How to do Offshoring right
How to Succeed in Outsourcing
Take the Time
Offshoring is a way to grow your business faster and save costs. But for it to work, you have to invest time up front. This is not a "set it and forget it" solution. As with the onshore team, the offshore team needs to be continuously trained, mentored and discussed. This improves the quality of service for both you and your customers, resulting in a higher return on your investment.
Treat your offshore team the same as your onshore team
The offshore team is part of the company. And it's people. As with local (track and field) teams, teams perform best when they feel included and have good relationships with colleagues and managers. So be sure to talk to them and build a strong relationship. This helps:
- live and breathe your culture
- align yourself with your vision
- work toward business goals
- Build relationships with local (land) teams
- Be happier and more productive in your role
Use "champions" to manage
Offshore teams are an important part of our business. We need to give them the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to fill that role. Equally important is ensuring good team cohesion, collaboration and goal alignment.
The best way to achieve this is to dedicate two "champions" to your offshore team (one onshore and one offshore). Your job is to bring the two teams together to greatly increase the chances of getting the results you want and far less of the problems that can cause separation and distance.
Onshore champions must manage and communicate with offshore teams. Your champion is someone who:
- Deep understanding of your company and culture
- If you have any questions, our offshore team will be happy to help
- Provide education and mentoring for offshore teams
- Hold regular meetings with the offshore team
- Get in touch with offshore team members
- Responsible for offshore team performance
- give feedback and encouragement
We don't just pass on knowledge. It is also a kind of cultural transmission. An onshore professional should provide information and insights that offshore teams simply cannot get by reading her website. There is a need:
- provide clear responsibilities and KPIs
- Manage talent in a results-oriented manner
- give people flexibility
- Communication - A good communication system is especially important for remote teams
Again, it is important to treat offshore members as part of the team. Even if they aren't sitting next to you in the office, they're still a very important part of your business. Just like any other employee, you need to make sure they are engaged. Luckily, today, thanks to technology, this is much easier than it used to be.
The Offshore Champion is the primary point of contact for the Onshore Champion and the field person who coordinates the offshore team's daily time and tasks.
Know exactly what's going on with your offshore team in a way that only those on the ground can know. Usually this is a senior manager or team leader, one of her first offshore hires, someone she can trust and work with.
Ideally, at least once a year, he takes the offshore champion home for a few weeks to visit his local office. This will strengthen relationships and give you a better understanding of your business.
Regular visits to offshore teams
Visiting offshore teams and facilities is a must. It's best to plan your trip when you first build your team, and then check back periodically.
Spend a few days working with the field team to get the job done. Get to know your employees and let them know you. Face-to-face conversations help make the business, its goals, and its customers a clear reality (rather than a distant concept) for offshore team members. If you can understand who your offshore team is working with and, more importantly, why, you will be able to deliver much better quality of service and results.
Visiting employees in person also gives you insight into their strengths and weaknesses so you can better allocate resources to the right jobs and make promotion decisions.
Additionally, during your visit, you may come across other business owners and managers who are also offshoring. Sure, it's great from a networking perspective, but more importantly, it's a great way to share best practices with other customers.
Create clear systems and processes
A clear system helps your team get the job done efficiently and increases your return on investment by: work more efficiently
higher job satisfaction
- Enhanced employee accountability and clear KPIs
- Improved quality control predictable results
- Consistent product, service and branding
- consistent customer experience
Unleashd has extensive experience in all these areas. We will help you through the system and process setup process. After going live, we will proactively provide advice whenever opportunities for improvement are identified.
We are an outsourcing business that does things differently. How? Unleashd is committed to giving back to the local community by donating 1% of every contribution to charities and other social programmes that help those that need it the most. Our service commitment is to source top candidates in designated professions, and our cultural ethos is centred around trust, respect, care, and integrity.