Managing resources in any which way is a challenging job for any enterprise. This is one of the prime reasons why enterprises outsource their secondary business functions to outsourcing agencies. There are business cases where a critical implementation is delegated to an expert service provider. Irrespective of the size of the partnership, in all cases, the outsourced teams need to be managed and monitored. This is essential bridge the possible gap in the work culture between the client and the outsourcing partner. For larger enterprises, the best practice is to establish a single point of communication and then handover the entire team management to a single relationship manager or have a team to manage the entire outsourcing relationship. For small and medium enterprises, investing in a relationship manager can prove to be a luxury. This is something that they wouldn’t like to invest in. Herein, few important best practices help them establish a mechanism by which they can efficiently manage the outsourced employees or teams.
It is undeniably easy to manage resources when he or she working right under the nose but becomes extremely challenging when an enterprise outsources to India a certain business function. In situations like this, the first thing is to establish a solid foundation of communication. This can be accomplished by regular communication between the parties and keeping the outsourcing partner informed of any minor change that happens in the scope of the project or the partnership. Herein, the old throw-it-over-the-fence attitude will not work. To establish a smooth and transparent communication process, an enterprise has to build a sense of trust. The outsourcing partners are no longer considered as secondary support firms. With the evolving role of outsourcing, the vendors are functioning more as strategic partners working in an integrated way with the organization. Therefore, irrespective of the fact whether an enterprise is outsourcing to India or any other destination, it must share its business goals and formulate the business road-map in consultation with the outsourcing company. This in fact generates a sense of ownership among the team on the other side.
Another very important aspect of managing the outsourced team is to treat them like one’s own employees. An enterprise that recognizes the work down by the outsourcing team and suitably rewards it creates a sustainable and profitable relationship with its outsourcing partner.
