As I get more experienced in business, I realize that BPO companies are not all they are cracked up to be. If you hire a small BPO company to outsource your tasks to, you get stuck with whomever they hire to do the work and whomever they hire to manage your work. My experience tells me that management at small companies is always dismal. I have never seen good management at a small company in my life and I have dealt with many dozen of them over the years. Keeping deadlines and doing quality work never seems to be a priority unless you are a huge client which I am not. I feel that quality should be for all clients and not just large ones. Additionally, there seems to be no desire to do what is necessary to keep clients. Companies do what they want to and how they want to, and if you don’t like it, that is your problem — they are not concerned.
Skill levels can vary
At any of the BPO companies that I have hired, there is always a vast range of skill levels. If I am paying top dollar, or need a complicated task done, I need someone who is capable and responsible. I seem to rarely get this combination, or either of its components when hiring companies. Additionally, you never know what the skill level of a new person will be at those BPO companies. Let’s say that your programmer is busy and they want to pair you with their other programmer. You have no idea how good or bad that other person will be. Your entire business could be compromised.
Personality pairing
I found that people who don’t like me don’t do good work — ever… If I hire an outside company to do tasks for me, I have to make sure that the boss likes me and that the worker(s) like me. If there is a disconnect on any level, the work will suffer greatly.
Hiring a freelancer is easier.
You are only dealing with one person. That person has one skill level and one personality. They can manage them self, or you can manage them. You are never stuck with a middleman who insists on being the go-between. Those go-betweens always fail on delivering finished work in my experience. Another point to consider is that the most talented people I have ever worked with were freelancers. I did find that around 20% of people working for small companies were excellent! But, the freelancers I hired were a few notches better than even the best people who work at companies!
The next question is how to outsource freelancing work overseas?
Odesk is a solution, but what if you don’t like the people advertising there, or what if you don’t like Odesk’s rigid terms? Is there a way to find freelanced call center clerks or programmers overseas? Hmm! Maybe we should advertise for them! Maybe that will be our next niche!
You might also like:
Good sign bad sign: What to look for in newly hired workers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/13/outsource-blog-good-sign-bad-sign-what-to-look-for-in-newly-hired-workers/
What does Warren Buffet look for when he hires people?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/02/12/what-does-warren-buffet-look-for-when-he-hires-people/