Outsourcing Oversees

I use skype to connect with my outsource investors and developers...

Yes I outsource in India and in the Philippines (mostly design and translation) and I use Skype to communicate with them.

When I get flooded with local work, I don't outsource to 3rd world countries.

I only hire and work with native English speakers. It's worth the extra $$$ to not have to sort through piles of halfassed crap.

Yeah, I can hire some guy in India to help me develop a website for a few bucks and a ton of headache, or I can hire a native English speaker and get it done right the first time because communication is much better and more efficient.

Sorry, but I am completely against outsourcing to India and the Philippines. Have had nothing but problems and headaches choosing the cheap route.

I'd rather spend my money on quality and someone I can actually communicate with on a business level.

My company NEVER outsources to India or the Philippines. I am completely and totally against it on every level.

If you choose the cheapiest helpers in the cheapiest countries... yes, you will have problems.

But if you carefully select the best in India and the Philippines ... you'll probably have a good experience.

You'll also have good experiences with mostly the better developers in Russia and Kazakhstan

A lot of companies in the US and Canada, and some European countries outsource to the Philippines, many companies are outsourcing to Philippine's instead of India, Philippines people tend to have better English and communication skills, plus they are more honest and trustworthy and get the job done.

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I have never hired any direct freelancer before.
Usually I will go through companies or websites like agency and the company will handle everything.

Definitely outsourcing can save so much more time and very often outsourcing with friends can be the best thing to do and less or no cost, or build a team.

what OP is suggesting is completely wrong. In india, outsourcing is a billion dollar industry. If employees from phillipines and India are so bad, you will not have billion dollar outsourcing industry.

However, the culture is completely different. HR is an art in itself. Hiring and getting work out of people is a skill in itself.

Based on my experience, a lot of the problems stems from the fact that some people don't know how to manage and delegate when they outsource. You need to understand your business needs, know how to hire, communicate and delegate to the people you outsource, regardless of where you want to outsource.

There are a lot of great freelancers and bad freelancers everywhere, whether it's in India, the Philippines, Europe or the US. That's why businesses continue to outsource. The quality of the workers isn't dependent on where they come from. It's about who they are and how well they're being treated.

Language and culture can be obstacles to outsourcing but only if you allow it to be. Being smart about who you hire and knowing how to manage your freelancers is the key to outsourcing success.

I outsource research and basic admin tasks, partly for the monetary savings and also because the work is usually done while I sleep due to the time difference. As a marketer, it allows me to spend more of my time on more strategic work as I was finding I was getting quite bogged down before I engaged the services of a VA from overseas. Whatever you do, I would seek recommendations and source someone that you can hire for a few hours and see how they go first. Good luck!

Outsourcing is good way to keep low cost development. Of course, you need to pick your partner carefully. It may take some time, but after perfect pick, its win-win for both.

It not only help small companies to grow faster but also help them to diversify the services they offer.

We are outsourcing partner to several design firms in US and UK and I can tell you from my personal experience.

My 2 cents.

I've outsourced translation jobs all over the world. Best experiences; Far East, Worst experience; France.

Most difficult: Middle East - its a cultural thing. Conversation goes thus. I say I pay x for job or per 100 words, they say OK. They then say job done and invoice twice as much. I tell them to stick it, they moan and re-invoice correct amount.

I think it obviously depends on the job you are asking them to do.

I outsource for a range of tasks including:

- Basic graphic design - to help clients visualise site maps, and basic concepts - this is really affordable and can be done really quickly so it's a great added bonus for my clients. The majority of my graphic design is done in Australia, however, quick mock up jobs are done via freelancers in India and Philippines

- Admin tasks - often client's need contact lists developed or product information or basic info I don't have time to put together and I outsource these tasks to a trusted colleague in Phillipines. She works while I am sleeping and the clients are able to get great data at a fraction of the cost.

- Web development support - I have outsourced some web development offshore for clients however I don't think you can beat locally based web developers as it is difficult to manage from abroad.

Overall, outsourcing internationally does provide a range of benefits for clients and I am often asked to engage the services of a VA for a range of tasks for my clients. The cost savings are incredible and if you find a great partner it is well worth it. That said, it can take a while until you find the 'right' person for the job as there are some people out there that are time wasters and don't offer quality services.

Good luck.

I have been working in this field since 2011. Beside my local job, I am enjoying this IM section. Most of the time I use the Upwork its name was Odesk. Beside the Upwork, I have been using the Fiverr. I am getting the Top rated freelancer. It is easy to hire them. Before hiring anyone you need to check his/ her previous work report feedback. But it is not important where from the freelancer. Thanks

Outsourcing is good and reliable as long as you do it right:
- methodology- pick the one you wish your software to be build in,
- references- check your partner before you burn budget. Price matters but is not a key factor.
- qualifications- check certifications, get know development and testing processes.
- awards- many IT service providers are well known and awarded for the quality of their services.
- it is not the cheaper the better game.
The poor quality code is the most expensive one- by the end of a day you need to fix it and get the good team to fix- this way it is very expensive operation.

Outsource is worth of consideration when you do it right- it is very expensive if you go for the cheaper the better approach.

In case you wish to have so-called common tool- like online selling solution in 98% of cases Saas is a right choice- since they benefit only form happy customers.

Yes, I've outsourced plenty of work, including creation of amazing 3D models and renders, getting custom software written, getting WordPress Themes customized, and various data-entry.

I learned a lot along the way, and will share one tip here . . . UpWork (then oDesk) allowed a Dispute (even though it was obviously in violation of their own policy of "no disputes allowed for fixed-price jobs), and forced me to pay even though I received zero value. The job was software creation, and my job specifically stated that the job was to create software which worked on MY computer. Since the software didn't work on my computer, I didn't see why I should pay, since I'd made that 100% clear in the job description, and was paying a fixed-price (the whole point of which was that I'd only have to pay if the job was actually completed to my satisfaction).

Anyway, they went against their own explicitly-stated policy, and ignored their own explicit definitions of what a fixed-price job is and forced me to pay for something that gave me zero value, just because the programmer insisted that it did work on his computer.

What I learned was, always break a job into small Milestones, that way, you never lose more than the money in escrow for a single milestone at a time, which avoids problems like the one above.

Overall, I am happy with UpWork, and have had many great jobs done via their service. And now I know how to minimize that problem too !

Chris

I hare VA's from the Philippines, however I am very selective and I train them to do the work that I will have them do.

When outsourcing projects, I find this to be a bit more difficult. I find the biggest problem is communication and I'm very specific that I only work with users that understand English well. Yet I still sometimes end up having problems.

Once I find someone that does good work at a good price and I don't have problems. I will try and stick with that person for all future projects of the same type.

I outsource my repetitive data entry work to a person in India. I originally found him on Script Lance many years ago, and he's stayed with me many years simply because I keep him busy.

Over the years he has hired 2-3 of his own workers off and on when I have needed him to ramp things up for a project.