Outsourcing your business process: A critical business decision
Outsourcing one’s business processes is a decision, which should be made only after weighing all the pros and the cons. A move to Outsource could either make or break any business and hence business houses approach the issue with a little trepidation. Before Outsourcing of Business Process, four critical factors should be considered and those are as the following:
1.Benefits:
List down the general benefits that you get out of the Outsourcing arrangement are things like direct cost savings, faster cycle times, higher system availability, etc. One major benefit of Outsourcing of business process could include your ability to charge more for a particular product because of your enhanced competitive position. You may face a little difficulty in quantifying such benefits, but the exercise would be fruitful.
2.Cost:
Here there are two kinds of expenses to be considered. First one has to list all the expenses if the business process were to be handled in-house and secondly the costs, which, would be incurred if you decide to Outsource your business process. Here calculate all the costs relating to the Outsourcing project such as hardware, software, personnel, consulting etc.
3.Flexibility:
In this section one should list down all the indirect benefits, one gets from Outsourcing of business process. One example could be that Outsourcing of Business Process could give you the option to redeploy internal staff to other projects. It’s all about listing the options one gets out of Outsourcing.
4.Risk:
One should identify the key risk factors due to Outsourcing of the business process, quantify their impact on the cost/benefit estimates, and then generate risk- adjusted costs and benefits. Key risk factors include what would happen if the Outsourcer were to go out of business, although a very implausible thought, these kinds of risks are to be considered before getting into a Business Process Outsourcing arrangement.