4 Strategies For Successfully Outsourcing

Startups have to deal with a lot of tasks simultaneously. They can make use of simple tools to streamline these seemingly unrelated tasks such as bookkeeping with accounting software, updating each other on the progress with communication apps, or even automate marketing strategies with the help of email platforms.

In spite of the added advantages and benefits these tools bring to the table, a business cannot survive without the required manpower to keep things running smoothly. Especially for startups, the world of outsourcing provides ample solutions to their growing requirements of human resources. Outsourcing is an effective strategy to acquire talent at a competitive rate.

Unlike other tools, outsourcing is not a “plug and play” tool and requires some implementations steps and a calculated approach from your side as well to integrate outsourced members into your team seamlessly. Let’s discuss how you can achieve that effectively.

Establish proper communication channels

It doesn’t matter if you have an in-house team or just remote employees. An effective communication channel is key for a startup to succeed. A general rule of thumb is to make sure that your entire team speaks a common language, especially if you’re trying to outsource people for teams that require frequent communication across departments such as sales and marketing.

A good communication channel that is incredibly useful is Slack, which allows your team to organize your communications effectively into specific channels and threads for easy access.

Get yourself a virtual office

In order to integrate a remote team, you should have a robust digital work ecosystem that has all the basic requirements such as project management tools, communication channels and other cloud-based SaaS platforms. Basecamp, is a good example that provides a centralised hub for all your task management, communication and media-sharing requirements.

There are various options available on the market as well, before choosing a cloud-based tool, make sure you check all the available features to make the right decision. It’s important to prioritize the parameters that are important to you so that you can avoid paying for features that you don’t need.

Take a look at agencies

Though agencies are in general costlier than individual service providers, they also come with their own benefits. For example, most design based agencies have an interdependent team that is already used to working together on various projects. So, you can save a lot of time on trying to find a set of freelancers who work together and rather pick up an agency that guarantees the quality of outputs in line with your goals.

It’s also a lot simpler to evaluate the efficiency of an agency, by taking look at their official websites and their online portfolios, along with testimonials on credible third party forums.

Make use of escrows

A good number of startups these days depend a lot on one particular piece of software or technology for their management and other requirements. With the help of a software escrow, you will be able to access all the software’s source code in case the vendor goes out of business or is no longer able to sustain it effectively.

If you are running a software startup, then from your point of view, offering deals that comes with escrows is one of the simplest way to build trust and attract customers who are worried about your limited track record. It takes away any reason for doubt from your company’s financial performance, making it a lot easier to emphasize on the feature list of your product.

I hope this article was useful for you to learn more about how you can make the most out of outsourcing by employing some of these easy and simple to implement strategies. If you have any doubts with regards to this, let us know through the comments and we will be glad to help you out. If you have any suggestions regarding how we can improve the article, let us know them through the comments as well for us to improve.

Do you have any other reservations against trying these strategies yourself? Do you have any other strategy that you would suggest to someone who is starting to outsource? What is your opinion on outsourcing and the allied activities in general? Do you think it can help you add more value and scale faster?  Let us know through the comments.