Tips for Transforming Your Bad Outsourcing Experience into Good

Tips for Transforming Your Bad Outsourcing Experience into Good

You certainly must have heard enough success stories about how outsourcing helps in freeing up time, saving a significant amount of cost and access to a highly-skilled team.

There is no need to look for more proof. Outsourcing is a huge step to grow your business effectively.

If your first reaction of your product or services was, ‘hey, this was not what I was expecting.’

Don’t think it is the end of the world.

There is a possibility that you may have collaborated with unreliable offshore company and this is  the reason you are not satisfied with the final outcome.

There are some tips to follow that will transform your bad outsourcing experience into a good one:

1) Unsure about Outsourcing Tasks

Outsourcing team There is a There is a possibility that you don’t have an idea about what tasks to outsource, so you do it randomly.

Solution:

Outsourcing, like any other business aspect, requires a specific goal, plan, and execution.

Start with what you have to outsource. The most practical way to do this is to make a list.

You must know what you are good at. Have a look at the complete list carefully and remove the tasks that your team can do efficiently.

When you have a specialized team that will work for you, delegate tasks to them that are relevant to their skills.

You may have a good team but at times, there is so much work that they get overloaded with tasks.

2) Followed a Common Approach

Outsourcing 2021

Issue:  You must have followed a common approach of hiring a development company and asking them to start working right away.

Do you know what is the difference between your strategy and your competitors? Well, they follow a well-thought approach.

Solution:

You know that outsourcing offers endless opportunities and advantages.

But the offshore development companies are plenty and each one claims to provide the best.

Therefore, it is very important to define the project requirements upfront. The offshore development company needs specific and complete information so that they present to you a realistic proposal and ask you to choose a flexible engagement model.

Discuss them about the delivery and the way you want them to work.

3) You Lose Control of the Project

Outsourcing india

Issue: Feeling that you have lost control of the project and have no idea what tasks are taking place?

There is a way to sort this out.

Solution:

Before moving ahead, make sure you have answers to the following questions:

Does the remote team has complete control over business aspects?

Do they utilize communication tools effectively?

Well, remote development teams are always good at managing tasks that require a lot of time and resources while involving you in the complete process.

It is important for the company to stick to Agile development methodology to get the best results. This helps everyone (in-house and offshore team) to stay on the same page.

4) Your project is not their priority

Outsourcing cost

 

When the offshore team deals with low morale and an unprofessional attitude, it is certainly a concern. There may be a possibility that the same virtual team is working on different other projects and not giving priority to your work.

Pessimist developers hamper work productivity. Don’t take anyone’s word about work quality for granted.

Solution:

Hiring reliable offshore companies helps to overcome this challenge.

On a brighter note, work accomplished by experienced professionals is often very creative. Hire a team that has clear communication and superb problem-solving skills.

5) Poor Quality Services

Outsourcing services

Issue:

You must have heard that low cost means low-quality services. Poor quality is the result of poor communication and inefficient team skills.

Solution:

The product/service quality should not be negotiated. Reliable outsourcing providers value the reputation most of all.

This is the reason why service quality is a priority for established companies in this sphere.

The best is to check the company’s portfolio. Learn about their expertise, read testimonials from clients, check accreditation, review ratings from Clutch & GoodFirms.

Indian outsourcing service providers have already proved themselves. They follow Six Sigma standards and CMM certifications.

Evaluate the Offshore company like you are hiring full-time employees. When you are evaluating the proposals of the remote development company, ask as many questions that come to your mind.

Just like hiring a full-time employee, hiring offshore developers is a very subjective experience.

Cross-check the references and ask for feedback from the previous clients.

If the company created an app, download it from PlayStore and use it to know the experience.

6) Developers lack business perception

Outsourcing agency

Issue:

You did not see any enthusiasm of developers who are working on your project.

They are simply working for the sake of completing the tasks and did not come up with any new ideas and implementations.

Solution:

Offshore specialists are enthusiastic professionals that adapt the organizational culture and follow international standard.

Here is what you can do. Conduct interactive sessions like meetings. This will help in creating close relationships and a collaborative environment. This further improves productivity thereby resulting in high-quality services.

7) Selecting the wrong offshore company

Outsourcing companies

Issue:

It has been noticed that the idea of offshoring projects leads to fear. When it comes to the implementation of tasks, there is a sense of uncertainty.

Choosing the right offshore development remote company is the bedrock on which the outsourcing process depends.

If there is any flaw in the election process, frustration goes to another level.

Solution:

Rather than hiring new employees in-house every now and then, isn’t it better to outsource?

The service provider should be selected very carefully as per your business requirements.

Before signing the contract you should be ascertained by type and tenure of the contract.

The experienced professionals helps your already existing team to learn new things and then implement them later whenever required.

Moreover, before hiring, the key performance indicators should be monitored.

8) Uncertain Deadline

Outsourcing benefits

Issue:

Time management is the main issue for every organization. There may be a case when the project did not get completed due to ‘XYZ’ reasons.

Solution:

Preparing to-do lists, prioritizing and planning are important if time has to be utilized diligently.

Offshore developers should know how to successfully manage time and avoid the circumstances of rushing to get the tasks finished.

Have a clear discussion with the remote team that they have to strictly adhere to the committed time as this is the basic principle of professionalism.

Talk to their previous clients and ask them if the company was able to satisfy them completely.

From here you will get honest feedback about the offshore team and then you can come to a conclusion whether or not you have to hire tor not.

9) Cultural Barriers makes collaboration challenging

Yourteamindia

Issue:

Language and cultural barriers are one of the biggest concerns of IT outsourcing.

Cultural hindrances take place only when companies don’t follow simple guidelines.

Solution:

Every company has different cultural values in terms of accountability, load balancing, interaction, feedback, time management, business etiquette, etc. All belief in following their cultures.

It is important that the developers you hire have language competency and have good experience working with foreign clients.

They know how to tackle different situations and understand cultural differences.

Here are tips to manage cultural gaps when you outsource your project:

  • Create a set of guidelines you want your remote team should follow during the process.
  • Educate your offshore service provider regarding the corporate culture, work ethics, values, and communication style. For example, if your client is based in Germany, encourage your offshore service provider to learn at least basic German.
  • Well, to understand and address the cultural gap, there has to be mutual support and cooperation between you and the outsourcing company.
  • For a successful experience, it is important to respect the cultural norms of each other while creating a long-term business relationship.

10) Huge Time Difference

Outsourcing team yourteamindia

There are 24 standard time zones globally and each is separated from the adjacent by one hour.

So the difference between you and your remote team can be up to 24 hours.

As this is quite high, you may have experienced communication issues and non-updation of the process.

Solution:

An essential thing that you should do is to establish comfortable overlapping hours.

This will be the time when both the parties will be available. The most efficient way to utilize the time is to conduct daily scrums or discuss the project or issues, get feedback and overcome loopholes.

Once successful overlapping takes place, decide the management tools so that you can communicate conveniently.

11) Compromising privacy and security

YTII

Privacy and data breaches are the two things that take businesses away from outsourcing.

When security and personal information is at stake, no company trusts a partner blindly.

Solution:

The reality is, every offshore company strives hard to earn the trust of their customers and establish credibility.

If any company mismanages your data and breaches take place, the offshore company will lose its reputation for life.

Reliable offshore development companies follow these guidelines to secure sensitive information:

Make sure the offshore team takes all the precautions to detect potential threats and they have a solution to the issues.

Align in-house security standards along with outsourcing partners

Make sure the offshore companies take the initiative of signing the Non-Disclosure Agreement 

12) Management is always an issue

offshore companies 2021

Issue:

Failure to create an effective communication program can put tasks in jeopardy.

You and your offshore company are never on the same page.

They don’t update you regarding the current status and changes that are being made.

The communication is unclear and you have a blur idea about what is actually happening.

Solution:

Good communication leads to a successful project. Clarity of objectives can be done by sharing information in an effective manner.

Establishing clear communication strategies, channels and standardizing formats are the key elements for overcoming barriers. Make sure you are proactive with the company.

India being the home to the most talented professionals makes outsourcing a big hit.

It is important for the business to weigh all the parameters thoroughly before choosing the right offshore development team.

As the pressure of huge volumes of work, cost-effectiveness, strict deadlines, cultural and language barriers,  outsourcing may turn messy.

So, make sure you detect the issues in advance with the right strategies and manage all risks efficiently.

With thoughtfulness and single-mindedness, pre-plan strategies and make the transition smoothly scaling.

To attain a positive result and good experience, both parties should strive hard to make a big impact.

13) The hidden cost is an issue

 offshore companies india 2021

Issue:

One of the biggest challenges of offshoring is the possibility of incurring hidden costs.

It has been proved that outsourcing saves up to 60% but if you are paying for hidden costs, what is the use?

Solution:

Luckily this hidden cost issue can be easily resolved when you clearly ask the vendor if there is a hidden cost that exists.

By choosing the right engagement model and building a powerful internal process, you can manage the overall development cost.

Final Note

Over the years, outsourcing has become the major player of growth for many companies internationally.

But there are a few bad experiences companies may have faced because of a lack of knowledge and strategies

With outsourcing IT services, it becomes easy to free valuable resources and aim at what matters the most.

They believe in turning your business into your brand with marketing, product development and improving customer relationships. Hire offshore developers; learn, grow and evolve. 

Mangesh Gothankar

Mangesh Gothankar

Seasoned technology professional with over 19 years of experience leading technology innovation and execution with startups and MNCs. Experience in hiring and creating multiple world-class technology teams. Results-oriented with a passion for technology, recognized for successfully planning and executing major initiatives.