The economy is becoming increasingly competitive and companies need to be innovative if they want to succeed. With the help of technology, physical barriers are being removed and outsourcing is becoming a popular avenue for businesses to stay competitive and productive. Many companies prefer to focus on their core competences by outsourcing their non-core tasks to local or offshore team. While it might be easier to control an internal team within the country, there are cost benefits to utilizing an offshore team. Offshoring your outsourcing requirements might be a good business decision for you, but you might be concerned about managing an offshore team. In this blog post we give you some insights into controlling your offshore teams effectively. STRONG ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS The first criteria you should look for when choosing an offshore team is proficiency in English. English, as the global business language, is important if you want to communicate effectively with your teams . It is advisable to make this specific in your job description and a consideration to look out for when interviewing prospective outsourcing providers. Effective communication between you and your offshore team is vital, and they must be able to hear what you say and understand what you mean. At Ascension 6 we recognize the importance of having a team that can effectively communicate in English. Although Vietnamese is our employees’ native language, we communicate in English both in and out the workplace. This skill improves our services to our international clients. RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR OFFSHORE TEAM MEMBERS Building a successful relationship with your offshore team is important. You want your offshore team to feel like they are a part of your team and regular communication is necessary. This also ensures that you can assist with any developmental requirements. Many people make the mistake of just assigning tasks to their offshore team without sharing the bigger picture. If you share your vision and goals with your offshoring teamregularly, this will ensure that they are able to help you make them a reality. If you only give them minimal information, it makes this process more difficult. With the advancement of technology, it is so much easier to exchange information with people all around the world. At Ascension 6, we take advantage of the technology available for communication to strengthen the relationship with our customers so that we can perform our tasks better. PROVIDE CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS AND MANAGE EXPECTATIONS All offshore teams members need to understand your company’s strategies and goals. They should be given insight into your company’s upcoming projects as well as your expectations. Providing detailed information with clear ideas and targets will ensure that your offshore teams provide you with the best service. By giving them all the information, your teams can make better decisions as they work on your projects. DATA SECURITY RISK When you pass data within your business you inevitably increase the confidentiality risk. When you outsource tasks to your offshore team, this is the same. To avoid leaking internal information when you are managing an offshore team, we suggest setting strong passwords for your important documents. Password management software such as OnePassword or LastPass is recommended. This forces employees to use a different password for every site and automatically generates passwords that are meaningless rather than an actual word or phrase. ANNUAL VISITS AND REGULAR ONLINE MEETINGS Staying connected with you offshore teams may present a challenge. However annual visits will help strengthen the connection and bring team members together. You could also invite offshore team members to visit your office. Meeting with your offshore teams and getting to know more about each other could assist in bridging any cultural divide that may exist. Aside from annual meetings in person, regular online meetings are a great way to build these relationships. Using video enabled platforms such as Skype and Zoom you can still have face-to-face meetings without having to incur the travel costs. Ascension 6 is in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh is a developing metropolis that is becoming popular for new businesses. It is also a hot spot for travelling as it is easily affordable. If you do choose to use us as your offshore team, you always know that you are welcome to visit our offices. Alternatively, we are always available for online video meetings. Why use Ascension 6 as your offshore team? At Ascension 6, we have many years of experience assisting companies with their outsourcing requirements as an offshore team. Our aim is to make your offshore team feel like an internal team and avoid any of the drawbacks of managing a team offshore. Contact us today on [email protected] for more information.
