How to Choose the Best Outsourcing Company

Outsourcing has been a new norm in the business community today. It helps to reduce operating costs and increase the scalability of a growing business. Nevertheless, it has never been an easy job in choosing a suitable partner for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services. 

One of the main reasons for outsourcing is because you do not have the one with the right skill set to handle a particular task, and so you might want to pass it to someone who is more skilled or professional. But what is actually stopping you from doing so? Maybe it’s not the best time to outsource yet? Or probably the fear of screwing up the tasks or the undesired quality of output by the outsourcing company. 

It's all about forming a good partnership when it comes to outsourcing. Choosing a potential firm to outsource is never the same as selecting a typical service provider as you will be entering a long-term and contractual partnership with the company. Following are some best practices to help you in determining the best outsourcing company for your business: 

Ways to Choosing the Right Outsourcing Company

Proven and Established Track Record

Trust is a great aspect of all relationships. You will not want to pass your tasks to someone you don’t trust. Before finalizing on an outsourcing partner, always check on their past projects or clients as it is the best way to find out more about the company’s capabilities and experiences. There should be no spaces of tolerance for goof-ups or any irresponsible action by the outsourced company. Therefore, it is always good to get reviews from its past or even existing clients in order to learn about more in-depth information like turnaround time or accountability of the company. A company with an established track record is often perceived to be providing more value and has a better performance based on previous projects or accomplishments, thus developing a stronger market reputation and credibility and eliminating the need for you to take a leap of faith.

Market Reputation

With modern technology nowadays, it is relatively easy to check on a company’s history and reputation - make sure you don’t skip this step! Quality is something that no company can afford to neglect so it’s critical to make research on the outsourcing partner’s market reputation before proceeding to sign a contract. No company wants to work with a business partner that is being uncooperative or consistently misses the deadlines of the project. Always make sure that the outsourcing partner has the ability to deliver the most preferred output in deadlines given. A good outsourcing partner should be able to fit greatly into the organization and fulfil your business needs. In most cases, only choose a company if you’re confident enough or fully convinced by its solid market reputation and is able to align with your business goals.

Technical Skill and Expertise

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to outsourcing. Technical skill and expertise, being one of the most important factors in choosing a good outsourcing company, are often overlooked by the majority of business owners. It's not a good idea to make decisions solely on the lowest reported price as work of higher quality usually comes with a higher price too. Evaluating the technical competency should be the first thing to do when you are considering a company. You will want a team of experts to handle the tasks outsourced to them instead of a group of amateurs. This ensures that the outsourced company has the adequate knowledge and expertise to complete the tasks given. Besides, a company can have a different technical potential that might or might not suit your business needs. Analyzing and deciding on which of them match your requirements better to find the most ideal company with the right expertise and skills for the tasks.

Infrastructure and Technology

Sometimes you might not have the required infrastructure to complete a specific task, that’s why you choose to outsource. But take note, sometimes your outsourcing partner might not have them too! Before you start to outsource, pay a visit to the company’s site if necessary. Make sure that the company is equipped with up-to-date and comprehensive infrastructure and technology to complete the tasks. A well-structured infrastructure often means that the company is able to scale better and can act as an added competitive advantage to your business as well. Besides, system compatibility can be a challenge to the path of outsourcing too on some occasions. Your money should be better spent in growing the business instead of on expensive data migration costs due to the failure of integration between the new system and your existing system. 

Data Security and Emergency Planning

Security and privacy are some of the biggest concerns for any business nowadays. Not to mention, by outsourcing it simply means that you agree to share the data and information of your business clients with a third party. Therefore, it’s can be your responsibility to make sure that the outsourcing company has effective data management to provide protection to the confidentiality and integrity of the client data. You need to ensure that the company is using the latest security technology to secure the data, preventing any data breaches from happening. Other than that, a good emergency planning is a must to safeguard any information from corruption or loss. The company should be able to protect your data with a set of backup policies and data recovery solutions that allow you to retrieve the data in case of any data loss. 

Communication and Transparency

Outsourcing is no plug-and-play deal, it requires good communication between both parties to ensure successful outsourcing. Always start with creating a clear scope and description of the job before starting to reach out to a potential outsourcing company. Highlight your objectives and business goals to the company and tell them what is the most optimal expectation of output. Regular review and feedback are important as well during various stages of the tasks to stay updated about the progress, and most importantly keep the whole communication transparent. It takes efforts from both parties to achieve transparency. However, it is worth the effort, as a success only comes with trust, and trust comes with transparency. 

Things to Take Note Before Start Outsourcing

The majority of businesses want the most cost-efficient way to run their business operations, while outsourcing can help with that. In fact, big companies like Apple, IBM and Nike opt to outsource part of their manufacturing processes to overseas company too. But remember, outsourcing is no magic wand, there are still considerations to bear in mind while choosing the right outsourcing partner for your business. Without a clearly defined goal, rushing into an outsourcing choice might lead to misplaced expectations and excessive managerial overhead. On the other hand, choosing the right partner for it can definitely add significant value to your company, so are you ready?