Outsourcing - Who, What, How?

Hey guys, I have a new venture thats about to be launched and its going to be a sort of 'on the side' project. Im going to be able to handle the first few weeks and running it, though when business picks up im going to have to hire some extra help, so naturally to cut costs I have decided to outsource.

This is where it gets tricky, i've never had to do this before so im trying to work out where and who I go to. I know there are small companies out there that exist who provide outsourcing services with a quick set up etc. I dont want to just hire a random freelancer to do some administration work, I want a few people working with the business for 3-4 full days per week.

The work will include:
- Processing orders
- Answering customer enquiries
- Live help
- General admin

Also somewhere down the track I would like to employ a small team of designers. Probably the most important feature im looking for is good communication. I need people with good english and available to talk via msn, skype etc.

Can anyone reccommend anywhere I can go? All help would be much appeciated!

 

well, I can only tell you what I would do. I would ask my friends who are working online too for recomendations and then ask them if they are willing to work for you.

If you don't finde somebody you can try to find somebody using the bst section but I recomend you to only work with people from europe/us/au and with good itraders.

 

Try freelancerchina.com, they have what you want.

India has something similar (hiddenbrains.com being one of them) but not too sure about this.

Hope this helps.

 

You can outsource the job to some company such as outsource2india

 

There are many small to mid-size and even bigger entities working exclusively in outsourcing domain. While small setups deliver at a lower cost due to lesser overheads, they may lack quality, on the other hand, big setups will give you quality at a price.

What is your anticipated budget / headcount and hour of operations that you expect. Any place outside US of A would mean, working at odd hours and thus a price differential and other associated costs. A 24x7 one seat requirement needs at least 5 heads to rotate => you need to account for 5 seats.

I can help you with your requirements, PM me if you need more inputs / help in this regard.

Thx

 

You may try finding specialists with good reputation at online marketplaces like eLance and Guru.com. Be sure to check their feedback first. However, I agree that cheap work, while being of a decent quality, may not have too much distinctive or memorable style. But you may be lucky if you pick carefully.

Smashing Magazine has a great article on design quality and costs ratio, be sure to check it out.

 

Ok, this is definitely intense. I think I'm going to stand on the sideline of this and wait and see...

 

Thanks everyone for your input!! I had a look at such websites as freelancechina and hidden brains but I get the feeling as if im going to be given people who won't take an interest in my business and just do the work and not communicate. I don't know, maybe I am asking too much. I would also be looking for people who handle incoming phone inquiries. Though the problem I see here is that as my business is located and operates out of Australia, If I outsource overseas and my customers first point of contact isn't Australian I might lose credibility. Another option is hiring one of two people over here and increase the cost of staffing, which would in turn have an effect on my budget elsewhere.

What is everyones take on this? Perhaps provide some pros and cons of each option? All input appreciated!

 

i think you should follow me you can find you need here

 

I'm in a similar situation in NZ. Am outsourcing customer support and system implementation to a local company with national spread but when I head off-shore will face a minefield. I'd be interested to hear what you end up doing. Good luck.

 

Dougal, out of interest, what are you paying to a local company?

 

Implementation and training is self-funding so we quote the outsource fees along with our license cost etc. The provider bills the client direct for the work they do at their normal hourly rates. We don't take a margin on this. Software license fees are a monthly per-user subscription, so a portion of this up to a maximum amount per month pays the same organisation to run our helpdesk. Out of an average $55/month/user license fee, $7/user/month goes toward funding helpdesk, up to a maximum of $12.5k per month. So after a point as our client base grows our support fees plateau.

 

Regarding overseas outsourcing: I'm sure you can find a company providing 24/7 services. However, speaking of interest in your business, working with local specialists is surely preferable.

Please, keep us informed on what you find out, I'm sure that everyone would be interested to know about your progress!