Top 10 Concerns of a Customer Outsourcing to India
Your organization has decided it is time to reap in the advantages of outsourcing to India, but you do not know where to start. The key in making the most of outsourcing is finding the right Indian service provider for your business. The right outsourcing vendor can propel your company to new heights, helping you cut back on cost while increasing productivity.
While you many find many vendors in the outsourcing market, you can separate the best from the rest by asking questions about communication, data security, infrastructure and confidentiality. Here is a list of questions that you can ask a service provider before signing up for an outsourcing agreement.
Will my data be kept secure and confidential?
Ask the vendor about what steps have been taken to ensure data privacy and security. Ensure that security and privacy is maintained at all levels such as, network security, personnel security, site security or data security. You can visit the premises of your vendor to check their system of access control. You can ask for external drives to be disabled from systems. Make sure that your data is kept completely secure by asking your vendor if they follow a system of securing data through email, file and folder encryption.
Do you follow quality standards?
Visit your vendor's premises and check if quality standards and processes are followed. Find out about the measures taken to ensure utmost quality in the delivered services/products. Check with previous customer references to see if the vendor has delivered quality services/products in the past. You can be assured of quality by checking if the vendor has ISO 9000 and CMM certifications.
Will there be transparency in the financial matters related to my organization?
Ask your service provider for previous customer references. Call up these references and ask them if the vendor has shown fairness and transparency in the financial dealings with them. Conducting a background check on the vendor can also help. Explain to your vendor that you expect complete transparency in invoices and contracts. Tell your vendor that you will cancel the outsourcing contract if you find their financial dealings are unfair.
Do you follow statutory regulations and laws?
Ensure that your service provider religiously follows all compliances, laws and regulations, as by being a customer you can be held responsible for any violations of the law. Personally check all the required documents and ask your vendor to show you proof that all laws are being followed. Explain to your vendor that you will outsource only if all regulations are stringently followed.
How reliable are you?
Details about the service provider's number of years in the outsourcing business, experience across business verticals, financial status and increase in number of employees can give you a good idea about the vendor's dependability. You can also check the vendor's trustworthiness by asking them for previous customer references.
Are your work ethics and culture similar to my organization?
It is important that your service provider follows a similar standard of work ethics and culture, so that there can be seamless interaction between your companies. You can visit your service provider's premises to understand their working culture better or even hold initial trainings to help your vendor understand and follow your way of working.
What will be the consequences of your employee attrition on my company?
Make sure that your service provider has adequate buffer capacity and has cross-trained employees to handle employee attrition. Ensure that your vendor's employee attrition, if any, would have no consequences on your organization.
Can you deliver the project within the deadline?
You must ask this question before even starting the project. Ask the service provider if he can commit to your deadline. Get information about the number of resources who will be working on your project and the total numbers of hours that will be put into your project. While meeting deadlines are important, the quality of work is even more crucial, so ensure that the vendor does not compromise on the level of quality. You can ask for daily timesheets and weekly meetings with your vendor, so that you can keep a track of the progress of your project.
Do you have a business continuity/ disaster recovery plan?
There is always a possibility of unforeseen disasters such as hardware/software failures or natural calamities occurring. In such cases, your vendor should have a disaster recovery plan in place so that your work can be continued without any delay. Outsource only to a service provider who has a disaster recovery, physical recovery and data recovery policy. The vendor should also have other delivery centers.
Will my organization incur any hidden costs?
Your primary reason to outsource would be to cut back on cost, so while finding a vendor, find out about hidden costs. Check if the vendor would ask you to pay for training, infrastructure, maintenance, transition or connectivity costs. Only choose a vendor who does not charge you for hidden costs, so your company can save more in terms of cost.
Choose Flatworld Solutions as your vendor
Flatworld Solutions is a leading outsourcing provider has over 20 years of experience in catering to the business needs of organizations across business verticals. Customers across US and UK have benefitted from our quality services, low cost and timely deliveries. Get in touch with us today to leverage the advantages of outsourcing.
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