A) Expensive
Is outsourcing even advisable? For some companies, internal service will be cheaper. For example, for those in which the work is similar to the "conveyor". Employees of such companies always know what to do and how to do it. To do this, they have written instructions and processes, established standards. In any subject area, from 3 people work and each can replace the other. If your company has built such a "conveyor", then the internal service is your choice. Save the company money.
If there is no "pipeline" or the scale of tasks does not allow to build it, then outsourcing comes to the rescue. This is why it will be more profitable:
- Flexible distribution of specialists between similar tasks and clients. Specialist A effectively copes with tasks of type B. Once he has coped with task B1, send him to solve B2. So you save the company time and money on finding or training another specialist.
- Ensuring a high workload of specialists. This does not mean that employees will swell from the workload. They will know what to do now and what to do next. Employees can even take a break for tea or meditation with a clear conscience, and then return to work. Even if something goes wrong and an urgent task flares up, you will not need to headlong to look for a specialist who will solve it - your specialists will have time for this.
- The ability to hire employees from regions where it is cheaper to live. In this case, the cost of specialist services will be cheaper.
- Reuse of processes, bodies, standards and practices.
Considering these benefits, outsourcing companies prefer long-term contracts. Both sides don't waste resources on building processes, organizing people, and aligning. The main thing here is to avoid stagnation in the service.
On the other hand, might it make sense to change the supplier every year, each time achieving a price reduction? Both options are extremes.
B) Long
Create a new user - 3 days. Reset password - 5 days. Give rights, like Ivanov's, but with limited access - 10 days. Familiar situations? Yes, for me. When simple tasks take so long to solve, you want not to work, but to bang your head against a soft wall. The more outstanding tasks are hanging, the worse. Can this aspect be measured in advance? Can.
C) Inflexible, bureaucratic
There are creative tasks that need to be solved creatively. Only now "let's do" is broken about "must be agreed." Reinsurance, testing, "consultations", etc. begin. The solution to the problem turns into a long and dull song. As they say in the best practices, everything should be justified by the value for the business. Very vague wording, because it is not clear what is more important: the value in the long term (minimal risk, system availability) or the result here and now.
Unfortunately, there is no universal solution, it all depends on specific people. Performers must understand the situation, and their leaders must build an appropriate culture of production and relations. Then it's easier to come to an understanding. The argument for outsourcing is more disciplined.
D) unprofessional
It happens that a supplier recruited students and immediately threw them into battle. It's cheap, but the savings always come with repercussions. This translates into mistakes, the solution of which takes time, effort and reputation. Of course, everyone has a turnover, and we must not forget about the transfer of knowledge.
An important aspect is the personal contact between the contractor's specialists and the client's key users. Therefore, the supplier, at the service implementation phase, must acquaint the team with the customer and establish working relationships between the performers and the customer's teams (information security, functional customers, key users, etc.).
E) Opaque
Well-structured processes are certainly good, but they have a downside: formal processes allow you to hide mistakes, reduce personal responsibility. Who exactly is solving my problem now? Who is responsible for the overall result? Why is the task stalled in the business analysis department? Who is to blame, what to do and when will it end? This is where well-built relationships and flexible processes are needed. The service manager should have a leadership and leadership role and be the escalation contact. No practice to appoint a person responsible for the result? It will be long and bureaucratic.
E) No trust (unsafe)
When you see employees live, you trust them more. In outsourcing, employees do not know where and how they look. How to trust and give access to those whom you don't know or see? We recommend that you go to the supplier and get acquainted. Come to him and assess how he works, conduct your Due Diligence .
Be sure to find out:
- How does the supplier protect itself from all sorts of accidents?
- How does the supplier monitor the work of the employees?
- Does the supplier have a system of control procedures and best practices? How reasonable are they?
- Is micro-management observed?
- Do employees know how to work independently?
- Are employees ready to take responsibility for the result of their work?
G) Not customer-oriented
We said a lot about built processes and automation, but what about living people? Are the tasks carried out according to the principle "there are complaints about buttons?" Despite the implemented automation, the established processes, supported by the "correct" ticket accounting systems, despite this, the human factor should remain in the service, which will make the service individual for a specific client.
We are talking about a core team that is largely (> 60%) dedicated to this client and knows his features. The core team is able to provide a holistic service, understanding how the company lives. Here it is required to unleash human potential, stop focusing only on applications or IT infrastructure, constantly adapt to changing reality, stop dividing people into “yours” and “ours”. Instead, it is necessary to teach people a broad outlook combined with specialization in a specific area (T-shaped people).
Now we know about the disadvantages of outsourcing. What's next?
When choosing an outsourcing provider, keep these criteria in mind. When communicating with a potential supplier, ask how he is doing with this item, with another, third, etc. From the answers, it will be possible to understand how a particular team is able to work with you.
