Outsourcing and the cloud

Outsourcing has long been a choice for companies looking to devolve management and execution of their services by sending their projects to an experienced outsourcing provider, giving them more time to focus on achieving their business objectives.

Outsourcing is a strategic decision by an organization to hire the right people from a pool of skilled workers from anywhere in the world in order to complete a task or a project. Reasons for outsourcing depend on the company’s structure and project goals. Global companies are offshoring more and more mainly to take advantage of lower labor costs overseas.

A company can outsource any job with a potential to be globally resourced. Many companies in the US and Australia are actively outsourcing their contact center and back office services, application and web development, internet marketing, information technology (IT) and professional services to third party service providers offshore. Some companies actively look for providers to immediately access a skilled workforce without the need to place job ads or provide work space. Outsourced services can be provided for a fraction of what they would cost in an in-house facility. This enables employers to quickly and easily tap into a skilled global workforce on demand.

Due diligence before choosing an outsourcing partner is the key to successful outsourcing. Companies must consider all aspects of offshoring and not just focus on cost savings. Therefore, companies should look for a complete solution, good facilities, best resources, skilled employees and even the necessary certifications.

More recently, a far less mature concept than outsourcing is beginning to offer benefits similar to those from outsourcing. Cloud is now redefining how organizations function and operate by migrating to a virtualized environment, allowing departments within the organization to use specific software as a service (SaaS). In general, cloud can automate a company’s processes and functions instead of the company handing over the process and functions to an outsourcing provider.

Companies that are used to large outsourcing contracts will have to change their approach if they choose to move to the cloud. Traditionally, cloud is not an answer to everything but it is perceived as an option. The outsourcing role is dramatically changing and will continue to do so as the demands to rely on the cloud for business services, Human Resources and IT processing grows.

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