Written by Steven Brough on July 5th, 2009

Outsourcing: An Insight Into How To Outsource Successfully

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Business Process Outsourcing, project planning and learning how to outsource, have become popular trends in business today. The massive boom in the information technology sector over the past decade, has brought closer the key players who are the life blood of the outsourcing industry. Who are these key players you ask?

• Buyers - Individuals and Businesses looking to outsource their projects.
• Freelance Service Providers - Professionals looking to serve the buyers requirements by matching their skills with those that the buyer seeks.

There are several advantages that a business can take away as a result of outsourcing. These include:

• Cost savings.
• Finding the best talent from around the world.
• More time to focus on core activities of your business etc..

However, for a business to enjoy outsource services and their benefits, projects need to be planned and carried out in a sequential manner. This article aims to introduce to you how to outsource your projects effectively and efficiently. Let us look at some key issues.

1. Get Your Facts Correct

Before considering how to outsource your project, you must first consider if you need to outsource at all. Things you may wish to consider:

• Weigh up the pros and cons of hiring local staff rather than outsourcing to freelance professionals.
• Look to see what sections of your project you wish to outsource, depending on your requirements, this may vary. You may wish to outsource only a part of your project and have the balance completed in-house, this depends on what resources you have available and you should compare what the two cost.

Once you have answered these questions, the next step would be to consider how to outsource your business process outsource project. Today there are many third-party freelance websites offering professional services e.g. ScriptLance, Freelancer~GAF, RentACoder and Elance , these sites get a lot of traffic and have literally tens of thousands of highly qualified service providers frequenting each one.

These not only facilitate the meeting up of potential suppliers and buyers but also offer dispute reconciliation and payment gateways including Escrow and PayPal which help you to manage your remote employees with a click of a button. A key factor in how to outsource is doing your homework. Choose the website you think is the best that fits within your budget.

Fees for buyers:

2. Plan Your Project

Once you have established how to outsource your project, you can now concentrate on details regarding its actual planning. Some points that you should consider are:

• Defining the scope of the work – Scope is nothing technical, it simply means defining the boundaries of each task.
• Establishing clear timelines – you may wish to pre-determine a set of milestones (goals) and the time periods they should be completed within.
• Decide on who is doing what –You may not require one but a team of service providers. You may include in-house staff to work on the project and you may possibly already have work completed e.g. research, programming or graphic design etc. This is to do with determining your resources and using them in the best ways.

Once these requirements are indentified you need to write up your project description, here are questions that will help you through this process:

1. What do I require?
2. What can I provide?
3. Skills required?
4. Project required by?
5. How I can pay?

You are now ready to advertise and look for potential candidates.

3. Choose Your Supplier Wisely

Advertise your project using your chosen freelance website; remember these great choices ScriptLance, Freelancer~GAF, RentACoder and Elance. You will receive a lot of applicants for your job posting, an important step in learning how to outsource is learning how to choose the best provider? Depending on what freelance website you are advertising on, buyers are supplied with a range of services which include these:

• Provider’s profile
• Competency tests
• Portfolio of work
• Feedback from other buyers etc.

Be sure to make use of all these tools and interview candidates whose skills match your project requirements. If your project is large and is expected to go on for some time, you are going to need to ensure you have found the right provider, much like a probationary period in a traditional office environment; it is of best interest to test-drive the newly hired provider. You can start by providing simple tasks related to your job opening and monitor his or her progress; this is a recommended way in how to outsource safely and efficiently.

Once you have found the right candidate established a level of trust, the limits are endless. It’s a win-win situation for both parties. At the end of the day all that matters is that your job gets completed in a cost effective manner and to a high quality and standard! With practice you will get better at this, it is all about learning how to outsource effectively and wisely.

The tips listed above are a few basic tips on how to outsource a project successfully. You can find more tips and secrets on outsourcing in my free eBook “Outsourcing – A Resource of Growth”.