3 Warning Bells Before You Think of Outsourcing

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Outsourcing is a wonderful option when it comes to leveraging your time and depending further on your core-competence. It falls well in line with the maxim that you must do what you are best doing and let others take care of everything else. However, like most things, outsourcing has its own lacunae and it is best to be aware of them. You shouldn’t be outsourcing if:

1. You have to train people from scratch: Can you imagine the patience required and the precious time lost in trying to educate people on what “wordpress” is, how to use collaboration software that you had deployed for effective remote workers’ management? Do you realize how pain-staking it would be to tell them what is expected and actually “teach” them the very skill you wanted them to be masters at? Just what is the point in training them to do something you could have very well done it yourself? Outsourcing is like a pain-killer, it is expected to relieve you off your pain of having to do repetitive, mundane tasks or those tasks that you have no expertise in doing. So, isn’t training people to do things from scratch a pure act of self-infliction of pain?
2. You don’t have visible margins: Outsourcing is supposed to save you money and is one way of boosting profits. It is a way to ensure that you get great talent for less. If you don’t see a visible difference while outsourcing and if you can’t place your finger on how much exactly you stand to gain from the act of outsourcing. Don’t outsource because everyone is talking about it; do it only if you find it profitable and if it puts money in your wallet.
3. You have too much to get done: If you look to fill in positions in your company – like finding writers, designers and graphic specialists for working on huge volumes, you should be looking to see if you can get some commendable talent for a lower wage. That explains why al the work heads to developing countries. Sometimes, going by the hourly wages that freelancers usually set for themselves, it just won’t work in your favor. It might prove to be expensive to hire a freelancer if you have unending amounts  of work to be done. It is in these cases that a full-time worker (or even a fixed- retainer for the freelancer will do).

Outsourcing is reality; but it isn’t for everyone. Outsourcing saves money but it just might not for everyone. You look at your bottomlines first before you take any decsions because when it hits you; it can kill you.