Welcome to Outsourcing Using the Internet

What Is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the process of engaging a third party, who may be an individual or organization outside of your business/company, within your locality or even anywhere outside your country globally, to handle certain business activities for you or your company.

Outsourcing is a common business practice that allows individuals or corporate bodies of all sizes to achieve a lot and grow business as and when they need it, without major risk of capacity building, incompetence, inability to meet goals, or considerable investment.

Sometimes in business, as skilled as you may be, there are things that you are unable to do.

You may need to possess certain tools, like software in your business for you to achieve some goals, or grow or make more money.

One of your customers may come through with a very specific project. Although you are able to accomplish major part of the project, but there may be a part or more of the job that pose(s) some problems and prevents you from completing the task.

At this point, you may be thinking of turning down the offer, but this totally unnecessarily as outsourcing to the right caliber of people or companies would get the project completed professionally. With the Internet and freelancers at your disposal, you have ready access to a competent skill base online that you can easily use to complete that job efficiently and professionally even if you on your own feel incompetent to handle those areas.

Assuming you’re in a situation and specialized in a particular profession. It may just be that a job comes through that involves areas that may take too much of your time or where you are not conversant, you’re not experienced in those areas to complete the project. With the use of some contacts, you could pay for the services of a person who is capable and experienced in that part of the job. By paying them to take those duties on, you can accept the job and move forward.

There are many workers out there who do business via the Internet, and to contact them all you need to do is pick up the phone. If you cannot complete a job all by yourself, but it will pay well, there is no need to give up. Just log on, find a contact and get the job done.

 

Reasons (Benefits) for Outsourcing Using the Internet

What are the major reasons why individuals and companies would want to hire people that work as third party organizations? Why the need for outsource? Here are a few common reasons that can help explain the some of the major reasons:

  • Cost Effectiveness.

More of the time, outsourcing helps to save money. This in many cases may be due to cheaper labor costs, cheaper infrastructure, or an advantageous tax system in the outsourcing location.

Also, working with an outsourcing vendor, removes the cost of advertisement for job positions, interview, selection process, and as well as the cost of training the new in-house employees, specialized software, all of which can be expensive and time-consuming.

Additionally, outsourcing can help reduce overhead costs which are beneficial. With most companies providing service, you can have a predictable, recurring budget. This can help you to guard against unanticipated allocation of money and resources to maintain certain functions within your organization.

 

  • Access to skills that may not be unavailable within the organization or even locally.

Resources that are not available within an organization or locality can sometimes be found in abundance elsewhere.  This makes outsourcing the most reasonable option.

 

  • Makes the internal resources more productive.

When some of your business processes that a third party has comparative advantage is outsourced, it helps your in-house employees to have more time to focus on more area of specialization and meaningful tasks.

 

  • Ability to scale up.

Outsourcing gives you the ability to work with new clients and take on new projects without having to spend time on the processes of doing all the work.

 

  • It’s A Time Saver

It leaves you and your team free to work on your core business. When you hand over your marketing tasks to a third party, it frees up time across the board. The several hours spent on developing marketing strategies and writing them out to implement by your work force, managing your lists, developing social media marketing strategies, using internet outsourcing, can save you those hours.

 

  • To Get Professional Service

It’s a lot easier than ever to find highly experienced and affordable workers online who can handle various aspects including your company support while implementing effective strategies on your behalf.

 

  • Do More With Less

With various outsourcing services that are available both online and offline, you can give some specialized functions to a capable third party. Outsourcing gives you the opportunity to work on multiple channels without putting much stress on your team.

You can hire an expert in internet marketing, a webmaster to quickly update your website, and a social media expertmedia  who is versatile on various social to automate your social platforms.

 

  • Gain Access to Specialized Technologies

When you outsource, you enjoy the benefit of working with professionals who in most cases are likely to use the latest, cutting-edge technologies for marketing, analytics, automation, without you having to invest in additional software or tools in other to catch up with competition.

 

  • Uninterrupted workflow.

You can run your business efficiently round the clock as the in-house staff and the outsourcing team can work combining resources together.

 

  • Accelerated business processes.

When you stop wasting time on time-consuming processes that can easily be outsourced, you’ll be able to move forward with your core processes much faster.

 

  • Easily Leverage Expertise.

When you outsource, you’re getting an expert in the field of your choice. They are most often experience in their areas of specialization, and also provide resources that get more effective results for you.

 

  • Accelerated Growth.

Outsourcing gives you the advantage of getting qualified experts to handle various aspects that may be daunting to your team, until your work force catch up. You can also use outsourcing to provide the best hands and ideas hands for new product launches with your staff, and other areas that require a temporary boost in your marketing expansion

 

The Disadvantages of Outsourcing

  • Time difference. Time difference can at times adversely affect  flow of communication flow between the vendor  and the freelancing partner.
  • Unexpected Hidden Costs  Most often, outsourcing work is cheaper, but if you don’t study the terms carefully and clear every grey area, you may end up with unexpected costs and get ripped off.
  • Loss of Confidentiality or Security Risks The risk of losing sensitive data and the loss of confidentiality
  • Long distances It may become necessary for the outsourcing vendor to make a business trip that may be  expensive.
  • Lack of customer focus External agencies or freelancers may have to cater for the needs of many organizations at the same time. This may hinder the vendor to completely focus on your organization’s tasks
  • Language barriers There are at times when one of the two parties may not be able to communicate effectively because of language barrier. It is important for the vendor and the outsourcing partner should be able to at least communicate fluently in one language in common.
  • Different work habits, which can be the result of different cultural environments, can interrupt your established workflow and will definitely need getting used to.

 

Dos & Don’t Of Outsourcing Using the Internet

Thinking of it as a non-Internet situation for the moment, imagine that you were an interior redecorator who specialised in hanging wallpaper, painting and plastering. It may just be that a job comes through that involves all of that plus laying a hardwood floor. You’re good, but you’re not experienced in laying down floors. With the use of some contacts, you could pay for the services of a person who is capable and experienced in that part of the job. By paying them to take those duties on, you can accept the job and move forward.

There are many workers out there who do business via the Internet, and to contact them all you need to do is pick up the phone. If you cannot complete a job all by yourself, but it will pay well, there is no need to give up. Just log on, find a contact and get the job done.

 

Where To Find People To Work For You

There are a number great sources to outsource online. Some of them are put below.

  1. Upwork.com

Upwork was formerly known as oDesk, but merged with Elance in 2013. Upwork is a very  good choice when you have a task you want done and want to pay by the hour.

 

Mode Of Operation:

Payments are based on hours worked, or completed jobs.

You only pay only for verified time spent working for you. With the Upwork’s Work Diary software you to monitor each of team members activity levels (keyboard and mouse activity), and feedback, as well as web cams and screenshots of their computer to make workers more accountable.

 

  1. Guru.com

Guru is also a good option if you are looking to work with a US based provider.

Mode Of Operation:

You pay for completed projects.

 

    1. Elance.com

This is one of the best places to outsource. Though outsourcing at Elance can most often be more expensive, you definitely get high quality work done. It’s very uncommon to have negative experience with workers hired from Elance.

Mode Of Operation:

You can hire by the hour or by the project and then track progress in your “Workroom” where you can “View and manage work-in-progress online instead of on-site. Messages, screenshots, files and completed work are automatically saved here”. One nifty feature is the ability to invite co-workers to join your Workroom as needed.

  1. Fiverr.com
  2. Freelancer.com

Mode Of Operation:

When you hire a worker you need to create payment milestones, as milestones are completed, payment is released.

Payments: based on milestones, or completed work.

Fees: Here’s where it gets messy:

  1. Craigslist.org

Mode Of Operation:

While “Outsourcing” is not specifically an outsoucing organization, Craigslist is still a very useful local resource for finding freelancers. You can still get good and cheap work, depending on your location and the size of the city where you are resident. However, you should note that unlike Elance or Odesk, Craigslist does not protect you  if you are just hiring someone to work for you online.

 

  1. RentACoder.com

Mode Of Operation:

  1. WarriorForum.com

Mode Of Operation:

 

  1. Sitepoint.com

Mode Of Operation:

 

  1. Onlinejobs.ph

Mode Of Operation: