[jackie Obrian]

Greetings fellow Onions, I'm writing a thesis thingie as a part of my Engineering studies.
I would like you to help me out a bit by telling your opinios about outsourcing, have you ever been part of outsourcing, have you heard anything good/bad about it, basicly anything goes.

All information will be handled with care, no names or anything else will be put into my text.
If you don't want everybody to see your story, pm it to me

Thanks in advance [surrender]

[Cnbaapuy]

I presume you are asking for information from the point of view of the company doing the outsourcing, in which case:

Most of my comments are regarding the outsourcing of manpower (e.g the use of contractors). - but some comments are regarding outsourcing of projects / services etc.

Pros:

- Company frees itself from any associated legal risks and liability - especially regarding outsourcing of manpower (e.g using contractors). Virtually all of the legal responsibility regarding those contractors lies with the contracting company that employs them, not the end company that is doing the outsourcing.

- Outsourcing offers a simplified "one-stop-shop" for companies - they pay their money, and they (hopefully) get their result/product. Less management is also generally required.

- Its generally much easier to budget when you are outsourcing, especially if you operate on a FFP (firm fixed price) arrangement with your outsourcing partners.

- Outsourcing allows you to take a more flexible approach to dealing with market forces and demand. If you outsource manpower for example, then you can drop and hire manpower as you need it - whereas if those people were employed in house, its much harder (and more expensive) to let people go when times are lean.

- Less prep time when new people start work for you on an outsourced basis (contractors). When you outsource manpower, its possible to "buy" in specialists with significant experience who can "hit the ground running". - the kinds of people that it would be difficult (if not impossible) to hire on a permanent basis, as their salary expectations would be too high, and they most likely would not want to tie themselves to one company (seasoned contractors).

Cons:

- In the case of manpower outsourcing, it is more expensive for the end company in terms of the unit price per hour - however because they as a result also free themselves from things like employment liability etc, you could argue that they are potentially saving money overall, as they have less risk to factor into their costs and overheads.

- By outsourcing, the company doing the outsourcing gives up a certain level of control. Sure, any company they outsource to will have penalty clauses in their contract if they fail to deliver on time or to spec, but that still does not remove the fact that if they do fail, the end company is left without a product/result/solution etc, and could fall behind in the market as a result. As a result, although the end company generally needs less management in house for any outsourced projects, they need to track outsourced projects very carefully, to ensure they are aware of any slippage as soon as possible, and work to brings things back on track quickly.

- If you outsource customer facing functions, then you run the risk of alienating your customers, as you could be seen as distancing yourself from them, but putting an external company "in the middle".

- Skills drain. By outsourcing manpower, you are not keeps skills etc in house. When a contractor finishes work on a project and is taken offsite by their contracting company, then the company doing the outsourcing looses the benefit of that persons skills.


Thats about all I can come up with at the moment - I hope its the kind of thing you wanted.

[PWRichard]

From the engineering viewpoint, you may be looking at the more speciallized fields. It is more sensible to use outside experts as, whilst they can be damned expensive, they have the experience/training, the equipment/plant and other considerations that would be required for the job. If it was done internally, the employer may have to train personnel to do the work and purchase expensive machinery that may be infrequently used. The cost of these overheads can be several times the cost of the out sourcing. It also prevents taking people from one job to work on another, disrupting work scheduling.

[jackie Obrian]

Just the right kind of replies, like I said everything about outsourcing

[Ighans1]

When customers face a technical issue, it's important to have access to expert support. Helpware technical support agents can solve a difficult problem by leaving your customers satisfied with your product, as they did in my case. If you outsource Helpware technical support, your users will receive accurate information from experts who know your product inside out and can advise on how to avoid similar problems in the future. In my experience, I understand that outsource tech support is very important.