technology in the classroom: Business Outsourcing: 10 Tips to Get You Started

Business Outsourcing: 10 Tips to Get You Started

Posted by Chris Nesbitt on Fri, Oct 07, 2011

By:?Chris Nesbitt, Client Advisory Director at Huntington Copper

Yesterday, we discussed?5 Reasons Your Business Should Consider Outsourcing. You may hesitate to hire workers you never met in person, and you may find it difficult to trust them to complete projects for your company on time and within budget. Yet large and small businesses have embraced outsourcing as a way to efficiently and cost-effectively handle services and projects related to accounting, marketing, payroll, public relations, distribution, and information technology.

If you have not yet tried outsourcing, here are 10 tips to get you started:

Seek out several firms. Ask other business owners for recommendations. Conduct research online, where you will find plenty of listings for companies looking for partners.?
Require potential outsourcing partners to provide references. Interview their clients to get a sense of how reliable and flexible they are. Depending on the work you plan to outsource, ask about their expertise, their knowledge of legal issues, or their understanding of pertinent regulations.?
Choose the company that best understands the requirements of the job and make sure it can fulfill them. Do not base your hiring decision on price alone. Craft your contract so that your agreement can be adjusted if your company experiences unforeseen changes.
Spell out your expectations in your contract. Outline the details of the job as well as your company's performance standards. Clarify how you will measure the success of the agreement.
Take the time to educate and train your outsourcing partner. Be as specific as possible. Appoint a reliable employee as a contact they can call on whenever they have questions.
Hold regularly scheduled meetings with your outsourcing partner. Frequent communication will allow you to review progress and check accuracy while ensuring accountability. Staying in touch is particularly important when working with a new outsourcing partner.
Take advantage of new technology that makes it easier to work with outsourcing partners, no matter where they are located. For instance, online telecommunications tools like Skype or iChat enable you to communicate instantly and inexpensively, while PayPal allows you to immediately receive invoices and deposit payments directly into workers' bank accounts.
Protect against the possibility that your outsourcing partner will not deliver as planned. Make copies of all files and documents you provide. Consider alternatives well in advance so you won't have to scramble to complete the job yourself.
Structure payment in a way that gives your outsourcing partner an incentive to successfully complete the project. You could break it into two parts and charge a fixed price for the part that remains unchanged, and an hourly fee for the second part that changes as it progresses.
Move slowly. If you're not sure outsourcing will work for your company, try one small job at first. Expand the relationship when you become more comfortable.