How To Successfully Outsource Your Design Work No. 2
How To Successfully Outsource Your Design Work No. 2
In the last tutorial we looked at the advantages and some disadvantages of outsourcing work in general. Now we want to look at specifics.
Firstly you will wnat to isolate tasks or complete projects that can be outsourced. It is a good idea to draw up a flowchart of inputs to the task outputs. What are the necessary information inputs? What software is required, any hardware, machinery, raw materials of any type required?
It is important not to take anything for granted. In the US it maybe a simple and expected requirement that the monthly report is spiral bound but in the Chechen Republic maybe they don't do that!
Your flow chart showing informational, software and requirements for a task will help you decide what can easily be outsourced.
This flowchart will also help to to negotiate and ask the correct questions of any proposal from suppliers.
You want to survey both off shore suppliers as well as local freelancers for quotations for the tasks that you want to outsource.
Elance and guru and both .com websites which you can register with freely and obtain offers for your projects.
Make sure the quality of services offered in the outsourcing country is exactly what you are looking for as these can vary from what you expect.
Looking at your flowchart, ask the potential suppliers whether they possess all the hardware and software, needed to complete your job.
If your outsourcing task or project is critical to your company and is going to represent a significant expenditure or an ongoing commitment, then it is advisable to travel to the office of your future partner and meet the team personally.
A face to face meeting will help eliminate certain problems as well as give you a clear idea of whether the company is up to the task in hand.
Preparing a written agreement is essential. Elance and Guru both have standard agreements but you may need to adjust them.
With website design work it is seldom necessary to meet up personally as you can easily see the kind of work that they have done in the past by looking at their portfolio.
If you can not see the quality that you desire in their potfolio then do not expect it to be any better for you (regardless of what they may say). pass onto someone else.
Unfortunately there is quite a lot of scamming taking place so you have to be very careful about how you agree to pay. The websites mentioned earlier have free escrow payment services which work well. However the most important advice is to never pay for work that is not complete to your satisfaction. Make sure you make the time to check and authorize work that has been done.
With a large website design project you may be asked to pay in installments. this is reasonable but you need to see the work that has been done and approve it before allowing payment to go through.
Scams aside, outsourcing can allow you to focus on your core business activity, but it is not a panacea. Outsourcing still requires managerial oversight or it can easily go wrong and end up costing far more than what it was designed to save.
