Top 5 Considerations While Deciding Whether to Offshore Tasks
If you're thinking about whether to offshore some of your operations work, there's a lot to consider. Here are the top 5 things to keep in mind.
You will need a playbook. Spend the time up-front to create a playbook of all "if this, then that" expectations for every possible foreseeable circumstance to save yourself a costly error down the road. Don't rely on the offshore team to make a judgement call or you will probably be disappointed. Offshore teams are great at doing what you tell them to do - so make sure your instructions are crystal clear with no gaps or room for misinterpretation. If a unique circumstance arises that is not covered in the playbook, have a plan for the offshore team to escalate that task immediately to get the clarity they need before proceeding.
There are massive cost-savings, but also risks. An offshore resource will cost about 3.5X less on average than an in-house resource, taking into consideration salary plus the cost of benefits. However, an inadequate playbook or improper expectations can set an offshore resource up for failure and result in very costly errors. Spending extra time up-front to make sure your playbook is air-tight can create cost savings and error protection for years to come.
You will need an in-house single point of contact (POC). This resource should serve as the POC for the playbook creation, setup the flow of requests from in-house to offshore, manage user permissions, questions that arise day to day, escalations and any playbook revisions.
An offshore resource is not an in-house resource. You may expect an in-house resource to understand a request with little context or explanation and they will just take care of it flawlessly. Remember this in-house resource works at the same company you do, is going to many of the same meetings you go to and has the overall contextual understanding of what needs to get done. An offshore resource should not be expected to execute flawlessly on tasks that aren't covered in the playbook if they're not provided with context and clear, step by step instructions.
Remember to be kind. Offshore team members perform best in a supportive environment, just like any human. A few kind words go a really long way! You'll get much better results with kindness and extra support than you would by being short-tempered and impatient.
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