We live in a time now where we can get almost anything after a few clicks on our laptop or phone. From assembling a team of online workers to ordering bulk products directly from the manufacturer on the other side of the world, we may not even be required to get out of bed. For many, this has presented countless opportunities to start a business or expand on theirs. What has played a big role in this is the ability to outsource work easily and affordably. Websites such as Upwork and Fiverr have given freelancers a solid platform to acquire jobs through, as well as providing clients with a huge and competitive pool of talent to choose from.
Below, we shall have a look at the pros and cons of outsourcing work.
Pros
You get to focus on what you are good at
People often outsource work that they are not as skilled at and this gives them time to focus on what they know best. Sure, it might be beneficial to have a more well-rounded approach to your business, however, as in most cases, it is best if you hire someone who knows what they are doing. If you are for example, a creative designer, then you would most likely want to focus on that side of your business rather than dealing with accounting and IT issues. Outsourcing such work means you can have it dealt with professionally, giving you time to focus on what you know best. If you ever worry about meetings, there are more than enough project management tools such as Skype, Slack and Pronestor room scheduler to help smooth it out.
It can be cheaper than doing it yourself
You may wonder how can hiring someone else to do a job you can do, work out cheaper? The answer is what is your time worth to you? Are you making the most of your time by focusing on balancing the books when you could be focusing on developing your product or service? In this sense, hiring a professional to ease this burden could be more cost effective than spending your own time doing so. Think of it as an opportunity cost.
The internet has allowed us access to talent globally, and therefore pushed down the price of many types of work. You could find yourself hiring a virtual assistant for a fraction of your local minimum wage, giving you the time to do what you do best and not worry so much about the tasks that don’t interest you.
Delivery is sped up
If, for example, your team was based completely
in-house and locally, you would also certainly have some downtime overnight
while your business is closed. Outsourcing out to a pool of talent worldwide
means that your work could continue in other timezones while you’re sleeping,
with it ready for when you wake up. This could drastically improve your
workflow process and cut lead times significantly thanks to reduced downtime.
Cons
Potential lack of continuity
If you aren’t hiring people full time then there is a chance that they may not be available next time you need them. This could result in work interruptions or differing qualities of work, especially if start hiring different people to work on one project. Communication is therefore key, as well as proper management from the client.
A lack of accountability
As easy as it is to hire someone, it is just as easy to fire them. While it isn’t so common, if a freelancer is unable to fully satisfy what is required of them, the repercussions on them would usually just be a reduction in pay and possibly a bad review. This would likely have a short-term negative impact on them, but could prove to be much more damaging to the business hiring them who may be working on a strict deadline. Accountability is definitely more lax when outsourcing work compared to if you were to hire someone in-house.
Privacy concerns
By outsourcing work you are having your ideas put out there, and it is harder to control or even know what someone is doing with the information you are allowing them access to, especially if they are on the other side of the world. Local laws may be difficult to enforce if you hire from abroad, so extra care and consideration must be taken before going through with this.