Just a decade ago outsourcing used to be the elephant in the room of corporate board meetings. Today outsourcing is one of the most prominent professional practices in our globalized economy. Key research conducted in 2013 predicted an annual growth rate of 5.4% over the next four years.
However, outsourcing continues to receive a healthy dose of cynicism from global industries on several fronts. Let us examine and debunk some of the infamous myths associated with outsourcing:
- Saving Money at the Expense of Mediocre Service – Present day outsourcing prioritizes quality customer service over virtually everything else. This has helped lessen the backlash companies received in the past from customers over the practice.
- Excessive Time Investment in Training – Many businesses presume that they need to invest large sums of money in the skills of outsourced employees to make them commensurate with those of domestic workers.
- Language Barriers are Insurmountable – People have a common perception that outsourced firms are unqualified due to language barriers. In reality, the present market is ripe with linguistically empowered outsourcing agents who are both fluent in and contextually aware of the languages they provide. “I use outsourced contractors from all over the world, and I’ve never encountered a severe issue with language that has led to the failure of a project,” says Jason Carroll, Digital Media Strategist at Rand Group. The truth is, outsourced contractors, regardless of location, can make great assets to companies on the other side of the globe, as long as you outline expectations and tasks clearly and interview candidates to ensure language abilities are up the standard necessary for completing the project.
- Lack of Management Control Over Workers – Clients feel disempowered when they do not have direct control over their business operations, which is traditionally why companies have been reluctant to outsource their work. The innovation of sophisticated cross-platform business tools now facilitates real-time monitoring of results produced by outsourcing agents, meaning companies remain fully in control.
- Heavy Duty Launch Investment – Massive initial set-up costs associated with outsourcing have proven themselves major deterrents to businesses until now. As compared to the past, information management and cloud-based solutions have advanced to a point that now allows companies to kick start the outsourcing of operations, without incurring huge costs.
However, it is not uncommon to see numerous outsourcing firms specializing across different industry sectors, which are then able to cater specifically to your needs without any additional costly spending.
