A boss of mine once famously said in an audience of two, how “outsourcing is the new normal“. You have a special, once-in-a-decade project? Outsource it. Do not have in-house expertise? Outsource it. No idea about how to go on about it? Well, again, you may just outsource it.

Outsourcing helps an organization keep its immediate costs in check, also while reducing potential future liabilities. You do not have to worry about a lot of other peripheral things too if you outsource the work – medical benefits, salary slips, performance appraisal, and a lot more!

But while you do not worry about these peripheral things and rising employee costs, that also means letting go of certain amount of control that an organization might have to retain so that it has the requisite talent/skill pool for gaining and retaining competitive advantage in a fierce market.

These aspects raise certain pertinent questions:

1. What do you outsource?
2. How much do you outsource? Fully or partially?
3. To whom do you outsource?

There are no correct answers. The answers would change vis-a-vis the context of the business challenge at hand. In this series, we would try to answer the questions and more.

Would love to know your opinion on the above questions. What do you think about them?

Amartya Dey, India

Other Articles by the Author:

• The First Rule of Negotiation 
• Human Aspect: Beware of the Exceptional Employee
• Human Aspect: Importance of Precedent
• Two Levers: Potential & Tacit Knowledge (Part I)
• Breaking Organizational Silos (Part I)
• Breaking Organizational Silos (Part II)
• Working More than 12 Hours?
• The Abuse of the 360º Feedback System 
• Human Aspect: The Context of Power