Top tips for successful outsourcing
Follow practical outsourcing tips to reduce risk, improve performance and manage suppliers more effectively.
Outsourcing can help you reduce costs and focus on core activities. However, it also involves risks, especially around control and quality. Follow these tips to make outsourcing work for your business.
Plan carefully
Take time to plan thoroughly before you outsource. Rushing this stage is a common cause of problems later, including unclear scope, missed expectations, and costly disputes. Before you start, make sure you are clear on your goals, expectations and contract terms.
Build a strong relationship
Good communication and collaboration are essential. Assign one team member to own the supplier relationship, use project management tools to track progress, and set regular updates and review meetings to catch issues early and stay in control.
Communicate internally
Keep your staff informed about outsourcing decisions. Tell them what's happening and why. If outsourcing might affect jobs, roles or workloads, address concerns early and answer any questions you can. In some cases, you may have legal duties to employees under employment law.
Commit for the long term
Outsourcing works best as a long-term partnership. Switching suppliers can be disruptive and costly, so it is best to commit to building a long-term relationship from the outset.
Stay flexible
Be prepared to review and re-negotiate your contract if business needs change. Flexible agreements help both you and your supplier adapt over time.
Measure performance
Set clear targets to measure success. Track both financial results and other outcomes, such as service quality or efficiency. See how to measure performance and set targets.
Consider your exit strategy
Always include an exit plan in your contract. Define how services will transition and who owns key assets if the partnership ends. Read more about service level agreements.