It is the contracting of the services of a foreign company, for the execution of some processes that were carried out within the organization, as well as acquiring products and services from external providers instead of using internal resources (outsourcing).
In Latin countries there is still little confidence in this type of service, in Europe and Asia it is increasingly common and the results are evident, they have a better market position and better productivity that is monitored and measured in every moment.
In Mexico it has not become fashionable, it is more than that, it is becoming one of the almost emerging solutions to remedy the areas where for some reason the expected results have not been obtained, both in the areas of administration, human resources, accounting, its quality policies, its mission and vision; the processes, the standards that include objectives, the areas of continuous improvement, the training and education of professionals in each of the key areas of customer service, which include telemarketing and, of course, sales, in short, outsourcing is more than you think and more than you can achieve.
Ten Rules for Outsourcing Success
In order to save variable costs, access first-class technological innovations without entailing high investments and guarantee a rapid return on investment (ROI), the hiring of areas or processes related to technologies is becoming one of the Main investment aspects of both large companies and SMEs (small and medium-sized companies) during this time of constant struggle to win the markets and first of all, obviously.
In addition, if we add to this the situation of uncertainty that the markets are going through, it has caused many companies to resort to the outsourcing strategy to maintain their level of technological innovation and reduction of variable costs. It is enough to remember that the consulting firm Gartner estimates that about 85% of companies will be involved in different outsourcing processes this year, which represents growth expectations of over 30% compared to 2001.
For the effective implementation of outsourcing it is important to mention some rules to follow, for example:
The directors of the companies should ask themselves if they are in a position to acquire outsourcing and analyze the possible risks that may affect the core of the business.
One of the risks to fall into is the inability to monitor the benefit. Likewise, it must be avoided that the process of applying outsourcing (outsourcing) is the cause of poor performance or demotivation of professionals who previously performed these functions.
Another rule is to define the economic (savings) business (competitiveness) and technological (efficiencies) objectives that are pursued through outsourcing.
The third of the rules mentions the possibility of creating a tender platform in which the best suppliers compete. Among the most important factors when selecting an outsourcing provider are experience in similar processes, infrastructure capacity, technological capacity, financial capacity, scope of the proposed solution and levels of service, cost and mutual objectives.
The fourth rule highlights the importance of avoiding providing costs to the provider. It must be the supplier in each case that offers the price and services that he creates beneficial for the company and for him.
The fifth of the rules refers to the fact that it is rarely possible to free oneself from all costs after outsourcing. At a minimum, in addition to the provider's charges, you must have the costs generated by outsourcing management.
Sixthly, due to the fact that outsourcing contracts are long-term, it could happen that the provision thereof is not capable in a short period of time of living up to the new objectives that arise.
The seventh of the rules mentions the necessary time that the company must take before selecting a supplier, due in part to the fact that this will become an important part of the business. In some cases it is possible to protect yourself with contract termination clauses, but this would entail a high cost and ultimately a deterioration of the service.
The eighth of the rules is directed towards the possible risks that may be detected in the implementation of an outsourcing process. For this, special attention should be paid to the definition of Service Level agreements, as well as penalties for non-compliance and bonuses for good service.
The ninth of the points require a staff dedicated to the management of the contractual relationship and the supervision of the provision of the contracted services, otherwise there is a risk that outsourcing will also take charge of this point due to the lack of commitment of that staff.
Finally, the convenience or not of the implementation of an outsourcing model should be evaluated, although the benefit is generally thought because something is wrong within the organization, otherwise outsourcing would not be thought of as a support and solution measure. from problems.
As we can see, there are many "pros" and very few "cons" when deciding on this service that is increasingly accepted by leading companies and those who want to become it.
