Outsourcing as a survival tool in times of crisis

The first quarter of year 2020 has clearly demonstrated how fragile our beliefs and behaviours are. The virus COVID-19 attacked and our society appeared on the path to fundamental changes and reshaping of existing business models. The coronavirus pandemic has imminently changed our experiences in different areas of life: being a customer, consumer, employee, citizen and even a human. As a result our behaviours and attitudes are also changing. The crisis is affecting what and how we buy, where and how we work, shifting the focus to online purchasing, remote working, using of digital channels for business support.

Companies and businesses are also expecting their revenues to take a fall. The results of the survey show that about 86% can observe significant falls due to the COVID-19 outbreak. From that 86%, 33% are predicting a revenue fall of more than 15%, 21% believe their business’ revenue will fall within 10%-15%, while another 33% expects their revenue to fall 10% or less.

In such conditions business struggle to gain momentum has increased to an unprecedented degree. And the resilience of business systems is now topical more than ever.

The well-known fundamental truth states that business, which is not changing is doomed to disappear. The impulse for development and evolution mainly derives from the chief’s projectivity and broad view on business as a whole. But the world has seen the cases when the crisis (global as well as local) was the momentum, because new ideas are often born in response to extreme needs arising as a result of a crisis. And in these days we are the witnesses of such a momentum embodied into COVID-19 pandemic.

Undoubtedly, all industries have been impacted by the coronavirus crisis. Some businesses appeared to be more vulnerable, others more resistant. But those of them, which are able to get rid of outdated approaches in their workflow and adapt to new methods definitely have more chances to survive and continue their growth in future. Speed is the competitive advantage of startups. They win in the struggle with big companies not because they are smarter, but because they are faster. So it is the right time for all companies regardless of their size to introduce basic startup approaches and accelerate the process of decision making. It is the time for free creative work and flights of ideas. We need to reconstruct our vision, see new opportunities in those areas, where we haven't noticed them before or just deliberately passed by.

Remote work versus outsourcing

The situation with the virus has forced business owners and leaders not only to cancel some major events but also to organize the shift to remote work for the employees, as it is the only way to sustain the development level in various industries. In their article «Coronavirus: How to work from home, the right way» the BBC mentions the worldwide giants, who were forced to launch their businesses in the online sector and it makes us conclude that “the world will not be the same” and the remote mode will become a widespread phenomenon. Gartner HR Survey Reveals that 88% of organizations have encouraged or required employees to work from home due to coronavirus outbreak.

Companies will have to switch to remote whether they want it or not.

Unfortunately, not all businesses find themselves prepared for new conditions. The changes in the arrangement of inner processes have become challenging. Some employees can’t get used to new conditions involving working from home. They face difficulties like the inability to organize a workspace, constant distractions, feeling out of the team and what more...

Buffer’s 2019 State of Remote Work Report

On the other hand, CEOs face the problem of managing remote workers, their control, monitoring, and estimation of work performance.

Meanwhile, remote work is an absolutely habitual process for outsourcers: their absence in the offices has no effect on efficiency and performance. In this new reality, outsourcing has become extremely beneficial and companies-outsources are considered practically equated to in-house teams.

So maybe it is just the right time to think of outsourcing as a key solution for your business?

A survival tool in times of crisis

As seen from history outsourcing has been an effective way of optimization in times of crisis. Foreign economically efficient enterprises have proven this issue by successful work within decades. As early as in 1974 the International Labour Organization declared outsourcing an efficient tool of flexible employment and the emergence of employees from grey and dark zone of pay-off into legal form. In many cases outsourcing is the only high-quality tool for small and medium businesses, for representative offices in foreign countries, but it is really good when used properly. It is not a cure-all or a magic pill for a crisis. But in hard times it can be a survival tool with a range of benefits for your business.

Why not to try to address to professionals, for whom remote work is a DNA part of their job?

Benefits of Hiring Remote IT Professionals

There is a variety of reasons why businesses switch to remote workers, so here are some of the top benefits of hiring remote IT professionals:

• Cut costs. Businesses can cut their costs significantly, especially in IT and Tech startups, by hiring remote teams rather than in-house ones. As a rule remote employees offer lower rates than internal employees, which means more savings and economic efficiency.

The average wage rate in the United States is $100.50/hour. In comparison, the average wage rates in Ukraine is $40.00 respectively. And there are also other factors that need to be considered: the cost per hour covers salaries, benefits, power, utilities, telephone expenses, and Internet service. In comparison with the inhouse team, there is no need to spend additional costs on taxes, rent and medical insurance.

• Flexibility and versatility. Remote teams are usually prepared for various business scenarios. Their willingness to adapt to new challenges is what makes them exceptional on the market - they are open to using the technologies that serve the client’s business needs best.

• Boost productivity and creativity. Developers at outsourcing software companies are often very skilled and have worked on a number of projects from various industries. They can complement your services with their bright talent, deep know-how methods and commercial experience.
• Fill the gap in missing talent. Outsourcing software development allows you to access the variety of potential. This is probably the most valuable benefit of hiring remote professionals. If you lack the talent you need in your area, you can access it via remote contracts. Rather than paying for the relocation of a particular specialist to your place you can save on these costs and hire them as a remote team.

Let’s consider the nuances.

Nobody is searching for outsourcing itself: people are looking for partners, who can help to implement the products and only sometimes it is outsourcing.

The most essential thing is what kind of value an outsourcing partner can introduce to your business. And to make your cooperation successful first of all you need to understand the гооspecific features and select a proper cooperation model to meet your expectations:

In our practice, we have chosen the product development approach because it allows to build the type of cooperation when the customer gets high-quality products with the maximum of benefits. We are responsible and conscious about the advancement of the product on all stages starting from design and ending with development. Our customers don’t need to go into technical details and they can focus on their company strategy, being confident of getting the agreed product. Moreover having expertise in technology and design we don’t offer our clients unnecessary functionality; we know how to streamline our products.

Our work concept allows to cut down expenses on development significantly.

The product development model is transparent and understandable for customers - they get a clear timetable and see how their products are going to be developed in time. This means customers pay only for performed works and for what has been actually done.

You pay only for efficient work.

Being included in the list of successful rapidly developing outsourcing companies in Ukraine we certainly possess valuable experience and skills to share with our potential customers. Besides general benefits of outsourcing we suggest our own well-tried approaches and working schemes.

So, how can you make a cooperation with us successful and profitable for your business?

There are three key issues to doing so: clear communication, trust and company culture.

Transparency in communication and trust allow us to build high level of relations within the team as well as with our customers.

Company culture involves principles, formulated within years of successful work. We take total responsibility for the product and offer the full range of services, which means cooperation in the turnkey mode. Thus we additionally provide a product development approach, where you just highlight the idea of a project you want to develop and we take all further steps for its implementation: choose the best technologies, determine the team size, and what more. Remote work is a habitual process for us, which means we are ready to follow the rules of the present-day reality, when the rising trend of remote work shows no signs of slowing down.