Based on our extensive expertise, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 issues you could encounter while outsourcing your projects, as well as IT outsourcing solutions for avoiding or overcoming them.
1: Lack of outsourcing Experience
When you start working with someone or on anything, best practices, standard concepts, and procedures are unfamiliar to you. It is challenging to communicate your idea to another set of individuals, especially those you have never worked with before.
Solution: Choose a skilled vendor
You will be guided by an expert vendor, ensuring that you can avoid bottlenecks and minimize risks. However, it’s critical to understand that outsourcing is hazardous. If you’re prepared to take that risk, the correct supplier will be there to help you every step of the way.
2: Cost Estimation Error
Although we previously stated that outsourcing might save you a significant amount of money, it can also go wrong if not adequately prepared. And you can’t estimate prices without knowing precisely what you want and when you want it..
Solution: Set explicit project requirements
Find a professional organization or individual freelance employees to assist you with defining specific set of criteria for the job if you’re having problems doing so. To prevent surprise costs, ask as many questions as possible to determine how the pricing strategy works. Explain your financial constraints to the vendor to avoid future misunderstandings.
3: The Absence of a Cultural Context
If you have never served in a culturally diverse team, you may not recognize it, but cultural backgrounds and country distinctions matter. Although variety has been shown to generate creativity and financial gains in the long run, it can lead to communication issues and misunderstandings in the short term. Furthermore, because you will be targeting a worldwide market, you may need to become accustomed to interacting with people in different time zones.
Solution: Don’t overlook the importance of cultural differences.
This outsourcing approach works in both directions: you can conduct diversity awareness training sessions for your employees and communicate your values and conventions to freelancers. Also, be sure you establish clear communication lines and schedule regular conversations to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
4: Contractual and Legal Processes
Unlike in-house recruiting, the legal outsourcing process is not uniform and heavily influenced by the vendor’s location. You may be required to sign different extra documents that are not part of the legal process in your nation. The outsourcing troubles begin with simple mistakes in the agreement that can escalate to significant consequences that poison the entire paradigm between you and your vendor.
Solution: When it comes to legalities, be meticulous and thorough.
Prepare a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for the outsourcing business to sign, as well as any other regulatory paperwork that may be required. Discuss every aspect of the process, including scenarios where your provider fails to deliver or makes a mistake, and don’t forget to address security concerns. Compensation, working conditions, freelancer obligations, ownership information, and other pertinent terms should all be included in your contract.
5: Inadequate Knowledge Transfer
There are two sorts of outsourcing concerns that result from poor knowledge transfer: The first is from your point of view, while the second is from the vendor’s perspective.
You may have an unfortunate experience dealing with project consequences after severed vendor relations. If they don’t have extensive documentation, you may encounter functionality or scripts that you don’t comprehend. On the other hand, if the supplier acquires an upcoming IT project outsourcing from you and there is no straightforward knowledge transfer procedure, they may fall short of your goals.
Solution: Maintain clear and comprehensive documentation
Make a thorough knowledge transfer strategy, including features, technology, and code logic. Your supplier should understand the project only by looking at your written rules. If that isn’t enough, set up conversations or meetings with the outsourcing firm, your DevOps specialists, QA automation engineers, and developers, if feasible, to address hidden hazards and answer all of your vendor’s queries.
6: Lack of Communication and Team management
Even though it seems like a broken record, communication is crucial to success. You may believe that you are being understood in the way you intended, but others have diverse backgrounds, educations, and experiences to have different perspectives.
Solution: Implement continual communication
Integrate calls, feedback loops, and other communication tactics into your project plan to ensure that communication is a vital component of the process. If feasible, go to each other’s offices to conduct in-person encounters that will help you understand each other better and build your empathy. Finally, to stay in sync, use project management systems like JIRA and Trello, as well as a shared GitHub board to exchange technical procedures.
7: Choosing a Reliable Vendor
Partnering with an improper agency is one of the most typical causes of outsourcing gone awry. We’ve discussed how critical it is to select a reliable supplier several times. But what exactly does it imply? What distinguishes one from the other?
Solution: Make sure you’ve done your homework.
Sometimes the data you get online is inconclusive, with one website having only excellent ratings and another having a slew of bad ones. Check out reputable resources like Clutch, TopDevelopers, and DesignRush, and learn about vendors’ cases and experiences on their websites.
8: Choosing the Right Outsourcing Methodology
The following are the three most popular outsourcing models:
- Model of time and material.
- Contracts with a set price.
- Dedicated development teams are available.
You can pick one of the models based on your objectives, needs, scope, length, budget, and other factors.
Verdict
If outsourcing is unique to you, you will almost probably run into some challenges at first, which is why choosing a trustworthy IT outsourcing company is so important. A reliable outsourcing provider will have adequate case studies to illustrate their experience, positive client feedback, and a devoted staff of professionals who will be available to provide you with IT outsourcing services at every stage.
