Outsourcing Strategy

[Neha Aaron]

Outsourcing is a great strategy and gives you skills and access to enter a market which you may otherwise have to be developed inhouse using company resources. This is important especially when there are companies like Cleave Global in the Health, Finance and Telecom sector who can still help maintain the tempo of the company growth in the time of recession.

[allysa]

we do outsource our web development projects because it cost us less than getting here in the US.

[Heath Sanchez]

Outsourcing is perfect for Online businesses. You can concentrate on your branding, marketing and customer service while your products/services are all being fulfilled by another company that has little or no web presence.

You could even go as far as outsourcing you branding, marketing and customer service if you wanted to! Heck why not even outsource your management while you're at it?

Then you can give clear instructions for suppliers not to disturb you, unless of course it's an emergency - as you cruise the Caribbean...

[Virtual_Assistant28]

Outsourcing is a good business idea. Our place is a beneficiary of this kind of business practice and it really help us a lot.

[Logan Baker]

Outsourcing sometimes has a bad "rap" with end user clients...but I have found it to be safe, valuable, and more beneficial than in house expansion. I haven't had the best results with companies who "do everything in-house" .... for example an IT firm who builds websites, does SEO, phone lines, networking, internal communication systems, sells and sets up CRM etc... I doubt that they are top notch at ALL these things. In fact I experienced this already. I choose to outsource darn near everything.
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[S Lee]

Some of the more common tasks I've seen out sourced by small businesses we work with include things like accounting, web design, SEO, software development, and a few others I can't recall off the top of my head.

The web design and software development are more common since most businesses only require these things to establish an online presence, and putting in the resources and hours themselves may not be worth while to them.

Accounting could be easy enough to handle in house, but some business owners just don't want the extra hassle of handling payroll and remembering to file everything on time, so they might outsource to an independent account or a small business accounting firm.

Finally, I'm not sure how often SEO outsourcing has worked out for the businesses we work with. Given all the resources in published books and the internet, I see more and more tackling the SEO thing themselves since it is an ongoing task. However, if they hired someone else to handle the web design, I think they usually retain their services for SEO as well.

[millionaire]

i do outsorce for computing skill and programming skills,

[Visalus Sciences]

what are some good outsourcing management companies? websites>?

[MarkWilliams]

Depends on what you want to outsource, I always outsource something that has to do with "skills" not "mind". I think companies outsourcing their "marketing" is totally waisting their money. Marketing is a very crucial part of a business and should be done inhouse.

[pboychuk]

we do outsource our web development projects because it cost us less than getting here in the US.

How could I look into outsourcing for a web programmer, I need someone to do some backend programming for a website.

[The Stealthy One]

pboychuk, check out elance.com - it's a great place to go for something like that.

One outsourcing lesson I learned early on is to not outsource components of your business that are integral to its success. If you find you must outsource something that is, make sure you maintain 100% control over it, even micro-managing if you have to.

For instance, let's say you run a t-shirt company. Chances are, people buy your shirts for the designs on them, not the pricing or even necessarily the quality. This means you should never outsource the creative aspect of your business - but it is quite alright to outsource the printing, marketing, etc.

No matter your industry, you must find your core competency and vow never to outsource it. That is a key to successful outsourcing.

[creative_master]

Outsourcing when it comes to the web works on only a few levels. Mainly the design and programming aspects of a web business or brand. When it comes to marketing, specific branding, and maintaining the site - in terms of content, discussions, social media aspects -- you have to keep that in the STates.

People outside of the USA just don't have a handle on the language, marketing ideas, branding aspects, etc....

But it does work for programming and design needs, as long as you know what you want, and are very specific about it. YOu really need to ensure that your business won't faulter due to some faulty programming and latent design....just be careful. I have two programmers that work for me and are from the Ukraine - geniuses, but still I have to guide that paint brush very carefully sometimes to ensure things go properly.

Just be careful on what aspects you outsource.

[Visalus Sciences]

What are some general tasks that would involve outsourcing? What are some good outsourcing websites?

[George]

Looking to build some good resources for outsourcing.
Any recommended candidates or companies?

[teenbizcoach]

There are a number of outsource sites with the most common ones being Elance - Find and hire programmers, designers, writers and other independent professionals,

Guru.com – Find freelancers at the world’s largest online service marketplace.,

Custom Web Design and Programming. Freelance Programmers. Outsource Web Development Outsourcing

They each have their pros and cons. On GAF I hate that the buyer has to pay all these stupid fees from registering an account to working with a vendor. On guru it is passed on to the buyer so you don't have any fees but to me it is pain in the butt to make a simple purchase. It is about 107 steps...annoying.

You can also find freelancers through forums like this. Alot of people do freelance work and market themselves on sites like this via registering on sites such as the aforementioned ones. There is a benefit in using people here bc they are on here helping people and giving free advice so people get to know them and trust them. So usually if I am looking for help on a project I turn to the forums and social networks that I am active on first. Alternatively, if you have a skill set like programming, writing, graphic design, videographer, etc you can also register your services on the above named freelance sites. Yes, there are companies who use those services and depending on scope of work could pay you for travel if need be.

At any rate, there are tons of things you can outsource- research for darn near anything, website design (or if you are a great designer but you blow too much time programming then you can outsource the coding portion for instance). This in turn would allow you to complete a lot more sites for a lot more clients! Ummm, cold-calling & telemarketing, editing, graphic design, booking travel arrangements, helping you get your ebook packaged and set up, uploading shopping carts and anything that you don't have technical expertise about or have time to do or in my case--hav gotten so spoiled by outsourcing that I don't want to do it...it's like what can I think of next for them to do? LOL. Just kidding. I think the Stealthy One makes great points about how to decide what you should and should not outsource. It largely depends on your needs and your comfort level. Also before you do it, definitely have a strategy in place. Three years ago when I started doing it, I was just delegating everything but not necessarily being more productive or making more money persay. But over time I learned. So gotta have a plan. Think it through, do a little at a time to learn the process and you will be fine.


Hope this helps everyone in this thread looking for answers. And if you have any more questions you can find me (below).

cheers.