Many organizations are looking for ways to better support their internal operations while providing their team a chance to focus on the bottom line. While offshoring business essentials have gained popularity over the years, (with the quality of services being high and the language barrier posing little to no issue in particular countries) there are still many complications that exist which can have unexpected consequences for the organization. As a result, some companies are looking for support much closer to home.

Domestic outsourcing provides an organization the opportunity to gain services at lower costs, gives their team a chance to focus on the bigger picture and their essential duties, and still have the high-quality services that are common with offshore outsourcing. Choosing to domestically outsource important business functions leads to higher productivity for the business and can have many benefits for the company as a whole.

What is Domestic Outsourcing?

Domestic outsourcing, commonly referred to as onshore outsourcing, is having a third party outside the company perform one of the company’s essential business functions. However, instead of outsourcing to a different country, or otherwise known as offshoring, the company has decided to outsource its services to a third party within the same country.

Note that there is another facet of outsourcing that exists called nearshoring. In this specific type of outsourcing, an organization decides to outsource its services to a neighboring country outside of its own. For example, the United States frequently outsourcing to Mexico is considered nearshoring. Conversely, an organization within the United States can also outsource their business functions to either the Philippines or Romania, which is offshoring.

What Is The Purpose of Onshore Outsourcing?

Onshore outsourcing enables a company to focus on its core mission and objectives while having a third-party tackle some of the behind-the-scenes operations. This checks off a few important boxes when it comes to business:

• It allows the team to focus on their main projects and assignments without being pulled into other areas of the company that potentially need additional backup or extra support. Outsourcing essential services can keep the team moving forward with steady momentum, letting the company’s final product be the main driver of performance.
• Onshoring outsourcing can potentially open up the business to new partnerships, alliances, and opportunities by extending its network to other professionals. This collaboration can eventually lead to new ways of thinking, improved lines of communication, and the exchange of innovative ideas that bring about new and creative solutions.
• Onshore outsourcing can also streamline many processes – both internal and external – creating seamless operating procedures that make sense for the company and the team. Once the standard operating procedures are enacted, everyone can feel the benefit of having clear and effective processes.

Onshore outsourcing is a major decision made by an organization, so it must be done with utmost care and only after a thorough review of any third party they’re considering to work alongside their team. But if the relationship between the two is effective, stable, and produces obvious results, it could be for the benefit of everyone involved. Let’s take a look at a few examples of domestic outsourcing in action.

Examples of Domestic Outsourcing

Outsourcing has become an increasingly popular choice within the United States, as many organizations look for better methods to support their entire infrastructure. To better understand how domestic outsourcing works, let’s go over some examples in a variety of professional fields.

• Human Resources – A HR department is having a heavy influx of complex employee relations matters, which have been needing more thorough review from HR’s leadership team in order to provide the proper guidance. However, because of the intense workflow and the variety of delicate subject matters, the department has decided that they need more nuanced counsel – another branch dedicated to these types of employee issues. Thus, the HR department, with the permission of the business owner and other leaders, decides the best course of action is to hire a third-party investigative team dedicated to complicated employee relation matters. They want a third party that can easily be reached, within the same time zone, and preferably within the same city to help support this endeavor. This team supports HR by relieving them of the more intense issues, which allows the core HR team to focus on their everyday tasks.
• Editing/Writing – A small business with a handful of writers who have been editing each other’s work for some period of time. Although editing is an integral part of the process, the leadership team finds that the best course of action when it comes to supporting their writing team is to free up their writers to focus on the creative part of the writing process so they can continuously improve their craft. As a team, they decide to outsource their editing services to someone within their own country who is familiar with their grammatical rules, can be in their same time zone for easy communication and quick turnaround time on deadlines, and is solely dedicated to the editing parts of the assignments.
• Technology Support/Customer Support – An automotive insurance company has found that they have a high call volume during particular hours (such as 12 PM to 3 PM) and during certain times of the year, especially in the summer where more people are on vacation, driving more, and prone to getting into accidents. The company decides that the best way to ensure they have enough support during peak hours (and during seasonal times) and provide some relief to their current employees, is to outsource this part of their services, especially during these periods. This would ensure they would be fully staffed when needed. Additionally, the company wouldn’t need to worry about the third party having a specific specialty. Because their need is mostly in the number of people they have on the floor that can act as another area of customer support, the core team can come in where needed if it’s a special case, but otherwise, the outsourced team would handle the call center with just the fundamental requirements of those roles.
• Information Technology (IT) – Another small business with a handful of employees decides that they need to outsource their IT, as it’s a much–needed branch of their business, but they don’t have the capacity or expertise to keep up with the demand of their customers. In order to save some costs, avoid employee burnout, increase efficiencies, and get the most tailored and experienced professional behind the driver’s wheel, the business decides to go with a third party within the country that will take over this essential business function.
• Research and Development – Some organizations like to keep their R&D in-house, and while that may serve some companies better than others depending on what kind of industry they’re in, it still can be a costly affair. Organizations will need to take into consideration the cost of training, fringe, equipment, space, and other increasing overhead costs. However, outsourcing their R&D to an outside enterprise can virtually reduce or eliminate these expenses and keep them within budget. As another added bonus, the organization may gain access to advanced technology that could support their projects at new levels. Having a third party be within a quick travel distance is another added benefit as the organization would have access to the right resources when needed. In some cases, having R&D close to the core business location is paramount to success.

Now that we’ve gone over some examples of domestic outsourcing, let’s talk about its many benefits.

Benefits of Domestic Outsourcing

There are many benefits that come with domestic outsourcing.

• Little to no time zone difference – When a company chooses to onshore their services to a third party within the country, time zone differences are minimal (if any). Having a similar time zone makes it easier to schedule necessary meetings, create timelines and associated deadlines, and have the relevant people be accessible during the majority of core working hours.
• No language barrier – While other countries boast an impressive number of talented individuals who are multilingual and have a strong grasp of the English language, onshoring services can eliminate the concern about having miscommunication due to language barriers within the team.
• Business culture – Onshoring can help maintain the current approach to work and business. When a company chooses to offshore, there are some stark cultural differences that can inevitably cause some misunderstandings or confusion. For example, in some Asian countries, the approach to business is to first establish a relationship beforehand, which develops trust between the two parties in order to effectively do business with one another. This is a different approach to business in the west, so it may take some time to adjust to this particular approach. Or, in other cultures, the idea of speaking up or openly disagreeing with a proposed plan of action or solution, may be considered rude and unnecessary and something to avoid entirely in the workplace. This can also lead to miscommunication issues within the team. Onshoring eliminates any risk of distrust or breakdown in communication.
• Readiness and availability – Since domestically outsourced third parties are easily accessible, any unplanned emergencies or other circumstances that require a quick turnaround time is readily available. The organization won’t need to wait until the next day (or longer) because of any time zone differences. They can handle the issues and troubleshooting quickly as they are on-site ready and operating within standard working hours.

Domestic Versus Global Outsourcing

While domestic outsourcing has many positive benefits, it’s important to understand the differences between onshoring and global outsourcing in order to decide what option may be the best fit for the company.

Global outsourcing involves hiring a third party outside of the US for a company’s business operations. And there are many benefits with this option as well, one of the biggest being in its cost savings. As the cost of living is generally lower in countries abroad, their hourly rate is also lower. The talent pool is also especially diverse, boasting an impressive roaster of unique skills and experience that may not be found in the US. Global outsourcing also gives an organization the opportunity to work with different cultures across the globe, offering unique ideas and solutions. However, global outsourcing does have its challenges. Language barriers and sizable time zone differences can make communication difficult across remote teams. Companies outside the country are less accessible and require a more strategic form of collaboration, one that takes some time to build.

Regardless of whether an organization decides to outsource domestically or globally, there are pros and cons to each option. It’s essential that a company thoroughly review its internal business needs to make the best decision for the group.

So you’ve decided to outsource some work to a third party, but how do you make sure you get the results you’re after? You need to find the perfect partner, someone who can follow your design but has the autonomy to work independently. How well they perform will have a direct effect on your business, so this is a decision that you need to get right.

If you’re new to the outsourcing approach then this is the article that you need. We’re going to go over everything you need to know to create an effective outsourcing strategy. We’ll talk about the steps involved in outsourcing and how you can make sure your partner delivers the goods.

We’ll go over things such as how to transfer key information to a third party and how to build new processes to help facilitate an outsourcing relationship. You’ll also learn how to handle ending a contract whether it comes to a natural stopping point or the work isn’t up to standard.

1. Finding the right partner

The most important step of an outsourcing approach is finding the right company or person to partner with. Someone without the necessary experience is going to hold your company back. You want to choose a partner who has proven experience working to deadlines, meeting and exceeding expectations, and providing good value for the work.

As part of your outsourcing implementation plan, you’ll need to decide the scope of the project you are handing off. This will help to inform what kind of company you partner with, whether it is something small like logo design or something grander like creating assets for a video game.

A logo can be handled by a single person or a design firm. There are plenty of websites that can help you find a freelancer including Upwork, Fiverr, and 99Designs. On these websites, you’ll be able to review someone’s portfolio and professional feedback before approaching someone.

Sometimes it makes financial sense to outsource entire departments. Small businesses may need an accountant but lack the resources to bring someone in full-time. A great option is to contract an outside firm that can handle this for you. In these instances, you want to look at firms with outsourcing experiences that can deliver great results at cheap rates.

2. Finalizing the deliverables

Once you’ve found the right partner, you’ll need to decide on the deliverables before a contract can be drawn up and signed. An effective outsourcing strategy will include a detailed contract that leaves no room for error on what is expected. A key part of early conversations should be about locking down expectations and making sure everyone is on the same page.

Here is where an outsource implementation plan is going to make the biggest difference. It may seem like a lot of work to make but it’s useful to have this document for both parties to refer back to. Include details about the goals of the partnership and how your business will support the third party.

One key thing to do is create systems and processes that are uniform between both businesses. Using a project management tool like Teamly means everyone can follow the same tasking system and be able to communicate effectively between teams. Each deliverable and every step involved can be included in Kanban boards on Teamly for quick reference.

Lastly, a dry run at this stage is going to be beneficial for both your business and your outsourcing partner. Set aside a few hours where both teams can pretend it is the first day of work together. Go about the day as you would expect things to progress and make note of any inefficiencies. A rehearsal helps to ensure everything works smoothly and there are no roadblocks between the two companies.

3. Partner Relations

Once the deliverables have been agreed and the contract is signed you should appoint someone to be the contact person. By having a single point of contact between your business and the third-party vendor, any issues or questions can be addressed quickly and coherently. An effective outsourcing strategy will avoid emails to and from multiple people as this can slow down progress.

You’ll likely have set a timeframe for the deliverables in the contract and if your freelancer or agency doesn’t know who to contact they may not be able to keep to it. Treat this as a relationship instead of a transaction and nurture it as you would your own employees. You may elect yourself as the point person, or a trusted member of staff. The key is to select someone who can take ownership and seek out information on behalf of the partner company.

This will create a closer working relationship and will help to grow a long-lasting partnership between the two companies. If your project is large in scope it may be worth assigning a project manager or team that can facilitate relations with the third party. As long as you can avoid communication breakdowns, the project should run smoothly, on time, and on budget.

4. Knowledge transfer

One of the key steps involved in outsourcing is the transfer of knowledge from your business to the partner company. They need to be trained in how your business operates and how to meet your expectations. Other companies may not use the same software, so it will be important to get them up to speed if they need to use in-house software such as your CRM.

Sharing your tech stack with a third party can ensure that you’re working in tandem with each other. This will also help your in-house team to assist the outsourced team where it is appropriate. They may already be using the same tech you use but if they don’t it’s worth getting everyone on the same software.

They may also need access to design documents and knowledge of company tone and attitude. Knowledge transfer is a collaborative process that can be shared through a series of informal and formal discussions. Early in the project, you should arrange a meeting to discuss the brand as well as the deliverables.

Consider if it is worth creating templates and best practices (such as naming conventions, support, and codifying) that can be shared with the outsourced vendor which they can share with their new hires. Following Agile methodology can help to facilitate knowledge transfer by breaking the project down into short 2 week sprints. There will be ample opportunities to share knowledge during meetings and roadblocks can be addressed before the next sprint.

5. Implement transition plan

Here is the part of your outsourcing implementation plan that covers the transition to the third-party vendor. This will be a highly collaborative process and should be led by the in-house project manager if one has been assigned. Involved in this process are the various internal stakeholders as well as the important people at the new company.

You should make sure that the dry run has been completed successfully, the tech stack has been agreed upon, and the transfer of knowledge has everyone on the same page.

Now you’ll need to decide on the timeline for the deliverables and each component of the project. Send over the important assets that the third party needs to complete their work. This could include login information for certain software, or shipping necessary hardware to their address.

Once everything is in place, it’s time to take your hands off the wheel and entrust the developer to deliver the goods. Any third-party vendor will want to retain their autonomy during this process. Micromanagement is likely to rub them the wrong way and if you are unable to let go, it may be better to do this in-house.

Let your point person be there to answer any questions but allow the vendor to work away on the deliverables. They will use your design document and best practices to ensure the work fits your brand identity.

6. Assessing the deliverables

Before you sign off on the deliverables you’ll want to ensure they meet your expectations. Depending on the type of work being done you should try to build revisions into the contracts. For example, if you are commissioning a logo design from a freelancer or agency, make sure to add one or two revision requests. This protects you if the initial design misses the mark.

Other types of contracts may stipulate work will continue until the final product is signed off on. The important thing is to ensure you’re not paying for work that you can’t use or limit the amount of money spent on goods you aren’t happy with.

In a perfect world, the end result will be ideal and the project can be signed off. At which point you can look at commissioning a new project or ending your relationship there, with both parties happy with the result.

Sometimes, however, there will be issues with quality or deadlines missed which can sour the relationship. At this point, you’ll need to decide whether to cut your losses and find a new vendor, bring development in-house, or swallow your pride and accept the project as-is. In order to make this decision, you’ll need to look at the costs, resources, and time available for the project.

7. Ending the contract

Ending a contract with a third-party vendor can happen for a number of reasons and not all of them are within your control. The most obvious reason pertains to quality but sometimes you’ll need to end a contract early if there are financial issues. If you are hit by an economic downturn, one of the first things a company will do is look to end outsourcing to save money.

An exit plan is a great idea in these instances to ensure you can end the relationship on good terms. While it is impossible to plan for every natural or economic disaster that may come into play, you can plan ahead for changes in the market and budget constraints. The exit plan should contain the steps you’ll take if your partner fails to meet expectations or other factors that mean you need to terminate the account.

In the plan, you should cover the steps involved with bringing the project in-house or transitioning the assets from your partner to a new vendor. Consider how to facilitate these changes without running into interruptions in your day-to-day business.

Sometimes the most challenging part of running a business is allowing others to take some of your load off. It’s not just control freaks who feel they have to do it themselves if they want the job done right. Many of us try to do it all because we think it’s easier than training someone else. However, letting go and offloading tasks allows us to focus on what we’re truly good at. Not only does this help avoid burn out, but it makes us better at what we do and facilitates our business growth.

If you want to focus on growing your business or are even at the stage where you really need support, hiring a virtual assistant could be your next secret weapon. A virtual assistant is an independent contractor who can provide a wide range of services to clients, operating outside of the client’s office.

Virtual assistants are great because they don’t need to occupy space in your office and are usually less of a financial commitment than a full-time employee. You can hire them for precisely the amount of hours you need them for and have the flexibility to adjust this based on the needs of your business.

Wondering how exactly a virtual assistant can make your life easier? Here are 10 services that you can use them for:

1. Administrative Work

Does anybody really enjoy doing admin work? Admin tasks such as filing, data entry, and scheduling are of course important, but can be a massive time drain, cutting into the time you have for more interesting tasks. Fortunately, since much of these tasks are straightforward, a virtual assistant can take the load off. Even if admin work is your jam, the ‘as needed’ work structure of a VA means that if your workload increases, you can always have the option of offloading admin work. Have a think about how offloading some of the admin work you do could give you more time to focus on growing your business.

2. Social Media Management

Many businesses need to harness the power of social media these days. And yet, it’s an area that many business owners don’t have the time (or patience) for. Since hiring a dedicated social media manager or marketer isn’t always in the budget, a virtual assistant can help. On an as-needed basis, a VA can create content calendars, interact with the community, manage posts, and fulfil many of the duties of a social media team, without breaking the budget.

3. Bookkeeping

One of the most essential elements of running a business, but also one of the most tedious (particularly for us creatives), is bookkeeping. If the thought of invoices, bills, and keeping track of finances makes you just want to get back in bed, a virtual assistant can help. Some tasks a virtual assistant can take over are generating invoices and following up, issuing refunds, preparing balance sheets, helping you prepare your tax statements, and paying bills and wages. If you have tears of boredom in your eyes after just reading that list, get in touch with a virtual assistant who can help.

4. Customer Service

Sometimes when we’ve grown a business ourselves from scratch, interacting with our customers personally means a lot. They’ve helped us get where we are today, and we want to make sure we’re continuing to develop those relationships. But needing someone to take this on for you is a great sign that you’ve grown. And in order to do what you do best and ultimately keep making those special customers happy, you need to have someone take care of the day-to-day customer service tasks. This can include answering emails, phone calls, live chat, and social media messages. And there are still many ways you can make your customers or clients feel the personal touch; you could send a gift during the holidays, handwritten notes with big orders, or host events.

5. Creative Writing

As a business owner, it’s hard to ignore the power of creative writing content such as blogs, ebooks, courses, etc. Whether you want to appear higher on a search engine search or find new and exciting ways to generate leads, creative writing can be the key. Virtual assistants can help by writing blog posts, writing ebooks, newsletters, email funnels, social media post captions, email marketing, product descriptions, brochures, and packaging.

6. Research

Another interesting way a virtual assistant can help you take your business to the next level is through research. The research that a virtual assistant can help you with varies greatly. It could be hashtag research for your social media, speaking opportunities, market research, or even creating a SWOT analysis. Research is important but time-consuming, so consider outsourcing this aspect of your work to improve productivity and streamline business growth.

7.  Graphic design

You don’t need to be a graphic designer to create excellent graphics nowadays, with platforms like Canva offering services that make it easy to learn and execute. A virtual assistant can help you with several simple graphic design tasks, such as photo editing, creating content for social media, or creating a brand style guideline.

8. Tech

Not a tech guru? Or just don’t have the time for it? A virtual assistant is a great option to help you with all of your tech needs. You can have them format your blog posts, edit your videos or podcasts, troubleshooting, or even create reports on your analytics.

9. Recruiting

Hiring is tiring. So get someone else to do it for you! If they understand your vision for your business, a virtual assistant will significantly assist with the recruitment process. You can brief them on what you need, get them to upload the job advertisement to various sites, filter through applicants, set up interviews, and so on. Not comfortable with outsourcing the entire recruitment process? Even just having a VA do the leg-work and leaving the interviewing up to you will streamline your work day massively.

10. Project management

While a project manager can play a pretty massive role in itself, a virtual assistant can be of great help in this area. They can help outline project scopes, create and manage timelines, create contingency plans, and schedule meeting and tasks. This will help your business and projects run super efficiently. Use Teamly to empower your virtual assistant to finish projects faster and efficiently.

You should have a pretty good idea of how hiring a virtual assistant can help your business grow. And remember, these are just a starting point! Some virtual assistants specialize further and could be familiar with the ins and outs of your industry.

So how should you find the best virtual assistant that will make your life easier? You want to take the necessary steps to make sure that you find the right fit. A few things you’ll want to think about before you start your search are:

• What your goals are. Do you want someone who can bring a new fresh perspective on something you’re not as well-versed in? Do you want someone who can lighten your load in general? The answers to these questions can determine the qualities and skill level your future virtual assistant should have.
• Your budget. Virtual assistants can range in price. If you need someone who goes above and beyond, you might want to evaluate what you can afford.
• What a good personality fit looks like. Chances are, you want this to be a mutually beneficial and long-term relationship. You’ll want to make sure that you get a good vibe from the virtual assistant and that they seem like a good fit for your team.

You can go down a few different avenues to find the right virtual assistant. Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr allow you to easily find experienced virtual assistants from all over the world that meet any budget or other requirements. Another great way is to ask your network for a referral. Prepare some thoughtful questions to ask the potential candidates to give you insight into their experience, personality, and skill set.