Growing your startup through outsourcing

[sirbrandy]

So it looks like by 2018, online outsourcing will be a 5 billion dollar industry. This research report gives all the stats on the state of the industry.

That is huge.

As per the article, these are the reasons why this industry is continuing to grow:

1. Online marketplaces promote workplace flexibility
2. Businesses get access to global talent
3. Workplace flexibility reduces real estate footprint
4. Businesses get access to inexpensive offshore workers

Have you been utilizing this industry for the growth of your startup? Are you outsourcing tasks?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Yup right on after the paperless office

 

[sirbrandy]

Yup right on after the paperless office

Did it make a huge difference with your growth strategy, Chris?

 

[fisicx]

That article is full of garbage statistics. Outsourcing is just a new buzzword for things that have been happening for centuries. Ignore and move on, nothing to see here.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

For example accountants, royal mail, couriers, drop-shipping etc

 

[sirbrandy]

That article is full of garbage statistics. Outsourcing is just a new buzzword for things that have been happening for centuries. Ignore and move on, nothing to see here.

Online marketplaces (e.g. Upwork, Freelancer) are relatively new though and the report point more towards this trend -- not those that have been "happening for centuries."

 

[billmccallum1957]

Online marketplaces (e.g. Upwork, Freelancer) are relatively new though and the report point more towards this trend -- not those that have been "happening for centuries."

Are you not looking at this with a biased position, given that you work for an outsourcing agency?

 

[fisicx]

Online marketplaces (e.g. Upwork, Freelancer) are relatively new though and the report point more towards this trend -- not those that have been "happening for centuries."

The report points towards nothing. It's full of drivel. Outourcing is just another word for contracting.

 

[rmmfree]

There are pros and cons related to outsourcing. There are some areas that are better than others for those purposes. It depends on the kind of business, the experience of the managers in certain fields, the needs of the company, how many departments it has, the budget, etc.

 

[sirbrandy]

Are you not looking at this with a biased position, given that you work for an outsourcing agency?

Well, I've worked with freelancers and remote teams a lot so... it could be that I may be biased. It's just what I've also been seeing.

 

[bsummers]

I work with an outsourcing company and we cateroutsourced B2B lead generation services. Well,
the decision to outsource most often comes down to a cost versus management issue. Building a department from scratch is definitely more costly, but at least they could maintain control of the operations. On the other hand, third-party vendors are cheaper, but they will practically take over most of the decision-making and execution.

If you want to weigh the options, try collecting customer feedback and researching multiple vendors within the industry. A business could tell a lot about a vendor based on its reputation amongst those who have previously used its services. Once you hear something you don’t particularly like about how a vendor operates, move on to the next.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

On the other hand, third-party vendors are cheaper, but they will practically take over most of the decision-making and execution.

Where on earth did you get this idea from

 

[fisicx]

Where on earth did you get this idea from

My thoughts as well. If I outsource to a cleaning company I decide what gets cleaned, how often and to what standard.

 

[garyk]

Online marketplaces (e.g. Upwork, Freelancer) are relatively new though and the report point more towards this trend -- not those that have been "happening for centuries."

Not really odesk was started 13 years ago and elance was started 17 years ago.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I was a freelance hydrographic surveyor in 1975 through a agency so nothing new bit before the WEB in the old TELEX days

 

[WikiWill]

I wouldn't say a cleaning company is outsource if you're cleaning your own premises, I think that's a business service is it not. Ok it might be outsource in the real sense but you're taking it a little literally. When you talk about outsource you're talking about employing a company to take charge of a project, it might be big or small.

You've identified the project and what you want doing, but how they do it (decisions) is up to them. So you do lose some control, but how important that control is is negligible. Particularly as you've probably appointed someone who knows more about the technical side of the project than yourself.

 

[Ace Light]

5. Evade legal obligations as well as rules and regulations that safeguard employees, but are not applicable to a contingent workforce.

 

[Hayley Copland]

Outsourcing is a great way for startups to reduce costs! I personally provide back end office support and I know many of my clients do not want the pressure of having to pay a full time member of staff each month. Starting a business can be stressful enough and outsourcing allows companies to grow but without the stresses of having to pay for a full time member of staff.

 

[Gecko001]

To me outsourcing rather than in-house is a bit like having pizza deliveries rather than home cooking. It works well when you are very busy but not something you should be thinking about doing long-term. There are a few exceptions of course in most industries. In the building industry, for example, 50 years ago ready-mix concrete delivered to site was not used much, but now is used almost exclusively.

 

[Alan]

There are different forms of 'out sourcing', the most common form is what I call 'economic arbitrage'. I guess you will understand this, essentially getting work done in parts of the world where labour is cheaper (at the moment).

I would say that there are other reasons to outsource - such as move fixed employee costs to variable costs - which helps align costs to revenue.

 

[rick.staffindia]

The best feature outsourcing provide is the combination of finding best hand to get your work done and affordability. Skilled people are everywhere but the cost of labor varies from countries to countries. Usually South Asian and African countries have less labor cost though skilled people are available there. Business owners can utilize this opportunity to save business cost without compromising quality of work.

 

[Carl76]

I have had great success with outsourcing. However, i have stayed clear of Indian companies, mainly due to the culture barrier. Eastern European countries are home to some very skilled and reasonably priced freelancers.

 

[Edd Dutton]

If you trust the people you outsource to, I don't find a problem with it.

 

[stacey howard]

For being a startup business you have to manage each and every functions your own which divert your focus from core functions of your business. As you all know time is money that's why not only startup many established business are too outsourcing their function like accounting and finance , payroll processing services, tax preparation as outsourcing helps them to save time and money and increased business profits with other benefits.

 

[The Byre]

That article is full of garbage statistics. Outsourcing is just a new buzzword for things that have been happening for centuries. Ignore and move on, nothing to see here.

This! Outsourcing and calculating the effects of outsourcing is first year business studies stuff.

I am sure that, in the lost land of Dogger, there was a stone-age flint knife and spear head maker, who asked others to make the shafts and the string and kept a minimum of finished product and the right amounts of string to bind the flint to the shaft. He and the shaft and string maker worked closely together to make ever better axes, knives, spears and arrows and always sought to find new things to make and kept a close eye on the quality as the work progressed.

So he and his colleagues were lean, just-in-time, outsourcing entrepreneurs, who formed a ‘Keiretsu’ with a clear policy of kaizen and a strategy for innovation, incorporating total quality management. Fortunately, nobody told them this, or they would have never got anything done!

Or as David Ogilvy put it - “Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.”

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Many small start-ups do not have the money to pay for expensive outsourcing apart from there accountants fees, they are forced to buy some sort of accounts package and learn to enter expenditure and income into this software to both reduce the accountants fees and also understand their financial situation at any moment

Marketing, site management, adwords, seo are mainly very expensive items for new start-ups to spend a lot on, so forced to keep things in house as far as possible and learn by forums or text books the basics

Often the best advice is your local enterprise unit which are sponsored by government and town halls and free to young companies and start-ups

Outsourcing has it's place but the fact is many start-ups are under funded in real terms and even the ones who think they have enough are often caught out with cashflow

 

[Idosell Shop]

If you trust the people you outsource to, I don't find a problem with it.

That is why it is better to outsource to companies with experience. In fact, this is why grow faster than market and got awarded for our work. As long you provide better value for money than competitors you do not need to worry about orders. Freelancers offers outstanding performance either for simple projects or extremely rare cases- but cannot beat Saas solution providers since they deliver tested off shelves solutions. Brilliant freelancer will develop store for you with no doubt but time to market factor is the key...

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Freelancers offers outstanding performance either for simple projects or extremely rare cases- but cannot beat Saas solution providers since they deliver tested off shelves solutions.

What on earth has SAAS got to do with it, perhaps you can explain how a SAAS offers benefits over a none Non SAAS solution's in this particular case

 

[Idosell Shop]

What on earth has SAAS got to do with it, perhaps you can explain how a SAAS offers benefits over a none Non SAAS solution's in this particular case

Saas is outsourcing since you do not develop the solution in-house. Regarding benefits of SaaS we have asked our customers why they have chosen SaaS as an outsourcing model:

• Lower costs (76%),
• Access to talented designers and developers (70%),
• Transfer of activities, that are not main areas of company expertise, to professionals (63%),
• Increase in flexibility of the business model (56%),
• Improving relations with customers (42%),
• Development of new products and services (37%),
• Geographic expansion (33%).

As you see still there is a space for other outsourcing models and in-house development.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

That may be what you do i am not questioning that its its the word SAAS which you seem to point at as something extra special rather than a desktop model , or phoning up or a freelancer

 

[Idosell Shop]

That may be what you do i am not questioning that its its the word SAAS which you seem to point at as something extra special rather than a desktop model , or phoning up or a freelancer

It is not about something super extra- it is about value for money, time to market and features triangle. Startups, seldom have a rich uncle with deep pockets to cover the investment.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

That is why it is better to outsource to companies with experience. In fact, this is why grow faster than market and got awarded for our work. As long you provide better value for money than competitors you do not need to worry about orders. Freelancers offers outstanding performance either for simple projects or extremely rare cases- but cannot beat Saas solution providers since they deliver tested off shelves solutions. Brilliant freelancer will develop store for you with no doubt but time to market factor is the key...

So still not sure what SAAS as i know it is required and cannot be beaten

 

[Idosell Shop]

So still not sure what SAAS as i know it is required and cannot be beaten

Software as service- you do not build up your bespoke selling platform but rent it. Some of the providers charge per sell some just asks for flat rent. Link below might help: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I am well aware of what it is. but why in this case cannot it be beaten why don't you just admit your post was a mistaken znd that outsourcing can have some benefits be it for personnel, mentoring or software, but SAAS has no special benefits in this case

 

[Idosell Shop]

I am well aware of what it is. but why in this case cannot it be beaten why don't you just admit your post was a mistaken znd that outsourcing can have some benefits be it for personnel, mentoring or software, but SAAS has no special benefits in this case

It is about cost calculations- in case you need personnel or knowledge just for a specific period of time outsourcing is the best choice- easy in easy out. You simply do not need to hire the cleaning lady for full-time in case she has work for 1h a day... My post is not mistaken- I pointed out that in terms of software for startups SaaS is the most logic solution for the lack of resources as long as required features can be provided in this model.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

SAAS is still not relevant to the solution and pretending its better than using a agency, freelancer or desktop services is rubbish.They are all equal horses for courses

Saas has some advantages to the makers in that normally they can tie you into a contract that works out quite expensive, and the user gets the most up to date software at all times at the risk of say the supplying company going bust (like many have) and suddenly the user has nothing, on the other hand Desktop software is a permanent item as long as its up to date. My 2010 version of Office pro is still valid today without having to update the versions and has worked out far cheaper than say office 365, so to get back to the story, your software may be the best solution for your customers and its the solution that answers the question of whats best, but to state that because its Saas it must be the best is rubbish and as you cannot quantify the knowledge that may be given by the other sources of outsourcing to me means you are really trying to sell your product rather than add anything to the post

 

[Idosell Shop]

Indeed your desktop 2010 Office version might work well for you- but what about up/down scalability. In case you need additional licenses, you have to bear full license cost or ask several people use the same PC at the same time. What about features implemented in new Office releases- not bug fixing and what about the discontinuation of technical support. If you do not mind using outdated faced out software and it works well for you I am ok with it. Simply for startups outsourcing is cost effective since you pay only when you use it and for what you use. It is not a marriage you have to be happy with since you cannot afford the divorce...

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Telephone & Internet

 

[aflat9]

I do not like outsourcing unless I have to. I don't trust companies - especially SEO and PPC companies. They do the very minimum and charge you a small fortune!