According to Betterment’s 2018 report “Gig Economy and the Future of Retirement”, more than one in three workers in the U.S. freelance. This number is predicted to reach 40 percent by 2020. While the IT industry is booming, the lack of developers is one of the main challenges in Europe as well. For example, Western Europe has been suffering from a tech talent shortage for quite some years now. Hence, companies are turning to outstaffing to achieve their operating goals. This can sound irrational to someone who is just entering the industry, but the future of the workforce is definitely distributed. In 2019, outstaffing will help companies of all sizes fill skills gaps in their team, boost their production, and narrow their focus on things that matter. Freelancers and offshore teams can complete projects from anywhere on the planet, enabling business executives to achieve their goals without investing lofty sums in traveling and other expenses. You can work with the most talented individuals across the globe without being pressured to offer them all the benefits required by native workers.
So how expensive or complex is this? Thanks to technology and numerous online management tools, outstaffing has become an affordable and hassle-free option for businesses in different industries. Small companies and entrepreneurs with limited resources will benefit the most from hiring international talent. You do not have to worry about expertise that your team is lacking, and you can focus on your strengths and ambitious. Furthermore, as Deloitte’s 2018 Global Outsourcing Survey highlights, optimizing and controlling costs is one of the key benefits of outstaffing. You can reach more milestones with smaller budgets and make sure that you are not burning unnecessary resources.
For entrepreneurs, outstaffing can be the key to building and growing their startup in 2019 – a goal they are often not able to achieve with a small in-house team. You can outstaff everything from product development to sales and marketing. Being productive has never been easier. Outsourcing can turn any team into a dynamic force. For instance, say your sales team can check off four out of five expertise boxes but lacks understanding of one area, such as design. By outstaffing this skill, you can complete your team and help them work up to their potential. For your company, this means better results, more revenue, and satisfied employees.
IT companies will thrive through outstaffing
Outstaffing will be the most effective growth strategy for IT companies this year. Shortage of developers is often the primary reason for failure to build successful products or complete a project. Having a reliable and affordable offshore or nearshore partner, such as SHORE teams, will eliminate most risks related to development. Sure, selecting a wrong partner or someone who is not able to understand your vision can be fatal, but any wrong business decision will negatively affect your business. You can avoid all the issues by doing research, communicating with your potential partners about micro-milestones you are eager to reach, and implementing quality assurance plan in your process through a structured development approach defined by measurable goals.
Outstaffing is not about just handling weaknesses and tasks that your team is not able to complete. Sometimes you should even outsource some of your strengths, too. By outstaffing some tasks that fall under the expertise of your team, you can free up time for in-house divisions to work on important and time-consuming assignments. This can simplify your development process and empower your team to complete crucial tasks while not abandoning their daily responsibilities, something which is often vital to your company’s growth. Companies hire freelancers and offshore teams primarily to cut costs. But today, it is not only about cutting cost but also about reaping the benefits of tactical subcontracting such as accessing skilled and experienced teams, working with flexible talent, and reducing development time. Yes, this means more profits and less unsatisfied clients. Having a winning team no longer requires investing major funds in recruiting and training expensive resources for your company. All you have to do is make a decision to try outstaffing in 2019.
What about the risks of outstaffing?
Now that we understand all the benefits and advantages of hiring a global workforce, let’s talk about the risks that companies are evaluating when thinking about outstaffing. The most discussed ones are:
1. Lack of insight into the development of your product (bad communication)
2. Lack of trust due to a bad experience with incompetent teams (inexperienced staff)
3. Lack of daily communication and brainstorming new ideas through development (possibility of weak management)
4. The process is more expensive than initially proposed by the development partner (hidden costs)
5. Fear of working with teams that are not part of your corporate culture (lack of organizational learning)
In order to eliminate these “uncertainties” of outstaffing, SHORE teams advises companies in Western Europe to focus on the new generation of hiring that we like to call “smartsourcing”. Smartsourcing is a strategy that involves three cooperation steps:
1. Communication and analysis
2. Micro-milestone planning
3. Clear delivery.
Let’s start with the first one. The key to successful cooperation is talking to your partner about all the fears that you are having regarding a particular issue. By building a trustworthy relationship early on and discussing all the problems that you are trying to avoid, everyone can get a better sense of their responsibilities. Furthermore, detailed analysis helps you build a better picture of what is expected as the final result. Second step is related to discussing all the goals that hiring company is eager to achieve. Majority of outstaffing companies work with a small number of goals, but we believe that success is divided into smaller development milestones and large number of goals that outsourcing team needs to achieve. This way we can also make sure that client is satisfied with their delivery and we can actively update their product. Nonetheless, in this scenario everything is negotiable, results are delivered according to existing agreements and development reports are composed of measurable milestones. Once these two steps are completed, it is time to focus on clear delivery. Clear delivery includes active communication with your client as development is being finalized, defining testing milestones, and delivering a product that is a clear reflection of successfully completed micro-milestones defined in the second step of smartsourcing process. Being transparent and brainstorming final touches with your client will help you build a great reputation and attract new partners.
Outstaffing also means less risk for your business
As you can see, successful outstaffing is all about the right approach and structuring a professional relationship with your partner. Eliminating collaboration risks can also help you remove operational threats within your company. For example, by outsourcing certain responsibilities on to specialists in their respective fields, your company will benefit from the enhanced ability to plan and alleviate needless dangers. Building a profitable business is a result of smart people working together and using their talents to solve problems for their customers. This almost perfectly reflects the core value of outsourcing. If you want to reduce your costs while generating more revenue and improving your services, SHORE teams would love to hear from you and help you use smartsourcing to grow your business. We are passionate about supporting companies in Western Europe, a region where the outstaffing sector is growing at a “phenomenal” pace.
2019 will be the year of smart hardware, artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, augmented reality, outstaffing, and so much more. Whatever you are working on, using the values of a global workforce will help you differentiate yourself on the market and work with talented people that you are usually not able to hire. These people are the ace in the sleeve of the majority of successful corporations out there. Increased focus on core competencies, access to hard-working human resources, increased flexibility to meet changing business and commercial conditions, accelerated time to market, and the list goes on. The benefits of outstaffing are numerous.
The size does not matter
Many people believe that outstaffing exists just for small companies and startups, but 2019 will prove them wrong. Major companies around the world will be using nearshoring this year to trim their costs and improve their efficiency. Markets are growing at exponential rates. Hence, this is crucial to stay relevant. Bloomberg has recently reported that Deutsche Bank AG was at the forefront as it began “nearshoring” staff to cheaper cities across the U.S. Now, the German lender is moving some of those jobs to India. The bank is offshoring about 60 accounting positions to Mumbai from its campus in Jacksonville, Florida.”
It is obvious that costs for software developers have soared across different regions, including Western Europe. Therefore, the process of outstaffing to arbitrage labor expenses is becoming increasingly necessary. A great thing about larger brands is that they are looking to build long-term relationships with offshore teams. This means more jobs and revenue for outstaffing companies, as well. As Azim Premji, an Indian business tycoon, investor, and philanthropist stated: “The important thing about outsourcing or global sourcing is that it becomes a very powerful tool to leverage talent, improve productivity and reduce work cycles.” Do you want to grow your business?
