routine customer support calls. This is usually known as call center outsourcing. By outsourcing a company’s call center, the in-house employees re-focus their attention to the pressing needs of the company. Call center vendors are available in different sizes that would fit the needs of every business. Offshore call center services is common and also effective.

Human Resource (HR)
Human resource functions require a lot of paper work. Therefore, a small company can benefit from outsourcing HR function since it usually has low hire rate. HR outsourcing also include general employees’ administration. Both small and large companies can outsource their human resource functions, especially when it is highly beneficial to do so.

Sales and Marketing
If you are not well knowledgeable in marketing, it is best to delegate this function to professionals. Sales is a sensitive business function, it is the core of a business that yields income. So, the best possible option should be employed in handling a company’s sale functions which include Ads and Campaigns, Public Relations as well as Telemarketing.

All these business functions and more can be handled by outsource services vendor, with lots of benefits to enjoy.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

Certainly, there should be some incentives propelling businesses to outsource their functions. Although there have been some controversial issues around the subject of outsourcing, significant benefits attract companies (both large and small) to outsource. Top tech executives of various companies cannot just place more of their business operations in the hands of overseas workers without cause. In this post, we will review the reasons why organizations contract outsource services.

Lower Cost, Higher Efficiency

This is the major driving factor, a lot of companies achieve significant cost saving without compromising quality. Perhaps, it would cost more to perform such business functions in-house or within the country where the business resides. Amazingly, outsourcing benefits have gone beyond cost saving as you will find out in subsequent reasons why companies outsource operations.

Unstable Political and Business Climate

In 2008, Information Week survey revealed nearly 30% positive responses from CFOs, confirming their uncertainty about business/political climates as one of the major reasons for outsourcing. Of course, it is reasonable for a company’s hiring decision to be partly influenced by political interruptions in business activities, including fears about increased taxes and more unfavorable regulations. So, in addition to cost saving advantage, organizations are also prospecting into the years and even decades ahead as they use outsourcing increasingly to hedge against possible political upheaval that may obstruct business flow.

Small Business Growth Benefit

There’s a general assumption that big organizations hide under the umbrella of outsourcing to lay off their employees and reduce HR cost. However, we should not forget that small businesses are also using outsourcing services increasingly. The main reason is simply “commodification”. This simply implies that small businesses are now capable of paying incrementally for business functions, which were previously affordable to only large corporations. The increasingly low outsourcing service fee charged by offshore vendors has made commodification possible. Thus, immediate cost saving is not the imminent benefit in this scenario; but to achieve rapid growth that wasn’t possible in the past years.

Time to Market is Accelerated

“The first to enter the market usually claims the largest market share”. This timeless business maxim points to another financial incentive for choosing outsourcing. A company achieves accelerated time to market by choosing to outsource some of its business functions. The reason is simple; the outsource services vendors are sufficiently trained and experienced experts in their various outsourcing fields. Therefore, performance speed is faster. Consequently, a company is able to introduce a new product to the market faster than using in-house employees. This also provides a competitive advantage for an organization.

The list of outsourcing benefits is definitely a long one. However, proper selection process is necessary for hiring the right vendor and achieving great benefits ultimately.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

Question: What is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing is a business practice where a company delegates some of its functions to an external company or vendor who is specialized in the outsourced business function. For instance, a company may decide to outsource its IT operations to an IT vendor in Philippines or India.

Question: what is the immediate benefit of outsourcing?

When a company outsources part of its operations, it gains immediate cost-saving advantage. This is particularly true if such company was previously incurring high costs in carrying out the outsourced operation. However, a company must ensure that it is significantly more cost effective to hire outsource services provider than performing the task in-house.

Question: Can a Small Business Embark on Outsourcing?

Sure, small businesses are increasingly using outsourcing to achieve cost and performance efficiency, and to grow their businesses ultimately. In previous years, only the large corporations had access to certain business operation enhancements due to the cost involved in such enhancements. But today, small businesses are able to access those modern enhancements for business growth. This is made possible through outsourcing.

Question: Is outsourcing a risky business decision?

Every other business decision comes with element of risk, so outsourcing is not an exception. And, just as a company can manage the risk resulting from other business decisions, it can also manage potential risks associated with outsourcing. One of the best ways to manage potential risk from outsourcing is to ensure a strong contractual relationship between your company and the outsource services provider. Also, thorough vendor selection process helps to reduce the potential risks associated with outsourcing.

Question: Is cost saving the only benefit of outsourcing?

Certainly not, there is a long list of benefits accruing from outsourcing. They include tax incentives, access to large talent pool, shared risk, increased speed in entering the market and other competitive advantages, staffing flexibility, reduced overhead costs and more.

Question: Is outsourcing a legally binding venture?

As mentioned earlier, providing a strong contractual platform between your company and the outsourcing vendor is a great way to manage potential risks associated with outsourcing. All necessary legal documents should be provided and signed by both parties. There should be extensive provision for compensation, so that a party that suffers breach of contract would be compensated adequately. Contractual certainty is one of the top benefits of business outsourcing.

Finally, when a company contracts outsource services for the right reasons, it will enjoy loads of benefits. Also, the need for proper vendor selection process cannot be overemphasized. Some of the consequences of shabby vendor selection include late delivery, substandard service or no delivery. So, do not be lenient with the vendor hiring process. If you don’t know what to do, contact an expert for help.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

The increasing rate of business outsourcing is not in vain, there must be some incentives that compel companies to outsource some or all of their business functions. Philippines outsource contract is a popular trend. Most businesses prefer to use renowned offshore outsourcing destinations in achieving their business outsourcing needs.

Outsourcing is simply a strategic use of external resources (especially humans along with their material resources) to perform organizational activities that could as well be handled in-house. By embarking on outsourcing, a company contracts out its essential functions to service providers who are specialized, as well as effective in carrying out the contracted functions.

What Compels Companies to Outsource?

Basically, the following incentives compel companies of various sizes and types to outsource their major functions;

• Lower and controlled business operating costs
• Opportunity to access world class expertise and capabilities
• Company’s focus enhancement
• Speeding up turnaround time for process performances
• Maximizing the benefits of the World Wide Web and the internet as a whole
• Sharing the organization’s potential risks with another company
• Internal fund constraint

Initially, the driving force to embark on outsourcing (whether Philippine outsource services or other offshore outsourcing destinations) is cost reduction. However, the reason for outsourcing has metamorphosed to more strategic benefits such as overall improved efficiency in running an organization. Also, outsourcing provides a platform for a company to re-direct its efforts and resources to the core in-house activities that add extra value to the corporate image.

However, successful outsourcing is necessary for maximizing all the benefits inherent in outsourcing. Thus, there are major factors that influence successful outsourcing, they include the following;

• A company that intends to hire Philippines outsource services or other offshore destination outsource services must understand its goals and objectives first.
• Selection of the right outsourcing vendor is highly essential
• A strategic plan and vision is required
• An outsourcing contract must be structured properly
• The parties involved must engage in open communication
• The support and involvement of the senior executives is necessary.

So, achieving outstanding success with outsourcing requires putting the necessary contractual infrastructures in place. First, a company must examine its objectives and goals critically in order to adopt the most suitable outsourcing strategy.

Then, thorough research is required to select the right Philippines outsource vendor or provider from other locations. Specialization in the business area that needs outsourcing is something a company should pay close attention to when hiring an outsourcing vendor.

A company should not completely leave the strategizing to the outsourcing provider, it should have its own strategic plan and vision, so that performance quality can be measured in the light of the vision and plan.

Subsequently, stunning result will accrue from business outsourcing decision.

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com