| Is Outsourcing for Me? |
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One of the primary reasons to consider outsourcing is when a project is outside your company’s core competence. Investing man-hours and budget in unfamiliar areas or technologies reduce your team’s effectiveness at producing cost effective, efficient results. Many times turning to an outside provider with expertise in specific areas means quicker results. These results are usually from the outsourced company’s level of knowledge and experience with the tools, technologies, and processes required for a particular project. In addition, outsourcing to a specialist firm can augment your current in-house activities and staff without the additional annual salaries and benefits. Here are the top 3 reasons to Outsource a Project: 1. Need for personnel. -A company lacks people for specific periods of time or tasks. -A company needs unique expertise that is not needed on an on-going basis every day of the year. -A company has only a few short term projects or specific tasks. -Need for fresh ideas-someone with competent problem-solving skills to find the real issues. 2. Need for improved sales. -A company is looking for a short term sales boost. -More efficient tactics for more competitive strategies. 3. Training in a complex world. -Complex operations in small to mid-sized businesses mean continual training to keep up with the outside world. For many companies, especially seasonal related businesses this can be a daunting task. -Consulting can offer short or long term solutions for: marketing, organization, planning, technology, administrative, and communications. Here are some tips for working with an outsourced company: • There should be clear, consistent communications between the client and the outsourced company, beginning with the proposal. • Expect regular status reports. • Know that it should be a team effort when defining milestones. • The outsourced company should provide documentation and tracking of milestones and risks. • There should be regular verification of tasks on both sides. • Knowing your priorities. The three factors that affect projects are schedule, budget and effectiveness. Only two of those elements can be emphasized at any one time. For example, if speed and cost are important, be prepared to scale back on effectiveness. If complete effectiveness is essential, plan to have a higher budget or longer timetable. Note: Samantha Rufo Need help implementing a new sales or marketing program? We've got two suggestions: a) Check out our free marketing templates and tools on this site. There's ton's of them. You might want to bookmark the site now, you could be here awhile. Just become a registered member (it's free) of the myMarketingGuide.com website and you can download hundreds of other articles, templates and more. Don't worry, we respect your privacy. |
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