How you can outsource work, beat the competition, and 10x productivity in Singapore
Outsourcing work has been a key business strategy these days, kind of like every company’s secret weapon to cut costs and maximise resources. Heard of the term but not sure what it really entails? Let’s dive into how to outsource work in Singapore and how it helps companies up their productivity game.
Imagine this, your company operations is like a huge gigantic cake. There’s a lot of effort needed to beautify the cake and up keep its aesthetics. Outsourcing is like cutting a piece of that cake and leaving it to another company/individual to take care of that slice of cake while you focus on other things.
Of course your outsourcing process will be on a much larger scale, and it will not be a piece of cake.
What makes people outsource work instead of doing the tasks in-house? With increasing workload and limited resources, spreading out your resources thinly will only tire out your staff and we don’t want that. Outsourcing part of your company’s functions will help free up your staff to focus on your core competencies, leading to improved efficiency and productivity.
Outsourcing can be overwhelming if you are new to it. Don’t know where to start? Here’s some recommendations you can look at to help you before you take your first step.
If you are looking to outsource certain tasks that can be done by one person alone such as writing and copywriting, check out platforms that help you connect to freelancers. The perks of engaging freelancers? You get to cut costs because you are only paying them to do the work that they have done. On the other hand, hiring full time staff would mean that you still have to pay for their insurance, bonuses and other miscellaneous expenses. With freelancers you get to eliminate these frills. That may not sound like much but the cost of miscellaneous expenses add up. You’ll be surprised at how much money you can save when you hire freelancers.
Check out Upwork, a platform which helps to connects companies like yours to freelancers. The best thing about Upwork is that it has a nifty work diary software that helps to verify the time a freelancer has spent on working for you. With this there’s a lot more accountability from your workers so you do not have to spend extra cash on time that wasn’t spent on work. Other freelancer sites include:
If you are looking to outsource work on a larger scale to external companies then you can consider local or overseas vendors to help you link talents to you. What types of work do you want to outsource to external companies? One task you can consider outsourcing would be things like payroll and HR matters. We all got to admit, these processes tend to be time consuming and long drawn, and can take up a significant portion of your resource. By outsourcing such administrative work, your employees will be freed up to focus on your company’s core competencies and work on strategic planning and tasks that have greater impact on your company’s profits.
Now that you’ve got your outsourced company or individual, what’s the next step?
If you’ve answered “to outsource effectively”, give a pat on your back. With outsourcing, you don’t get a chance to meet those who are doing your outsourced work, which can create gaps in communication or productivity. Uh-oh. How do you resolve problems like that?
To make outsourcing a success, it is important to clearly define the roles and responsibilities. This will help to prevent any task duplication, or any miscommunication of what is expected for external parties. At the same time, defining performance measurements and deliverables are equally important. Why so? It helps to make sure that you and your staff are on the same page and expectations can be managed.
An additional tip when you are defining your scope and deliverables is to keep things clear but brief, allowing these things to easily followed and adhered to.
When you outsource work, doing physical meetings to get work updates is not feasible. It is not going to be like your regular office where you get to pop by employee cubicles.
To make sure that your staff is meeting your deadline and goals, put a timeline in place for the tasks that you have outsourced. This will help to motivate the staff to deliver the output within the agreed timeline and prevent any delays in your project. Of course, remember to discuss the timeline beforehand. You don’t want sloppy work done, do you?
If you aren’t too big of a fan of outsourcing, offshoring will be the next go-to option. This is especially so if you own a small start-up and have a tighter purse. Offshoring your business to neighbouring countries will help you in cutting expenses due to lower costs of labour in these places.
Not sure which country to start with? Why not check out Indonesia?
Indonesia has been a hotbed for offshoring with its growing pool of skilled and quality talents, sophisticated infrastructure as well as lower labour costs. Plus its close proximity to Singapore allows you to hold face-to-face meetings at a cost of $50.
The thing about offshoring is that you would have to find talents in foreign land. That can get a little tricky, especially if you do not know what qualifications to look out for or you lack You may want to hop on to Glints Global. From there, you are guaranteed to hire quality tech talents located in Batam to solve your offshoring manpower bottlenecks. This way, you can offshore your businesses easily!
If you have any other worries on offshoring in a foreign land, check out the survival tips we have over here.
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