In this episode of “Quora Corner”, David is taking on outsourcing advantages questions from people who may be on the fence about this business solution. Because the truth of the matter is that outsourcing isn’t for everyone. There are a lot of factors to consider (which we talk about in this video). We can’t stress enough how important it is to understand what your business is, what it needs to scale, and what characteristics you need from your outsourcing partner to make it all happen.
Transcript:
Hey Guys! My name is David Sudolsky and I’m CEO and Founder of Boldr, and we’re a purpose-driven outsourcing company.
Question: What are the outsourcing advantages and disadvantages?
Answer: The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing really vary. I think it depends on the type of task that you are executing. In my opinion, obviously, one that’s more mission-critical to your business is gonna have a higher risk, especially if the quality is important. I can imagine there’d be difficulties in communicating with your teams overseas. There could be difficulties in them understanding the nuances of the business or the industry that you are in or perhaps the clients or customers that you’re working with.
However, I think those disadvantages are severely outweighed by the advantages of outsourcing. When you outsource a function, it’s allowing the company to refocus its energy and time on what’s really important.
Q: Does outsourcing help startups?
A: I think it depends on the company’s size and also the projection of the growth rate. I think if you’re just starting out, you know we’ve seen this, where we’re talking to companies and they have a minimal and viable product, they’re just new to the market, and to me, it doesn’t make sense to outsource. I think that’s the time when your company is just being born and the most important thing for you guys is to speak with your customers, get to know your product better, and do all the dirty work.
Because then you’ll be able to understand what is it that you guys are really trying to focus on, what is it the processes that you are executing, and get to know them really well. I do think that when you start getting economies of scale or you have multiple people executing one function, then it might make sense to consider leveraging an outsource solution or technology to help, allowing you to scale further and further and faster and faster.
Q: What strategies do companies use to mitigate risks with offshore outsourcing?
A: The most important and mission-critical is aligning on the implementation process. How much time do they need in order to transition to work overseas? How are you gonna measure success? And how often are you communicating around this work? I think those are the three main areas that in the implementation, you really need to work on defining with them. Allow them to recommend the process that they feel the most comfortable with. If they’re implementing something and they’ve done it before, they have, they know what’s gonna happen. They know what might be wrong. So I really think, leveraging, or asking them for their process, and following their process will help.
Next Read: Answering Quora Questions: Outsourcing Explained
Q: What are your outsourcing secrets?
A:
01. Cultural Fit
When you are trying to work with an outsourcing partner or you’re just trying to find the right outsourcing partner, it’s in my opinion, the most critical for you to really identify cultural fit. We’ve seen what happens when companies that have certain values don’t operate or work with a company that has another set of values or thinks differently.
This just allows for much easier implementation and really allows for communication to be seamless and also performance management around failures and opportunities to improve is just a little bit easier once we’ve really aligned on the reason why we are working together.
02. Keep your bread and butter in the house
I don’t think companies should outsource something that is their bread and butter or is exactly what makes them different or unique. I think they should actually be outsourcing stuff that is secondary.
03. Know the scope and risks
So typically what happens is that companies reach out to us. They’re drinking from a firehose, they are super swamped and when we get into a conversation with them and we start asking them what’s going on, it turns out that there are a lot of different processes that they are considering outsourcing. If you’re still figuring it out, I think you can explore and talk to different outsourcing companies and ask them kind of help you figure it out as well.
At Boldr, we love doing that. I think we call that a discovery call and it’s really a great part where we get to involve ourselves in the strategy of these companies and really define what it is they wanna outsource and where the most risks would be. Knowing in advance is always going to set you up for success in the future.
Thanks, guys! I hope you found today useful. If you didn’t, don’t worry! We’ll be back next week to answer some more questions from Quora. If you can do me a favor now, and if you like what you heard, please feel free to like, share and subscribe. Otherwise, we’ll be back next week with more questions and answers. Thanks!
ABOUT DAVID SUDOLSKY
David has a track record of successfully mapping business strategy, scaling outsourced operations, and driving growth for businesses from diverse vertical markets. Connect him on LinkedIn here.
