Outsourcing Tips

Call Center Outsourcing Payback

2011-12-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

Because of the recession here in the United States and other developed economies, many businesses are outsourcing with call centers. Critics suggest that this could cause unemployment, which could be reduced if these jobs stayed at home. They also think that all phases of production are better handled by those at home, as well.

If we compare numbers though, those businesses would spend somewhere between 67%-72%, where as if they outsource, they are only having to spend 33%-40% of all costs, and that cost includes training, benefits, and other incentives. The savings are due to the uneven exchange rate of the currencies of the client and the service provider countries.

Labor cost overseas generate between $1.12-$1.14 in additional value for the American economy by making goods and services cheaper, and companies more competitive. Keeping the service at home would incur higher investment with 5-10 time's longer payback period.

So keeping services overseas is a more financially-sound alternative. The countries that receive the outsourcing services usually experience impressive financial growth and higher standard of living for those directly involved. It's really a win/win situation.

Outsourcing is usually beneficial for businesses that deal with process which are associate with the company's image enhancement, require little access to the intellectual properties and patents, incorporate core competencies with the least possible influence on overall operations, and are not labor intensive. Countries that want leadership in outsourcing have to show written and spoken proficiency in English, skilled workforce, flexible hours, low labor costs, and available staff or management.

There are some negative considerations that need to be taken into account like political and religious instability, cultural differences, internal competition for resources, rising labor costs, and poor infrastructure.

An unexpected drawback is the high rate of attrition. Many agents can only stay on for a year or so because the industry prefers dynamic and restless young people, individual talent is generally overlooked, the job is seen as upper societal, many consider the opportunity as temporary, or monotonous semi-mechanical and repetitive operation during night hours is conducive to boredom and drowsiness.

To adjust to this issues, you can initiate and push some steps like hire more mature and emotionally reliable people, recognize personal talents to be rewarded, encourage involvement in community-based programs, provide tangible job security, and implement round-robin turns in responsible positions or functions within the line-of-business or account.

Medical Outsourcing Services Mobile Pet Scanning

2011-12-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

Why would you ever need mobile services at all? Well, if you don't need the service full time, your office has a lack of experience in implementing a program for it, or when you want to get up and run quickly without committing capital resources.

Well, Alliance Imaging provides mobile services that include MRI, PET/CT, and CT equipment to provide flexibility and meet the diverse needs of communities, patients, and physicians, as well as your own imaging schedule. This is an example of what a PET scan looks like:

If you need imaging equipment, like a PET scanner, then outsource Alliance Imaging, or other companies similar to it for any imaging needs.

Chocolate Candy Outsourcing

2011-12-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

Hershey's is the creator of many brands of chocolate:

Hershey's Kisses
Hershey's Bliss
Hershey's
Reese's
Kit Kat
Twizzlers
Almond Joy
Ice Breakers

Because they make so many different kinds of candy, especially chocolate, they have decided to begin producing in Mexico. They have been around since 1894 and began in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and have become one of the most well-known brands in the world.

Several of their facilities have been closed down in the United States and Canada and the jobs have been outsourced to contractors in Mexico at Hershey's new manufacturing facility there. This move will cut 1500 jobs here in the U.S. and in Canada. So why are they doing it?

It's to increase their profit. They had struggled a few years ago because they slashed their advertising budget and put the money to making limited edition candy flavors that didn't appeal to the masses. At the same time, they were no longer promoting the usual favorite Hershey's candies which caused a bit of a financial slump.

By moving work to Mexico, they can keep the profit margin growing by outsourcing the jobs to places of cheap labor. Americans do understand the concept, but at the same time, if Hershey's is taking away jobs from Americans, they won't have the money to purchase the outsourced products. Buying Mexican-made chocolate won't exactly be at the top of the list of an American family that's struggling to survive on unemployment.

SVAIO Innovation Outsourcing

2011-12-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

SVAIO, or Silicon Valley of Innovation and Outsourcing, is a non-profit organization that supports technology innovation and collaboration on high-tech industries, like IT/Software, Bio-pharmaceutical, medical devices, and wireless communication.

This association was created by a group of professionals who are experienced in bringing the products and services from incubation to mature stage. Their goal is to leverage members' domain of expertise in high-tech, a passion for innovation and the global technology resources to contribute to the Silicon Valley and the emerging economies.

Their members are from Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, eBay, and more, as well as a few start-up companies.

They have some events that are coming up:

There are a few different options of ways to become a member. You can be a regular member which is free to join. You'll join their mailing list, get to know other members, receive newsletters and even announcements, use their resources, attend events, improve career opportunities, and propose outsourcing projects.

As a full member, you'll pay an annual fee of $75 and get all of the same above benefits. In addition, you will also get to vote, elect, and serve as a team member. You can work as a project architect or manager on outsourcing projects, develop entrepreneur experience, get support on business evaluation, team building, funding and marketing. You'll be able to present your expertise through professional training and even join delegation or attend conference representing them.

To become a corporate member, you have to apply and it must be approved. You'll receive the above benefits, along with participating in SVAIO projects and business programs, receive two passes for whole-day event and dinner of the annual conference, and be listed as a corporate member in the manual of the annual conference.

Visit their website for more information.

Legal Process Outsourcing

2011-11-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

Legal process outsourcing (or LPO) is the practice of a law firm or corporation obtaining legal support services from an outside law firm or legal support services company. When the outsourced entity is based in another country the practice is sometimes called offshoring.

This type of service is at a nascent stage with consistent market growth since early emergence of LPO. These providers have established themselves in Canada, India, the Philippines, the US, Israel, and Latin America. Traditionally, they offer services in the areas of document review, legal research and writing, drafting of pleadings and briefs, and patent services outsourcing.

In-house departments of major multinational corporations outsource some of their work in order to limit costs. Initially, LPO gained traction in the Asian subcontinent, but in recent years, specialized legal firms have sprung up to satisfy law firms and corporations that demand quality and confidentiality.

So what exactly are the advantages of LPO? The primary advantage is to save money. While an attorney in major legal markets may charge from $150-$350 per hour when performing rote services, LPO firms can often charge a fraction of this. It has attracted major corporations to outsource specific work outside their legal departments. In India, the industry has benefited from this due to the increasing number of litigations and bankruptcies. Teams of Indian lawyers have achieved notable success providing legal research and drafting services in high-profile U.S. litigation matters.

There are, of course, disadvantages, as well. One of the major ones being that it could be a potential for breach of clients' confidentiality. There is also a concern that people performing the legal work may not be bound to the necessary ethical standards. But there have been ethical opinions from various state Bar Associations, as well as the American Bar Association, that discuss ethical legal outsourcing and how to achieve it. There is also criticism in that LPOs are in effect practicing U.S. law without a license or U.S. law degree.

As with most things, legal process outsourcing has its ups and downs, its good and bad. But if you are a law firm and want to save money, then this is something to at least look in to and consider as an option.

Future of Outsourcing

2011-11-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

With the growth of outsourcing, wondering minds want to know where it's going from here. Outsourcing is very controversial and affects every part of business. From manufacturing through design and sales. It has been praised as cost-effective and efficient but condemned as evil and destructive.

The incentives of outsourcing are huge. Up to half of the $19 trillion spent every year by European companies on sales could be outsourced. Despite its publicity, outsourcing is most often to companies within the same nation. However, there has been a lot of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled jobs from high-cost to low-cost nations. Outsourcing has managed to produce labor shortages in many economies, while other corporations are already moving jobs back home because cost savings have narrowed and because of the risks that comes with outsourcing.

So what we need to do for the future of outsourcing is take urgent action to reduce costs. If we don't run our business efficiently, everyone could lose their jobs. People that have put their life-savings into these companies will lose all of their money. And customers will feel exploited by high prices and will go somewhere else.

The good news though, actually outweighs the bad. We can easily save costs, companies and people's jobs while keeping prices down and offering great services - we just need to relocate some jobs to other, less expensive parts of the world. Highly skilled people are available for outsourcing, even in some of the poorest nations. Their daily costs of living are lower, so we can pay them less while still enabling them to enjoy a good standard of living. People in those countries really do need the support and investment that outsourcing brings.

Every job that we create in these countries through outsourcing can, in turn, create many others as new money flows into the national economy and then is spent on local goods and services. By investing into these countries, we can help them develop new markets for our own business. We would also be doing our part to bridge the gap between the poor and rich nations, which would help build international peace, prosperity, and security for a better future.

Basically, if we continue the way we're heading now, the result could be disastrous for everybody - customers, workers, and the community. If we outsource more, the future can be better for everybody.

Types of Outsourcing

2011-11-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, there are actually a number of different types of outsourcing out there. I'm going to go over three primary types with you today and inform you of what they are and how they work.

Technology services outsourcing is the first type I'll talk about today. Technological innovations are quickly enticing businesses and economic models to evolve. Companies have to adapt to those changes to thrive in a competitive market. Some of these technologies include electronic commerce, network infrastructures, applications, telecommunications, and website development. In-house employees may perform such functions but not as good or as quick as getting a third-party firm that specializes on the field and are more cost-effective.

The second type is business process outsourcing (BPO). This involves operational functionas like customer relations management, equipment, accounting, human resources (HR), logistics, procurement, security, documentations, insurance, health care, manufacturing, and media outsourcing. Specific tasks can be outsourced to a third-party firm, especially those outside the core competency of a company. This type of outsourcing can even be divided into two parts: front office tasks and back office tasks. Front office tasks are usually related to customer-oriented matters like marketing, customer service, and technical support. Back office usually deals with internal work like billing, payroll, and purchasing. These, and other operations, can be outsourced by enterprises that include multimedia, bookkeeping, consultancy, data entry, proof-reading and editing, and even medical transcription.

Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) is the last type I'll discuss today. This one involves advanced research, analytical, and technical skills, which means that providers are expected to work independently. In this type, specialists are given managerial control. Examples of this type of outsourcing include pharmaceutical research and development, intellectual property research, content writing, and database development services. It usually involves short-term and peripheral projects.

Among the three types, BPO is considered the most popular, especially if you consider that most companies outsource business processes to offshore locations, like India.

But figure out what type of outsourcing works best for your company and what you need out of the process. Whichever works for you, go for it. Look into it and see what you need to do to do that type of outsourcing.

Pharma Outsourcing

2011-11-15T08:05:00.000-08:00

The pharmaceutical industry is always changing. It's had different strategies in the past, and companies used them to build the products internally and restrict access to information or resources to third parties. This situation is changing now. In-house resources are getting exhausted with a very think product pipeline and many drugs are going off patent because of company sales and competition. Threat from generics, low productivity of research and development process, higher costs for product approval, and parallel imports are the major market feature for decreasing these profits.

Outsourcing is being used more strategically as an ongoing part of a pharmaceutical company's overall business strategy. This outsourcing can be in various fields, from the drug discovery until manufacturing the products. For a long time now, pharmaceutical companies outsourced manufacturing, packaging, clinical trials, and sales force mobilization.

So why outsource in this type of industry? It holds cost benefit advantage by reducing huge amounts of capital outlay for producing the latest technology in-house. Outsourcing allows these companies to ramp up the R&D (research and development) operations at a fast pace with minimal capital outlay.

Some of the benefits include reducing costs by 30-35%. It makes it faster and cheaper to have discovery work outsourced and reduces drug development cost. It reduces problems that are faced during the regulatory processes around the world.

Outsourcing improves manufacturing efficiencies. It reduces excess production capacity by divesting facilities. It minimizes investments in capital-intensive facilities. It improves net earnings and cash flow. And outsourcing even diverts resources to focus on other competencies like marketing.

In general. outsourcing allows companies to establish consistency and efficiency across international networks of commercial, supply chain, and manufacturing organizations. If managed and executed strategically, it has potential to add value to the shareholder value and keep the investor community happy.

Strategic Outsourcing

2011-11-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Strategic outsourcing is, of course, another form of outsourcing. Outsourcing, as we've gone over, is the transfer of control of a process or product to a supplier. In these cases, outside suppliers who focus on a particular business have better equipment and technology, and therefore can outperform the process with better control, quality, and cost.

Companies outsource parts or components that aren't one of their core processes for economic gain or better quality. At the strategic level, though, outsourcing allows not only the transfer of control to an outsider, but the method of manufacture using a different technology of process. In strategic outsourcing, a company may transfer an entire product, product line, or even an entire plant for strategic value.

This kind of outsourcing is the process of engaging the services of a provider to manage essential tasks that would otherwise be managed by in-house personnel. This is usually done to allow a business to arrange the use of its assets to the best advantage, and allow the company to move closer to their goals. This type may be employed by businesses and other organizations of any size and normally helps reduce costs as well as allow resources to be allocated to the other necessary functions that are still managed within the business.

The primary purpose behind strategic outsourcing is to benefit somehow by allowing outside entities to take over the operation and management of a given function. Those benefits can take different forms. Often, the idea to increase profitability by reducing various operating expenses. Other times, the benefit is having immediate access to professionals who specialize in handling a specific outsourced function, without having to train personnel to take over those functions. The benefit could come from convenience by allowing the business owner to not have to deal with necessary functions that they do not with to handle.

So as long as the benefits that are generated by the arrangement set in place, and is considered sufficient by the client, then the process of strategic outsourcing can be considered a success.

Disadvantages to Outsourcing

2011-11-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

I've gone over many advantages in previous blogs in regards to outsourcing, but what about the disadvantages? Why would anybody NOT want to outsource? Well, there are actually quite a few reasons, which may surprise you.

One disadvantage is that you lose managerial control. If you sign a contract to have another company perform functions normally done by an entire department, you're giving management control to that other company. You'll still have contact with them, yes, but they will not be driven by the same standards that drives your business. Their only goal is to make a profit from the services they're providing.

Another disadvantage is hidden costs.You'll sign a contract, again, with an outsourcing company which will cover the details about their services. Anything not in that contract will be the basis for you to pay additional charges. You'll experience legal fees to retain a lawyer to review those contracts because this is the outsourcing company's business; they're the ones that write up the contracts.

There is a threat to security and confidentiality when outsourcing. Payroll, medical records, or any other confidential information may be transmitted to the outsourcing company which risks that confidentiality to be compromised. If the outsourcing company's function involves sharing proprietary business data or knowledge, that needs to be taken into account. Evaluate outsourcing companies carefully before contracting with them to make sure your data is protected. You can even put a clause in the contract for penalty in case an incident occurs.

Outsourcing can lead to quality problems, as well. They are motivated by profit, as I said previously. The contract will state a fixed price, so the only way for them to increase their profit is to decrease expenses which could mean a lower-quality product. As long as they meet the conditions set out in the contract, you will pay. You'll lose the ability to rapidly respond to changes in the business environment.

Since you'll be turning over part of the operations of your company to another , you will be tied to the financial well-being of that company. Outsourcing companies have gone under before, claiming bankruptcy and leaving you to stuck in a rut.

Outsourcing has many connotations, some good and some bad, depending on who you talk to. If you live in a community that has an outsourcing company and they employ your friends and neighbors, outsourcing is probably a good thing. But if those friends and neighbors of yours lose their jobs because they were shipped across the state, country, or even the world, then outsourcing can bring bad publicity. If you outsource part of your operations, morale may suffer in the remaining work force.

What it comes down to is the fact that you have a decision to make. You need to weigh the pros and cons before deciding on whether or not your business should outsource. There are, obviously, advantages, as well as disadvantages, to outsourcing. What works best for you and your company?

Vertex Outsourcing

2011-11-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

Vertex Group serves over 200 clients worldwide across many sectors. Their focus is to provide value-based solutions for clients that deliver exceptional customer experience, and they do it cost-effectively.

They have skills and industry know-how and experience which allows them to provide rock-solid operational performance. They focus on their clients' brand projection and customer experience and work hard to develop and deliver the programs that will optimize performance. They will work in the background to make sure that you are always meeting and going beyond your customers' needs.

They also continue to come up with new ideas and ways of thinking that allow their clients to achieve their desired business outcomes. They are experts at understanding trends across major geographies and sectors, both public and private. Their activities focus on improving customer satisfaction, reducing costs, and increasing revenues.

Vertex provides service all around the world - in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and India to help deliver exceptional customer experience results. They specialize in CMO, or customer management outsourcing, IT applications and services, business consulting and transformation, and decision sciences.

Whatever your market may be, they understand how delivering exceptional customer service is vital to the success of all businesses. They bring dynamic ideas, cutting-edge technology, and world-class people and processes to their clients to place them ahead of their competition.

Take a look at their website for contact information and to gain further knowledge about what this company does. Many globally-recognized companies across a multitude of industries have used Vertex to help with delivering exceptional customer service, and you can too.

Innovative Outsourcing

2011-11-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Innovation is defied as the introduction of new things or methods. When applied to outsourcing, it means developing processes that save time and deal with money in new ways, while adding service and support. It also means creating new businesses that can more freely operate in the oursourcing arena.

For example, moving from a fixed-cost, asset-based payment plan to a variable cost, non-asset based payment structure was a huge innovation for FedEx Kinko's Commercial Solutions. They became a "pay as you go" service.

There are several services out there that you can contact and get information about who are specifically out there to assist with innovative outsourcing. One is Innovative Outsourcing. What they do is assess your needs to provide the right employee(s) for the position(s) you have available. They deliver staffing value at a fraction of the cost of a full-time equivalent.

Another one is Innovative Outsourcing Inc. They can provide solutions for non-core business processes in professional and discreet manner. They have expertise ranging from back office tasks to web application development and data management services. Their primary outsourcing includes website development, SEO, SMO, and SEM services.

These services, and more, can help you get where you want to go with your business through outsourcing.

In today's competitive businesses, innovation is more than just an important element to success; it's a requirement. From new pricing structures to developing new businesses, outsourcing companies are well on their way to satisfying the definition of innovation.

Effects of Outsourcing

2011-11-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

As with most things, there are positive and negative effects of outsourcing. My goal today is to go over a few of both sides and you can decide it outsourcing is a good idea for you or your company.

Positive effects of outsourcing include:

Growth - more companies are interested to outsource their low-end and high-end jobs, which means tremendous growth is expected in this service market as demands grow.
Offshore Expansion - the number of companies located offshore have increased expansion by outsourcing to locations that provide services.
Variety - variety of services to choose from; companies like to outsource so they can choose what they feel is the most suitable outsourcing partner.
Reduced Risks - more companies have started outsourcing which has become a preferred trend. The risks are minimized when they outsource by partnering with richly experienced offshore companies.
Competitive Spirit - companies can maximize the competitive spirit to fortify their core competencies and focus more on strategic management.
Fulfill Business Objectives - outsourcing has enabled companies to stay ahead of their competitors and strengthen position in the global market.
Better Results - companies can focus more on their core areas which helps to usher in better results and help the company fortify their areas of expertise.
Resource Utilization - skilled man power, advanced technology, and excellent infrastructure can be utilized productively.
Flexibility - companies are more receptive to change.
Share Business Risks - organizations can share its risks rather than carry the responsibility alon to ensure that management problems are minimized.
Fast Turnaround Time - deadlines won't have to be worried about or fretted over because the outsourcing team can handle certain things on their own.

I suppose you want to know what the negative effects of outsourcing are as well? You can have all good things without the bad... of course there are reasons you wouldn't want to outsource.

Language Barriers - with outsourcing to other countries, you will likely have call centers produced in these areas so you have to deal with differences in language.
Intellectual Property Violations - the strategic value has a high likelihood of being misued by firms that are outside of the company's country.
Contracts - companies are concerned with being locked into multi-year contracts with a single vendor.
Fraud - there have been reports of incidents of data theft from companies overseas.
Economy - there are claims that outsourcing is leading to a detrimental effect on the local economy.
Lack of Oversight - unable to know how warehouses and firms hire and pay employees in other countries, particularly third-world countries.
Geographic Complications - it is nearly impossible to know exactly what the product looks like if it is made in another country, even if they send photos, that doesn't do justice for what it looks in in person.
Additional Costs - sometimes, it is not cost-effective for matters of importing and exporting materials in and out of the country.
Unemployment Issues - the high unemployment rate in the U.S. today is partially caused by so many companies outsourcing to other countries, rather than from hiring people close by.
Rising Government Spending - with people in the U.S. losing their jobs due to outsourcing, there are fewer payroll tax receipts and fewer contributions to Social Security and Medicare.
Dissatisfaction of In-residence Employees - workers are not satisfied because rather than the company investing their resources on them, the invest in offshore workers for reduced salaries.

I offered the same amount of negatives as positives, and there are certainly more out there for both ends. Decide for yourself what the pros and cons are for outsourcing and if your company can handle it one way or the other. Whatever is best for the company and its current employees is what you need to figure out and go with.

Insourcing vs. Outsourcing

2011-11-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have discussed on a number of different blogs what outsourcing is, but what the heck is insourcing? Well, it's basically the exact opposite of outsourcing. It is the delegation of operations or jobs from production within the business to an internal entity that specializes in that operation. Insourcing can be a business decision that is often made to maintain control or critical production or competencies. Another term for this is transferring jobs to within the country by either hiring local subcontractors or building a facility.

Insourcing can be an advantage over outsourcing in the fact that it is sometimes easier to do. With outsourcing you have to look "out" of the company to find someone to do the work, and know that when you hire them, it is likely to be on a temporary basis. With insourcing, that person can be hired from within your company, so they already work for you or your business, and you're asking them to simply do something different than what they are normally used to doing. They will still have a job when they're done and go back to it, but for however long it requires, they will simply be asked to step in and do something they are not accustomed to doing.

So which is best for your organization? If you have a number of non-core processes which are taking plenty of time, effort, and resources to perform in-house, it might be wise to outsource these non-core functions. In this case, outsourcing would help save you time, effort, manpower, and aid you in making quicker deliveries to your customers. If you require special expertise services in areas that do not fall under your normal competency, then outsourcing is a good option.

However, if your work involves production, then it would probably be more ideal to opt for insourcing. You can save on transportation costs, as well as exercise a better control over your project.

It's not always necessary to choose outsourcing over insourcing or vise-versa. Your business can outsource and insource at the same time. By doing that, you can have the best of what both can offer and your business can get a competitive advantage.

Outsourcing vs. Offshoring

2011-10-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

Many people think outsourcing and offshoring are basically the same thing, but offshoring is simply one category of outsourcing.

As I have previously discussed, outsourcing is basically the act of one company contracting with another company (or person) to provide services that would otherwise be performed by in-house employees. The tasks that are outsourced are often done so for financial advantages. Many companies outsource jobs like call center services, e-mail services, and payroll, which are handled by separate companies that specialize in each service.

Now, if this is down from another country or overseas, that is when it is considered to be offshoring. Offshoring often offers considerable cost savings. Labor costs in emerging markets are a fraction of the labor costs in the developed world, and you can usually tap into highly educated and skilled labor pools. These types of teams cost less and often produce amazing work. The down size to offshoring is that sometimes there are significant communication and management issues that come about when a portion of your team is working half way around the world.

It's difficult to communicate when they are sleeping while you're working and vise-versa. Not only is that difficult, but management is even more problematic. You can outsource management issues by hiring a firm to do your work for you, but that is not usually preferable. Startups need to directly employ the people doing the most critical tasks, which includes things that are commonly offshored like software engineering and customer support. Even if you did hire management to an offshore firm, you still have to manage that firm, which his harder to do than to manage employees.

The most reliable way, it seems, to pull this off is to ask a trusted and experienced team member to go overseas and launch/manage the remote team. It is a big thing to ask and often is not possible, but if you can make it work, it has the highest probability of success.

In short, outsourcing is when one company gets another company (or person) to help them with a particular task from another location. Offshoring is similar to that except that the company being hired to work is over seas, in another country.

Offshoring is a TYPE Of outsourcing, which is how they are connected, but they are, in fact, not the same thing.

Asha Outsourced

2011-10-28T12:41:00.001-07:00

Outsourced is both a movie and a TV series (no longer running). They both represent an Indian workplace; a call center in Mumbai, India where an American novelties company outsourced its order processing. They send one, lone American to manage the call center and he has to try to explain American popular culture to his employees as he tries to understand Indian culture.

Asha is one character in the TV show. She is played by Rebecca Hazlewood and is an employee and love interested of Todd (the American manager). She is often the voice of reason in the office. She is engaged as part of an arranged marriage to Sunil, but part of her still thinks about Todd.

Basically the point of the movie Outsourced, is that Todd is being "outsourced" to work in India. As part of his job, he is getting sent out of his country to go somewhere else - a completely new world for him. Asha becomes part of that world. Asha's role in the movie is unreal. I mean that in the real sense of the word. It's not real. In India's culture, women do not typically work jobs like call centers and they certainly don't sleep with men they aren't married to. I think that's what made both the movie and the TV show so great.

In both aspects, Asha is torn in matters of love. Many Indian women are set up for arranged marriages, and as such "save themselves" for that person, and then stay married for life. Asha throws everybody off with the fact that she's not the norm. She has feelings for Todd, although she is engaged to someone else and it torments her. She is unsure if she should pursue him or leave it alone because she's already spoken for.

Both the movie and TV show have become a bit of a controversy because of this, but I personally just enjoy the humor of it all and beauty of the portrayal of India.

Hopefully, in your position at your current employer's office, you will not get outsourced the way Todd did and get sent far away where you know nothing about everything around you. I realize this is a different kind of "outsourcing" than the kind I have previously discussed in the blogs before, but I think it's a nice break and gives you guys something to think about. Go watch the movie!

Outsourcing Wiki

2011-10-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

Wiki is an on-the-job reference guide where contents are created, edited, and organized by the professional HR community. Every member of this community has access to create, edit, and organize pages.

Once an article is created, members can then make changes, corrections, or add additional information about the article. This process allows articles to become rich in sources of accurate information, which is based on a collective knowledge of a number of professionals.

Wiki is organized in a hierarchical structure and consists of pages, which can be articles or categories. Articles contain content. They can define a term, answer a frequently asked question, gives how-to steps to achieve an objective, offer solutions, and more. Categories are used to organize. They hold a list of subcategories and articles that have the category as one of their parent categories. These categories are used to navigate through Wiki to find the article you're searching for. The top level categories include: benefits, compensation and payroll, learning and development, recruiting, employee relations, and others. So before creating an article, do a search on Wiki to see if a similar article already exists. If it does, simply click "edit" and add to the contents. If it's not there yet, you can create a page by clicking "Share your Knowledge - Create a wiki article today."

Keep in mind that Wiki is a reference guide, not a discussion group. Don't ask questions that you want answered by others. Share your expertise about on-the-job subject matters and be an author.

Every article has a link to "edit," "discuss," and view "history." If you click edit, you can change or add to the page. If you click discuss, you can talk about issues regarding the article (like why it should be renamed or why you made a specific edit). Click history, and you can see how the article has developed over time.

So Wiki would be a good took four outsourcing because you can make edits and show your expertise on certain products or topics. When you make these edits, your name will show up and people will know who it was that added expert knowledge. So look up some subjects that you believe you are an expert in and see if there are things that you can fix or discuss and people will get to see your work and they will look you up for future reference in that subject mater.

How to Use eLance

2011-10-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

Elance is a very easy, yet powerful service to use. Start by going to Elance.com. If you don't already have an account, create one. If you do, go ahead and sign in. The purpose of using Elance is to outsource work that you want to have done.

To post a project, click "post a project" under the buyer activity tab. Start by deciding a name of the project you wish to get workers for as the title. Then pick a category from the list provided, and do the same for the subcategory. After that, you want to put in the work descriptions so people know what kind of work they will be doing. You are able to attach files if you want them to see anything specific. Choose a fixed fee or an hourly fee and how long the project will be good for.

Then you'll hit continue and a confirmation page will pop up. If everything looks as you wanted it to, submit it for people to view. People will then place bids on your project so they can work for you. The way the bids work is they will post an amount they are looking for, their experience and skills, any feedback that may have been given, and you can go to view their profile. If you find one that you like, you click "Choose bid" which sends you to a page where you can send a private message to that person.

Now, as the bidder/worker, it would work a little differently. For the initial bid, make sure you read the project description carefully and thoroughly. If the client asks questions, answer them. Make sure they realize that you read their description and didn't just put a generic response in. Give examples of projects you've done in the past that are similar to what they're looking for. Ask them questions, too. If you need clarification, just ask. They will appreciate that you took an interest in their project. Lastly, make SURE that the job is worth your time. The job should be clearly defined, and you don't want to apply for a job that only pays $100 for a full-blown e-commerce site.

It is likely you won't be selected right away, but at least you'll already be in communication with the potential client. At this time, you want to be honest. The client will ask about your experience, knowledge, and abilities. Tell them the truth, not just what they want to hear. Respond back in a timely fashion. Promote your other qualities. Your portfolio should speak for itself, but you want to show them other qualities like meeting deadlines or being prompt (by replying to emails or phone calls).

So as a client or as a bidder, there are some suggestions on how to best use Elance to your advantage. You want to be sure you're being fair, on both ends, and that you communicate well with your clients/bidders. Be honest in everything you do, and your client/bidder will see that. Believe it or not, honesty is more important than saying that you can or will do something that you can't or won't.

Find a Freelancer on eLance

2011-10-19T14:19:00.000-07:00

Finding a freelancer on the Elance website is a safe and easy way to find someone that you need to hire. Elance has a process they go through before posting profiles on their website, so you can know that they are trusted to do the job.

For one, their information gets verified. Each contractor has to give a location, contact information, work history, and feedback. Many contractors also have verified employment, licenses, and certifications. All of these items get verified once the information is submitted.

They also have to take an admission test before they can make proposals to clients. This test ensures that contractors understand the terms of service and are willing to comply with communication and collaboration standards.

The best contractors build up a reputation on the Elance website based on testimonials from real Elance clients. If the workers deliver professional service with quality results, the characteristics will be reflected on the feedback portion of their profile.

Lastly, the contractors can take skills tests. Elance offers over 400 online skill tests in everything from programming languages to spelling and proofreading. The results from these tests are automatically posted on the contractor's profiles.

Now once you have your profile and job posting set up, you can start searching for workers. You'll go to the "hire" tab and select "browse." Once in there, you can narrow your search by individuals vs companies, by type of work (programming, legal, writing, etc), location, and a few more. Once you have your specifications selected, it will show you a list of people that fit within the category and you just have to look through and decide who you think might do the job the best. Once you click on that person's profile, you'll be able to contact them and let them know you're interested.

Those are the best ways to search for a freelance contractor to help with whatever your temporary needs may be. So go build your profile, post a job, and just wait and see how much activity it can bring. Then you have the option of which contractor best fits your qualifications.

Find a Job on eLance

2011-10-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Elance is an internet virtual marketplace where freelancers and outsourcing companies can come together to work on projects. It has been on the web since 1999 and allows a business to post a job opening and invites freelance workers who believe that have the skills to make a bid. The company does charge a $10 fee to each business to post a job and takes a small portion of what gets paid to contractors.

What Elance offers is a talent pool of over 100,000 freelance contractors, enables providers to create profiles, various plans, easy access to thousands of jobs, posting or applying for jobs, and quick and effective communication for companies and providers.

Now to find a job on Elance, all you would have to do is go to their website, Elance.com and click on "Sign Up for Work." Once you click that button, a window will pop up asking if you want to hire or want to work, and you would select want to work and continue. When you do that, a page will open that inquires about some of your personal information (e-mail, name, password) and then you'll click register.

Then you let them know what kind of work you're looking for. A page pops up of different options that you can "select." You can either pick the basic profile which is free or pay just $10 a month and get the individual profile. Whichever you choose, it will ask you to verify your e-mail address (by checking your e-mail and selecting the link they provided for you to follow), which will then send you back to their website where you will have to log in. Then it will ask for a few more questions (security questions and what type of work you do now), after which you can begin designing your profile.

After you put in the basic information it asks of you, you then want to enhance your profile. Add a picture, make sure you put a good description about what you do and what you're looking to do. Once your profile is posted, then companies can go to the Elance website and find your profile!

It's pretty quick and easy and in no time at all, and for free of charge, you have some help looking for a job in the field you want to work in. So take a little bit of time and effort and create a great profile that will get you found and working again!

Once you have a profile all set up, you can go back to the "find a job" tab and begin your search. You can search by job category, job type, and some others. When you find one you're interested in, you are able to view the job description and go about applying from there.