10 Tips to help your Small Business with Outsourcing

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Is outsourcing only for big businesses? Can only large corporations leverage the manifold benefits of outsourcing? Not at all. Today, even small businesses, SME or start-ups can make a success out of outsourcing. No matter the size or nature of your business, outsourcing can definitely help you to reduce costs, increase productivity and save on effort. Here are ten tips to help your company with the outsourcing process.

  1. Clearly define the scope of your outsourcing project before accepting outsourcing proposals. A brief that is poorly defined can attract low quality proposals that can end up being more expensive than what you expected.
  2. Resist the temptation of signing up with the very first outsourcing vendor. Wait until you have a couple of proposals and then evaluate each one of them, before finalizing on a vendor.
  3. Don’t make the mistake of choosing a vendor only based on cost. Make sure that you also check on other factors like experience, skills sets and technology used.
  4. Make up a list of all that you want out of the outsourcing relationship. Do not be afraid to negotiate with the vendor to get the best possible deal for your outsourced project.
  5. Ask the vendor to provide you with references of people who have partnered with them earlier. Get in touch with these references and ask them about the quality of work provided by the vendor.
  6. Misunderstanding in an outsourcing relationship can end up being costly and time consuming. To avoid this, ensure that all the agreement and payment terms are clearly set out in the outsourcing contract.
  7. Remember to negotiate about ownership and copyright rights at the very beginning, so that the completed work becomes your property after payment. If you are outsourcing a web-based product, ensure that the source code and final files are transferred to your server, so that you can easily make changes in the future.
  8. Hold a meeting with the vendor to decide about project management, communication, delivery and feedback. During the course of the project, make sure that the vendor adheres to what has been decided.
  9. Make sure that you do not agree for late delivery of work or early payment frequently, so that the vendor does not make it a habit.
  10. Do not restrain from providing the vendor with honest feedback about their work, even if it is negative. This will help the vendor understand how to meet your needs better.

What other tip can you think of adding to this list? Let us know. 

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