Well, I have done my share of outsourcing in the past couple years and I would have to say that the "Make-it or Break-it" factor for Outsourcing comes down to Great Project Management. Once a company awards a project to an outsourced partner, there is a tendency for the "Out of Sight - Out of mind" phonemenon to happen. You outsource the project and then get busy with other priority tasks and the project managment starts going down the tubes along with the project! That is why I can’t emphasize the immense value of being a pro-active "hands-on" project manager that is keenly in-tune with the ongoing progress of your outsourced project!

So, now that you have made pro-active "Project Managment" a priority, how do you now facilitate a "Win-Win" Outsourcing Relationship?

In my own outsourcing endeavors, one of the best tips I ever received was "Treat Your Outsourced Firm as a Partner!" This little piece of wisdom has enabled me to build some very positive and collaborative outsourcing partnerships. I never treat them as an employee or less than myself, but rather as a valuable partner. This approach will more times than not lead to a "Win-Win" Outsourcing Partnership. So, here are a few quick and dirty tips for faciliating healthy and successful outsourcing partnerships:

1. Treat the Outsourcing Professional/Firm as a Valuable Partner (As mentioned above)

      2.    Clearly define expectations and peformance measures for the project from Day 1

      3.    Be a Pro-active Project Manager - Be in-tune with the ongoing progress of the project, so that you can be well-prepared for any pitfalls that may  surface (And believe me, they will surface!)

     4.    Strike the balance between Loose Managment and Micro Management -  It is important not to "suffocate" your outsourced partner, but clearly outline project goals, timelines and follow-up and performance reviews and then let them go to it! If you provide the right managment framework, then it should not  be necessary to be constantly hound them as the timelines will be already defined.

     5.     Practice Open, Honest and Respectful Communication - This goes a LONG way to building great long-term partnerships!

     6.    Ensure that you have a working knowledge of the project - This point is KEY! If you are managing a project of which you have absolutely no knowledge or experience, then will make it that much more difficult to effectively evaluate the progress of the project. If you don’t have the knowledge, then it is important to find someone "in-house" that can "speak the language" of the partner and has a good understanding of the project requirements and process.

So there are a few points to chew on….Again, from my own experiences, Effective Project Management is the cornerstone for building successful outsourcing initiatives!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Well, as you might recall from my own predictions of the Internet Marketing Trends for 2007, I had said that there would be a great emergence of niche social networks seeking to grab a little market share from the kingpins like MySpace.com and Facebook.com. Well, that prediction certainly was not rocket science, given the massive growth in social network participation in 2006 - MySpace has seen a staggering 4300% increase in visits over a two year period, surpassing even Yahoo mail!

But, I am not writing this post to talk about social networks, but rather the parallel I see with the emergence of a number of niche Outsourcing Services also seeking to grab some market share from big outsourcing marketplaces like Elance.com and Guru.com. Elance is a great marketplace for accessing outsourced talent across hundreds of categories. However, with the rapid growth of outsourcing, certain categories and new niche marketplaces are emerging to address this growing demand and sharpen the focus in particular industries and service areas.

Rentacoder is probably the oldest and best known web-based outsourcing service that carved a nice niche in programming and web-development and that has certainly served them well. I would recommend Rentacoder to anyone looking for a good programmer, webmaster or web developer.

A new outsourcing service, Greenbrim.com has come on the scene and is captalizing on the globalization of Accounting, Audit and bookkeeping services - cool idea. They have found the right time to target an industry that has been steadily increasing in the outsourcing realm over the last few years…  In Thomas Friedman’s (Publitzer Price-winning New York Times Columnist and Author) "The World is Flat", he makes mentions of the outsourcing trends in the accounting field and says that in 2003,  25,000 US tax returns were done in India, 100,000 in 2004 and roughly 400,000 in 2005. It is a no-brainer to see the global shift taking shape in this industry.

As you know, we are launching our own niche outsourcing portal, specifically tailored to the existing and emerging Trends in the Web Marketing industry. This niche Outsourcing Service will seek to meet the rapidly growing demand for skilled Internet Marketing Specialists equipped to navigate this fast-moving ever-changing industry.

There are certainly many other types of niche outsourcing services emerging daily and it will be exciting to watch how business processes change and adapt to this growing movement!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Well, the shovelling of THICK SNOW continues in my neck of the woods in British Columbia, Canada. While I was shovelling about a foot of snow from my driveway this morning and a saint of man pulled up on his quad (with attached shovel) and offered to plow through the rest of my driveway. This guy made my day! Thanks for saving my back!

I want to briefly touch on a important element in establishing a good and productive relationship with your Outsourced Internet Marketing Professional/Firm…. Performance Incentives

Performance incentives in any work setting can be a powerful tool for enhancing motivation, strengthening commitment and improving focus for the respective job or project.  It is easy for a work environment to grow stagnant and unproductive with no incentive for employees or contractors to go “beyond the call of duty” in their work endeavors. Implementing appropriate incentives in your outsourcing relationship can lead to higher productivity and better performance across the board…. I have experienced this first hand! More

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

In the last month, I have published a new PDF report called, 6 Success Strategies for Building Effective Outsourcing Partnerships. This report focusses on the Internet Marketing industry and has been designed as a useful tool for those Internet Marketing Specialist/Firms and ebusinesses accessing our new Outsourcing Portal. By putting these key strategies into practice, our hope is that they will develop healthy and mutually profitable partnerships in our outsourcing marketplace. More

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!