Offshoring has been professionally described in plenty of ways, but business owners and decision-makers worldwide still confuse it with other business solutions like outsourcing, staffing, or even oil rigging. However, it has been shown that offshoring is the future of work. As a result, simplifying offshoring becomes necessary.
The most common explanation for offshoring is the strategic relocation of specific business processes and activities to another country. It is seen in almost every content version of web pages attempting to explain what offshoring is, covering around the top ten pages of search engines. It might be a simple explanation encompassing what offshoring is all about. Still, there will always be the need to expound on how it works and how it will help businesses specifically, which is where most of the confusion starts.
What is Offshoring?
Offshoring is the transfer of business activities and operations to another country for strategic reasons like cost-saving, flexibility, access to specialized expertise, and business efficiency.
However, what’s missing from the cluster of words is how exactly companies can benefit from the strategy. As a result, explaining offshoring to the average business owner might be better when comparing it to more popular business solutions like freelancing and outsourcing. Both freelancing and outsourcing have been utilized by businesses worldwide, specifically to attain the following benefits:
Cost-saving strategies
Freelancing and outsourcing can be cost-effective ways for companies to access specialized expertise or services without hiring full-time employees or dedicating expensive resources to own operations. Freelancers and third-party companies often have lower overhead costs than traditional employees and may be located in countries where labor costs are lower. Offshoring also boasts the same cost savings benefit for businesses.
Flexibility
Freelancers and third-party companies can offer greater flexibility than traditional employees. Companies can hire freelancers or outsource work project-by-project, allowing them to scale up or down as needed. This can be particularly useful for companies with fluctuating workloads or needing specialized skills only for specific projects. Offshoring solutions also provide businesses with the same flexibility feature by taking into account which business processes you can offshore.
Access to specialized expertise
Freelancers and third-party companies often have technical skills or expertise unavailable within the company. This can include graphic design, web development, or marketing skills. By outsourcing these tasks, companies can access their needed expertise without investing in training or hiring new employees.
Increased efficiency
Freelancers and third-party companies can often complete tasks more quickly and efficiently than traditional employees. They may have access to specialized tools or technologies that can streamline the work, and they may be able to work more quickly due to their specialized expertise.
Freelancing and outsourcing are effective business solutions, making them top priorities for businesses to get those benefits for their company’s growth and expansion. With both presenting good strategies for businesses, you might ask what else offshoring offers. And the most straightforward answer to that can be summed up in one phrase: offshoring is the better long-term solution.
How Offshoring Works as a Long-Term Solution
Pursuing growth is a constant for businesses, and both freelancing and outsourcing can achieve it. However, both solutions often struggle with becoming long-term solutions for businesses because they are often on a per-project basis or a short-term contractual agreement with the freelancers and outsourced workers. Offshoring provides all the benefits freelancing and outsourcing can offer but can do so with a system designed for long-term use.
Here are a few that make offshoring the long-term solution that differentiates it from freelancing and outsourcing:
Physical presence
Offshoring involves establishing a physical presence, particularly an office for the offshore team, in the new location. The workplace can provide greater control and oversight over the work being done. This can be particularly useful for companies that require a high level of quality control or must ensure compliance with local regulations.
Account management
Businesses partnering with offshoring companies have a dedicated account manager, which would help manage offshore teams and align strategies with them. Both freelancing and outsourcing will require organizations to engage with the employees themselves.
Support services
Offshoring also boasts support services to help your offshore team accomplish its objectives. Those services range from administrative functions like payroll and human resources to cybersecurity and IT infrastructure assistance.
Regulatory compliance
Offshoring can provide greater compliance with local regulations than freelancing or outsourcing. By establishing a physical presence in the new location, companies can ensure they follow local labor, environmental, and other rules.
Cultural alignment
Offshoring can provide greater cultural alignment between the company and its operations. Companies can facilitate communication and collaboration between employees and customers by setting up operations in a location with a similar culture or language.
The problem with freelancing and outsourcing is that the hired professionals are providing services for your business, which means they are usually autonomous and can take on other clients, preventing them from performing at their best and making the solution more of a short-term partnership. By utilizing offshoring, you are actually creating an extended business arm in another country.
In simplest terms, offshoring provides you with the specialized experts you can find in freelancing and outsourcing, but with the assistance necessary to ensure they are effective and exclusive to your business.
Partner with iSupport Worldwide to Make Offshoring Simple
What many are not saying about offshoring is that there can be plenty of complications around setting it up. This is where choosing the right offshoring company to partner with becomes vital. iSupport Worldwide is a premier offshoring company in the Philippines, one of the most attractive offshoring destinations for businesses worldwide.
iSupport Worldwide offers everything expected out of offshoring solutions: a customized offshore team full of specialized experts with the facilities, support services, and accountability needed to make offshoring an effective long-term business solution for growth and expansion. However, iSupport Worldwide aims to make the process as simple as possible for businesses that want to enjoy offshoring’s benefits. If you want to know how, you can set up a meeting with us! See how simple it is to turn offshoring into a long-term strategy for your business growth.