For some companies, the primary advantage of outsourcing is cost savings, while for some it’s to increase efficiency. Despite its many benefits, it doesn’t come without risks. There are some mistakes that first timers can make and there are challenges of outsourcing that you need to learn how to overcome. Let’s go through some of the most common outsourcing challenges and what strategies you can create to overcome them.
Managing Expectations
When someone tells you that you can solve your business problems with outsourcing, it’s easy to fall into the line of thinking that it’ll solve all your problems. It’s important to remember that an outsourced team is filled with highly skilled experts who are great at what they do, but they’re not there to run your entire company for you.
When you’re using outsourcing for customer service support, this doesn’t mean that they’ll also be handling your data analytics. Similarly, a single virtual assistant cannot do the work of five people.
To manage expectations, you need to have a clear idea of what it is you aim to achieve with outsourcing. Review what aspects of your business processes you can do best and which ones you can outsource. Define your outsourcing strategy and goals, whether it’s cost savings, increasing efficiency, or optimizing processes. Once you have those ready, it’s easier for your outsourcing provider to match you with the personnel that can help you achieve your goals.
Project Control and Decision-making
When outsourcing for the first time, roles and expectations can often become unclear. One of the major outsourcing issues you can come across are unsaid assumptions about the workflow or management of a task which could lead to miscommunication or misunderstandings.
When hiring an outsource team, it’s important to clearly define their responsibilities and control over the task. You also need to establish KPIs and milestone goals to help track the process’ effectiveness. Reputable outsourcing companies typically have structured monitoring processes in place for this purpose. With your team located in an office, team leaders and managers provide direct oversight and immediate support. Quality Assurance (QA) ensures high standards, and employee engagement initiatives help keep staff motivated despite the team being remote.
Language Barriers and Cultural Differences
Clear and open communication is a key factor in successful outsourcing. It’s important to highlight English proficiency when looking for an outsource team. This is why companies outsource to the Philippines which ranks 22nd out of 111 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index.
Cultural differences that affect communication could present themselves in the nonverbal cues between two speakers, like tone, which might not translate well between teams from different backgrounds. The best way to overcome these differences and difficulties is to open more channels of communication such as video calls over Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet. Work management platforms are also a great way to keep track of each team member’s workload and provide an effective way to collaborate between in-house and outsourced teams.
Data Security
One of the challenges of outsourcing is finding a provider that you can entrust with your data and intellectual properties. You open yourself to a lot of risks when working with a remote team that has digital access to your business plans, files, and assets.
With the increase of digital platform usage, all businesses need to have strict data handling protocols to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks and data breaches.
What’s great about outsourcing is that BPO providers absorb the costly burden of ensuring data security and compliance with data regulation laws. FGC+, for example, offers end-to-end encryption for all communication channels and a highly regulated workforce that’s barred from having personal devices in-office, on top of having a dedicated IT team working 24/7 year-round.
In Conclusion
Deciding to outsource is a huge step for any company and the more informed you are, the easier and more successful the transition will be. You need to find a trustworthy outsourcing provider that can address your outsourcing issues and concerns and provide you with the guidance and resources to meet your goals.
FGC+ might be the BPO company you’re looking for! With us as your strategic and supportive end-to-end outsourcing partner, you can then focus on what you do best!