Project OutsourcingWritten by Jack Thompson
OUTSOURCING: AN OVERVIEW Businesses of all kinds can and do benefit from tool of outsourcing every day. The businesses that use outsourcing as a tool to enhance and grow their business already know value that outsourcing brings to their organization. The organizations that have used outsourcing for many years know that with positives it brings to organization that it is also important to have a well managed plan of action for hiring a consultant or contractor for a business task. This includes deciding which projects or tasks to outsource, whom to hire for these tasks, how to manage project, how to agree on payment terms, and how to achieve desired results. There are many forms of outsourcing ranging from outsourcing payroll to outsourcing package handling, to everything in between. Small businesses hiring a self-employed accountant to handle corporate tax returns are in essence hiring a tax consultant. Large corporations that hire outside customer service firms to handle their customer support are outsourcing that function of their business to focus more on their core business functions. It is entirely possible to outsource practically every business process within an organization. OUTSOURCING TOOLS There are a wealth of tools available for organization looking to outsource business processes. Companies such as SmartyLance.com, enable a business to post a project to a project marketplace and receive bids from experts in field. These type of freelance sites match companies with freelance professionals, consultants, and independent contractors. There are many advantages for a business to use services such as SmartyLance. First, marketplace enables businesses to use a centralized location to post their project, receive bids on that project, communicate with potential providers, choose a winning bid (either based on lowest cost or based on credentials, expertise, or prior feedback of a particular provider), manage project specifications, receive delivered project and make final payment based on terms of auction. This centralized marketplace provided by SmartyLance greatly streamlines entire outsourcing process and enables business owner or manager to have greater control over entire outsourcing process. INCREASING COMPETITION Competition is a complicated subject for many people. Ultimately, competition is good for consumer, whether consumer is an individual or a business, competition enables products and services to maintain high quality and low cost. Although many people dislike competition because it forces action to improve quality, benefits to overall economy even result in improved products and services for very people that dismiss competition and headaches it sometimes brings. Freelance marketplaces such as SmartyLance are no exception in that competition improves overall quality and value for project buyer and causes freelance provider to adjust to market conditions in a practical, intelligent manner to win new business. The benefits to company looking to hire freelancers are obvious. For example, Company A can compile a list of consultants to work on design of their new company logo. This list may include a multitude of design firms from same geographical area. Company A would be required to submit an RFP by contacting each design firm individually, stating requirements of their project and requesting a quote based on requirements. Many factors come into play in deciding which design firm Company A will choose. Chances are, that using this approach, Company A will end up paying too much for project and will only have a handful of providers to choose from. Company B also must outsource design of their new company logo. Rather than compile lists of design firms, which can result in overpriced quotes, Company B decides to post their logo design project to SmartyLance marketplace. Doing so enables Company B to get competitive bids that help ensure that Company B gets most competitive price for their project. By posting logo design project to SmartyLance, Company B not only reduced costs associated with project, they had access to specialists and skilled professional designers from around world that were competing to give Company B best cost and highest quality design for their money. The entire process was managed easily through Company B’s SmartyLance account enabling them to keep in contact, manage project specifications, manage competing bids, and send payment easily and securely through one of several different payment methods. An escrow account enabled Company B to ensure that payment wasn’t released to provider until all project requirements were met. Company B successfully outsourced logo design project and was able to save several hundred dollars. They also received project several days quicker than Company A. In this example of Company A and Company B, we see that Company A had limited its ability to find a skilled professional and limited its ability to save money on project. Company B took full advantage of all resources and benefits of SmartyLance marketplace and was able to save time and money. By outsourcing critical business functions that are not core business functions, organization greatly benefits through a savings of time and money which in turn benefits us all through decreasing costs that are passed down to consumer.TO OUTSOURCE OR NOT TO OUTSOURCE? Risks are inherent in any new business strategy or thought process. However, like any business decision, risk can be managed. By intelligently choosing a provider that matches your intended skill requirements, carefully detailing and outlining your project requirements, and ensuring that you maintain requirements within budget, benefits can far outweigh risks. One of more common fears among some larger organizations that may be reluctant to outsource projects is a fear of unknown. This fear stems from inherent inability to oversee each and every aspect of project from start to finish and to evaluate each step along way. Internal employees devoted to a project are more easily evaluated and can be guided through performance and work appraisals. Managers may feel that outsourced projects are more difficult to oversee and manage with an eagle eye. The fact of matter is that so long as there are well-defined contractual obligations and project reporting requirements, an outsourced project can in fact result in a more manageable outcome than actually thought. Also, talent pool and skills obtained that may be completely unavailable to organization allow organization to reach milestones and achieve success that may never have been possible with their current employees. A REWARDING CAREER Having a specialty or skill in a particular business area can enable you to begin a career as a consultant or freelancer. Freelancing enables you to have flexibility to work on your own and on your own schedule. You can choose which projects match your skill set and decide which types of freelance projects that you would be interested in working on. There are numerous sources available to find freelance work. Some sources include browsing freelance directories, job boards, and registering with talent auction sites such as SmartyLance. All of these resources are filled with potential jobs. In comparison, it seems that talent auctions are most comprehensive resources offering most flexibility to both freelancer and company hiring a freelancer. They offer breadth and depth of listings and simplicity to bid on numerous projects as well as services enabling handling of entire payment process through a service provider account with talent auction site. Bidding on projects requires much discipline and planning. Before placing a bid or giving a quote on a project, freelancer must take into account many factors including length of time required for project completion, budget service buyer can afford, and whether or not they can actually meet requirements to complete project. It is also important to keep in mind that developing relationships with service buyers can lead to more work in future. Developing a relationship with service buyers and meeting or exceeding their project expectations will enable you to develop a client base that allows you to practically always have new projects to work on.
| | Personnel Records - The Paperwork NightmareWritten by Ronald B. Bleiberg
Companies face difficult daily document challenges in their Human Resources or Personnel Departments. Many documents must be retained from a prospective employee's first contact until well after employee's last date of employment. The amount of paper can be voluminous for long-term employees. Computerized HR systems provide only part of answer.A Human Resources document management solution must include ability to electronically store and access all employee records, including those created internally, those received from outside company and those requiring a signature. A look at "employee life cycle" gives us insight to these documents. During pre-hire phase, documents received from outside include resumes, background checks and results of drug tests. Application forms must be filled-out and signed by prospective employee. A copy of offer letter, counteroffer correspondence and contract, if appropriate, are internally generated. Finally, a signed acceptance letter and/or contract must be maintained in file. During hiring phase W-4, Beneficiary Designation and other signed forms are received. During employment, documents generated include performance appraisals and contract renewals. Both require a signed copy be retained. Any comments or corrections also must captured, not just numerical scores or ratings. Other documents include lifestyle changes as they affect benefits and taxes, performance improvement plans and training records. Some companies require all training tests must be retained, not just score.
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