Part 8: Your Essential Offshoring Checklist

Deep tech investment was up 17% in 2020, the highest rate of growth anywhere in the world. This is being driven by a wide portfolio of organisations from global corporations, small businesses, and minor start-ups. 37% of small businesses currently outsource at least one of their business processes. But it’s not surprising it’s businesses with more than 50 employees that are 66% more likely to outsource their business processes.

Outsourcing is an area which looks to have a strong future. In fact, Grand View Research estimated the global outsourcing market at over $245 billion in 2021 and expects a compounded annual growth rate of 9% to 2030.

It’s a huge opportunity for those brave businesses who can realise the opportunity and who jump in. But…beware! Do your research. Consider everything and review and refine the research and do your due diligence before signing anything.

Hopefully, all the content in this series has been useful but here’s also a summary of some of the important questions and considerations….

Questions related to quality and outcomes:

• What is the expectation of the Board?
• Standards – what is expected? Do you have criteria?
• Do you have specifications, which might sit outside your contract?
• Team – who do you need for this? What does your project team make-up look like? Who does what? What are their responsibilities?
• What happens if there are issues? What procedures need to be followed?
• Who has overall responsibility within the onshore team? How involved will they be in day-to-day versus overall strategy?
• What is the quality/experience of the onshore team like? Give a summary of the implementation team and their background. Can they integrate?
• What standards and KPIs are recommended to guarantee quality and client satisfaction?
• Do you understand how they measure success and how this compares with your own assessments?
• Do you both use and have experience of using the same software?

Questions related to people

• Will the cultures complement each other? Or can a fit be formulated?
• What training programmes do you have in place for your teams in relation to culture?
• Will the offshore team need skills training?
• If the project is a success can you scale at pace?
• Are they using the latest systems and tech?
• What’s the succession plan like?
• Have they done projects like this before? If so, what have the outcomes been?
• Is there sufficient capacity, skill and flexibility to successfully operate dedicated and hybrid team models?

Questions related to security measures

• What security measures do your offshore team have in place to protect systems?
• How will your partner safeguard your IP?
• How will your partner protect your data and information?
• When was the last time they upgraded their technology, and what was upgraded?
• Do they outsource any services?
• Do they regularly and sufficiently test their own security protocols?

Economic Stability
You will need to identify and determine the financial stability of your offshore partner both in terms of the organisation and indeed the country. Fundamental analysis and due diligence can be carried out to compare a company’s worth and performance.

Lastly, it has to make financial sense. A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis will help here! However, be mindful you might not see a return immediately. Be prepared to test and learn and this might come at a price.

Overall – embrace this opportunity! There really is great potential to make a difference to your business. Good luck.

We are a trusted partner, revolutionising the consulting sector. We know global business. We are highly versed in transformation projects.

Visit our website to learn more about our Offshore Delivery Services or drop us a line if you’d like to chat through how a successful offshoring initiative can be turned into reality.