Outsourcing is a cost-effective way of delegating business functions to external vendors for increased efficiency, productivity and access to adequate expertise. Research conducted by Michael F. Corbett states that the average manufacturer outsources up to 80% of its finished product, and that 90% of firms distinguish outsourcing as crucial for their growth strategy. Although businesses seem to have embraced business process outsourcing (BPO), many still seem hesitant to such delegation of responsibility. In the following we will address four common hesitations considering outsourcing of design services in particular, and how Graphiq works to reduce this uncertainty.
Naturally, when outsourcing business functions, you will lose some control of the process. Delegating responsibility for management of important processes to external vendors requires a good amount of trust. Choosing the wrong vendor could ultimately drive your company in the ground. This risk makes you want to take matter into own hands, right?
Loss of control however, isn't necessarily negative. If you cooperate with the right vendor, they will take responsibility off of your back, so that you can focus on your core activities. At Graphiq we value good dialogue, and communication between client and designer is transparent and including. The client gets to choose which designer they feel are best suited, and we have a team that works immensely to ensure that clients feel confident handing over responsibility to our designers.
Also related to trust is the uncertainty of whether the external vendor is capable of delivering services of adequate quality to achieve your goals efficiently. A common fear amongst leaders is spending significant resources on outsourcing to external vendors that delivers a product that doesn't hold standard. It may seem more secure to let someone you trust in-house take on the job.
On the contrary, most agree that outsourcing gives you access to highly competent people within the specific field, and that they, with their expertise, are able to deliver better quality, more efficiently. At Graphiq we ensure product quality by recruiting only top talent. This is a profound process where we assess portfolios, check references, conduct interviews and run test project. Every designer in our collective is quality assured, and we let our clients assess the designers previous work to select the most suitable candidate.
When outsourcing business processes to external vendors, you sign a contract establishing deliverables and price estimates. What many fear is that there will be additional, unforeseen costs for deliverables that was not included in the contract. Especially when outsourcing IT services, which is very complex and in rapid change, it may be hard to distinguish what exactly you are paying for.
Before you sign a contract with a vendor, you would want to do some research on how they estimate project prices, and what is included in the contract. At Graphiq it is important for us to make sure the client and designer clearly define the project and its deliverables and objectives. Our designers will help you define your problem and scope a sufficient proposal that solves the problem. When the project is clearly defined, the estimated price is more likely to be definite.
Some hesitation to outsourcing business processes can also be related to a fear that external vendors lack insight in the business and its markets and stakeholders. Nobody knows a business like its employees. Especially related to design services, many may feel that an in-house design team are better suited to create design that will contribute to reach the objectives of the business.
An external vendor may not have the adequate knowledge about the market before going into the project, but there is nothing stopping them from acquiring it, is it? At Graphiq, designers first of all do thorough research and analysis of the business and the market it operates within. I will argue that getting this external perspective in fact could be an advantage. There are a lot of creative projects in large corporates. While some projects require creatives to have business insights into the problem, there are tons that don’t. For the ones that don’t, outsourcing is a great solution
If you are feeling less hesitant and eager to outsource some in-house design tasks, give us a call! Or fill out this form, and we'll get back to you with a free price estimate.
