Despite a great number of advantages, there are still some setbacks that businesses often encounter when outsourcing. These mistakes often result to failures, added costs, and time loss. Learning about these possible traps and how to avoid them can significantly help in making your outsourcing journey a success. Hence, if you are planning to outsource, you may want to steer away from these common blunders:
Neglecting the Importance of Cultural Fit and Communication
If you are looking to outsource, even for non-voiced tasks, never ignore soft skills. As an extension of your in-house team, your offshore team should be able to seamlessly integrate into your culture and that of your clients. Make sure that they are eloquent enough in your language to avoid miscommunication. Failing to grasp cultural differences and communication barriers can delay outputs and even lead to business loss.
Researching the country or location to outsource to can be helpful. Check for language proficiency, time zone differences, cultural beliefs and constraints.
In Asia, Philippines is fast becoming an outsourcing hub for American and Australian companies. A former colony of US, the country has adapted various Western influences including proficiency in the English language.
Setting High Expectations, But Failing to Establish Metrics
Whatever task you’re outsourcing, establishing performance metrics right from the start is important. If outsourcing means taking processes out of your sight, then you need to establish standards to still ensure the quality of the output.
Take the time to define responsibilities and implement measurable goals and benchmarks. The earlier you do it in the process, the more likely you are to avoid miscommunication with your outsourced team. Moreover, anticipate sensible and practical results so as not to set yourself up for disappointment. Create an improvement strategy instead. If your standards or expectations have not been met, you need to quickly identify the things that are not going as planned and reciprocate a remedy.
Lack of Research and Jumping in Too Quickly
Some businesses are too eager to offload their work to their outsourcing partner without first understanding the complexities. Signing up the right talent or the right outsourcing partner without conducting a thorough research is a common blunder that most businesses make. They often base their decisions on cost-efficiency. Remember, however, that while cost is an important factor, it’s not the be-all-end-all of outsourcing.
There are a couple of areas you should research to make sure you are on the right track. Make time for preparation. If you’re not sure where to start, Ask Maquiraya and Associates, Inc. We offer outsourcing roadmaps that will make you more confident about outsourcing to the Philippines.