Outsourcing is the wave of the future. You could pick up the phone in the United States and talk to a customer service representative in India. Alright, that probably won’t happen with your small business but you get the picture. Whenever outsourcing is viable, it will be employed.
Before looking to outsource any of your business work, think about what jobs you can outsource. There are several considerations that are included in that decision. The last thing you want is to compromise the trust of your customers by making a wrong decision.
Confidentiality
Whenever you are dealing with a business, there are confidentiality issues. Your clients trust you with their personal and financial information. Anyone working for you must have that same level of commitment to the clients that you have. Outsourcing work that will include this and other sensitive information about your business needs to be placed in the right hands.
Draw up a confidentiality contract. Anyone who wants to work for you must sign this contract stating that they will not reveal any information that they are given to a third party. Also, any work that they do for you is proprietary, meaning it belongs to you and not them. No one wants any breach of confidence but if there is one, you have a legal right to sue for damages with a signed contract.
Time Constraints
Working with someone who is in the same time zone has its perks. You can communicate in the same time and that person can answer you back directly when you call, IM or email them. It is like being in the same room.
On the other hand, a person working in another time zone presents a delay in getting some projects finished. You wouldn’t outsource a job with time constraints on deliverables if your contractor was half a world away. Communication would be challenging to say the least if you needed answers right away. Everything depends on your type of business and how you feel comfortable working.
Outsourced Jobs
Now, we are down to the nitty-gritty. What jobs will you outsource to others? Here is a short list of possible outsourcing opportunities:
• Website content
• Customer service
• Billing
• Taxes
• Website design
• Other marketing responsibilities
You’ll notice that some of these jobs don’t involve any sensitive information. The ones that do require it need someone with the utmost of discretion.
Having a website is important for an online business. Your website is where people will find you, get answers to their questions and buy your goods and services. Static pages, old content and faulty buttons are not going to win you any new customers. A website designer can handle the job of fixing website problems and making it search engine friendly. On your own, it takes a while to learn the ins and outs of setting up a website and keeping it up. Outsourcing to someone with these skills is a good idea especially if you know nothing about websites.