Is it worth partnering up with an offshoring company?

With the way the world works today, everyone’s clamoring to find the next best money-saving strategy. One of the recent classic business strategies has been partnering with offshoring companies.

Business owners jump through hoops looking for THE business model that can save resources and inspire growth in revenue. As most industry experts see it, there is no one perfect business model. Every move and every decision has to be molded after the company’s culture to ensure a smooth transition.

Offshore companies are built to support small businesses, multinational organizations, and everyone in between. Offshoring agencies house their own employees and train them.

Offshore account managers work with team leaders to onboard the agents before getting assigned to an ‘account.’ These are just some of the benefits of offshoring.

The offshoring practice can be done with no third-party companies. It can be as easy as hiring a freelancer or an independent contractor. They are both on the same page with offshore providers as they offer the same services. The only difference between a company and an individual is the amount of work they can do.

A freelancer or an independent contractor can only do a role while an external provider can do a department’s worth of responsibilities. Now, it’s up to you whether you want to try to work with a sole contractor first or dive headfirst with a company.

Keep your priorities in mind and your mission straightforward to ensure that you’re still going on the right path.

What is an offshoring company? 

An offshoring company refers to the practice of shifting jobs and responsibilities to an overseas company. This is done to cut costs and company expenditures without letting quality suffer. 

Domestic businesses and overseas companies are always on the look for the best offshoring company there is. The secret? The ‘best’ they are looking for is highly subjective. What’s best for one company may not work for another.

Offshore agencies usually operate in developing countries such as the Philippines, India, and Mexico. Along with lower labor costs, the central business districts in these countries are less expensive to work and live in than those in the western countries.

Some might argue about the ethicality of offshoring (and outsourcing) and its impact on the labor force. A handful of industry experts have concluded that offshore labor affects the domestic job pool for the locals.

This is contrary to the study where offshoring brought on the well-needed diversification of the local employment arena. But most would say that offshoring and its branches are within the morally gray area.

As mentioned above, offshoring companies and offshore employees are there to support your business. Your job, as a decision-maker, is to make sure that the company—or individual—you’re going to work with is competent and responsible enough to help you with your goals.

Why you should work with an offshoring company

If you’re looking for a way to be cost-effective and still be able to hit monthly quotas, you may want to consider offshoring.

Offshoring companies work with organizations from different industries, providing services to clients and customers alike.

Working with an offshore organization will save you money in terms of expansion. It’s a decision that can’t be done overnight. Expansion, within the business term, can mean exponential growth for your business and its partners.

If you decide to work with an offshore company, you can expand a department without thinking about the overhead costs and employee onboarding.

Offshore agencies will be the ones who will ‘take care’ of all the departmental costs—from workstations to facilities. To further clarify, agencies train and onboard their employees in-house. They also have their own internal departments that handle human resources, payroll, and account acquisition.

Agents, based on their skills and experience, will be assigned to your department. You can track their progress along with the team leaders and supervisors.

One more reason to keep in mind is that added support is always a great idea. If you ever wanted to have 24 by 7 staff, you could always expand into that territory with these firms. Especially if the agency works on the opposite side of the world—take advantage of the time zones.

Long story short, even when you go offshore, you can still make sure that you’re getting what you pay for. Whether you offshore your customer service department or payroll, good offshoring firms will be completely transparent with their KPI and ROI.

The final verdict: Are offshoring companies worth it?

Yes, offshore companies are worth your time, resources, and effort. Given that their core competencies are right along with yours.

Just think about how much your business can save up in terms of resources. The growth and the endless network you’ll be able to access. Not to mention the revenue that your company will be generating. Offshoring is a sure-fire way to be efficient in the best way possible.

However, do keep in mind that not all departments should be offloaded. Internal support teams and core departments should never be offloaded to external partners. This is to ensure that your company still operates with the same mission, keeping everyone on the same page.

Another risk with offshoring is the breach of trust and security. It should not come as a surprise that working with external firms entails giving up some control over. This means that offshoring agencies may keep information and confidential data before handing it over to you. Worry not as these practices are done with 100% transparency from either side. 

However, some might argue that losing some control is not worth it, especially if you happen to be in a niche industry. Still, it’s your choice whether to lean towards offshoring.

Here’s a little tip from us: you don’t have to go all or nothing. A hybrid of offshore teams and in-house departments sometimes makes the dream work. That way, you’d have your onshore team supporting your offshore employees and vice versa. A 24 x 7 support can still happen when you’ve got people on either side of the world.