Best outsourcing quotes from business leaders

Outsourcing is an organizational practice of hiring a third party to deliver tasks, handle operations, and provide services for a company. The third-party provider manages its workers and other resources, such as software and computer systems.

The most common services outsourced today concern information technology (IT)—including programming and application development, customer service, back office, and technical support.

Companies also outsource other types of work, particularly manufacturing, human resources tasks, accounting, and payroll processing. These functions are outsourced as entire divisions or just specific parts of a particular department. 

The world has embraced outsource contracting out or business process outsourcing (BPO). The quality of business and life that it provides to millions of people worldwide has kept the global economy moving and rapidly growing.

In this article, we would like to motivate every business owner, marketer, and manager out there through the words of the world’s most famous people who have notable things to say about outsourcing.

Recognized as Singapore’s founding father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew once said: 

“If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, you’re putting yourself out of business.”

Yew is known for being a very successful lawyer and politician. He helped turn Singapore from a third-world country to a first-world country—making Singapore one of the highest-ranking regions in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI).

2. Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational conglomerate company. He is one of the wealthiest and most successful investors of his time. 

Buffet has this to say about outsourcing:

“If there’s not enough growth in the industry to support all of the players, it’s in society’s best interests to have the most output produced with the least inputs – but society needs to help those who find themselves on the outside.

I don’t have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It’s like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GDP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing.”

3. Stuart Wood

Stuart Wood, General Manager of Australian businesses mining technology software and services provider CR Digital, says that outsourcing has enabled their firm to focus on its core competencies and employ more staff in their Sydney office. He said:

“The MicroSourcing model is now a critical part of our business; the flexibility in terms of working hours, opportunity to scale as new business comes in the door, and ease of communicating with [the] staff is essential for our business growth.” 

4. Michael Corbett

Founder and Chairman Michael Corbett of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) advocate for outsourcing by saying:

“The real power of outsourcing going forward is going to be that it increases an organization’s core capacity for change and growth. The business challenges over the next decade are going to be very different than anything we’ve seen so far and the companies that weave a powerful network of global partners through outsourcing will be the winners.” 

Outsourcing has gone from being an intervention to today being an integral part of [the] strategy in most corporations. For businesses to succeed, outsourcing professionals must be in a position to take a lead in working with senior management to set policy, identify the right opportunities, execute and govern these relationships, and ultimately assure quality results.

Challenges create opportunities. Outsourcing service providers are very aggressively examining their products and services to create greater value and increase market share in these times. Companies are recognizing they need to use this as an opportunity to strengthen relationships with their partners because each one of those partners will make them a better company.”

5. Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Limited 

Azim Premji, chairman of information technology systems and integration solutions outsourcing company Wipro Limited said: 

“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.”

6. Ryan Kahn

Ryan Kahn, founder of the training agency The Hired Group said that outsourcing is a must for businesses to operate. He said if there is something that outsourcing can offer a lot of companies, it is the tasks where they are not experts. He concisely said: 

“Master your strengths, outsource your weaknesses.” 

The Hired Group caters to the needs of personalized services, one-on-one coaching, internship, and job interviews.

7. Manmohan Singh, Former Prime Minister of India

Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh is known to have a strong opinion on outsourcing and the fact that it brings thousands of jobs to many countries and raised productivity levels in countries like the United States, once said:

“Outsourcing, information technology revolution, the access to India’s human resources, India’s pool of scientists. It will help American companies to become leaner, meaner, more efficient, and they become more competitive, both in the United States and in dealing with the rest of the world.”

8. Alphonso Jackson

Alphonso Jackson served as the 13th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was quoted saying:
“The other part of outsourcing is this: it simply says where the work can be done outside better than it can be done inside, we should do it,” he implies that tasks and functions can be done better if people who have the expertise will do it, even if they are not within the bounds of your organization.