Businesses have long known that outsourcing adds incredible value. From startups looking to scale fast to bigger companies wanting to streamline their operations, IT outsourcing has proven to be an effective business model that helps them to remain competitive. Yet how do you maximize the value of IT outsourcing? We’ve come up with 5 useful tips for you to get the most from it.

Give detailed requirements

Spend time in creating detailed requirements. This greatly helps your IT outsourcing partner to deliver what you need. Remember that you get exactly what you ask for, so make sure that you clearly convey the crucial details. Don’t be afraid to get granular in terms of job description, developer requirements, and relevant project details. Requirement details can make or break the success of your venture into IT outsourcing so take your time.

Work closely with your remote staff

Your offshore team member is an extension of your team. Be prepared to spend time with them, especially in the early period of the relationship, help them get on board quickly with your business processes, services, and general practices. Get to know them by getting a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. Your solid feedback leads to continuous improvement.

The invested time builds rapport, establishes transparency, and makes for a fruitful working relationship. Micromanagement isn’t required but regular check in’s on progress is ideal. It’s a great idea to assign a point-person in charge of managing your offshore team so orientation, training, and supervising are handled efficiently.

Set clear goals and assess accordingly 

Establishing clear goals from the outset clarifies what you want to accomplish with your outsourcing partner. Goals are a huge motivational driver. Once you set clear and measurable goals, it helps your offshore team to prioritize and have laser focus in delivering on deadlines. In turn, it gives you a handle with which you can assess and evaluate their performance. This helps you determine if your IT outsourcing partner, indeed, delivers the value you’re paying for.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Keeping the lines open is key to any successful relationship, more so with your offshore team. The good news is that technology has greatly enabled this. With email, Skype, Slack, and productivity tools that enable real-time collaboration and keeping everyone on the same page, there’s no reason to lose touch.

Keep your offshore staff updated and in the loop for any issues or concerns they are accountable for. Requiring a simple daily report from your team that itemizes the day’s accomplished tasks along with their notes is enough to get you started in keeping updated and on-track.

Empower your offshore team to help you grow 

While IT outsourcing will reduce operational costs, it doesn’t mean the growth stops there. Large companies are now outsourcing not just to save money but to drive opportunities and innovation and access a larger talent pool. These days you can tap into your outsourcing partner’s expertise and capabilities to help you achieve strategic business results. Empower your offshore team by being open to their suggestions and input, especially if these enable you to optimize your processes and lead to innovation.

Outsourcing yields its fullest value when you know how to get the most from it. Here in Cloud Employee, we provide you cost-effective access to a dedicated talent pool, with zero setup costs, custom recruitment, an. Contact us and let us know how we can help grow your business.

Want to learn how Cloud Employee can help your IT outsourcing venture? Learn how Cloud Employee works, see our Developer Pricing Guide, or talk to us. You can hire dedicated offshore developers with us across many technologies.