Outsourcing is a bit of a gray area among many small business owners. On the one hand, it’s cheap, reliable work, on the other hand you might not always be sure you can trust the worker to complete the work assigned to them. Juggling the outsourcing pros and cons is a daily habit for some people, so here is a short list of both the advantages and the disadvantages of outsourcing.
Pros of Outsourcing:
Advantages of outsourcing include:
- Specialized skills– Unlike in-house employees, outsourcing companies and freelancers have finely honed skills relevant to their craft. When you hire a freelance writer for article marketing or link building for example, you are getting a persona who writes every single day for their living.
- Lower Cost- A lot of people are under the impression that freelancers and outsource specialists cost a lot of money, when in fact the opposite is true. Also consider the fact that to write a lot of articles yourself takes too much time, and hiring a staff to do it in-house is hardly cost effective anymore.
- Contracts– Worried that hiring someone in Costa Rica or the Philippines means that you will have no control over the way they work? Think again. Going into a contractual agreement protects both you and the freelancer, so you both get what you want.
Cons of Outsourcing
Outsourcing disadvantages include:
- Language Barriers– One of the only issues or problems with outsourcing would involve different languages. This is becoming less and less of a problem though, because a lot of freelancers and outsourcing companies realize how important it is to be fluent in English in today and tomorrow’s business world.
- Lack of Quality Control– Sometimes it just isn’t possible to control how a freelancer will behave. You can minimize your risk though by using a company like Freelancer.com that features a rating system. You can choose to hire only freelancers that have good reviews from past employers. It is nearly a foolproof system.
In the end, looking at outsourcing pros and cons shows that the advantages of outsourcing far exceed the outsourcing disadvantages. This is of course only true most of the time, and as with everything there will be exceptions to the rule. You might experience outsourcing problems when you look in places like India or Pakistan, so always be sure to clarify that you need someone who speaks and writes English very well.
Immobilienmakler Heidelberg Makler HeidelbergSource by Andrew Handley