Why does Outsourcing sometimes fail?

Outsourcing works all the time. Businesses have achieved more success than failure when it comes to outsourcing. Yet, there are those who fail. Just like any other business, it fails for the simplest of reasons.

Lack of communication. Communication between two parties involved is always important but nevertheless, often overlooked. Major decisions affecting a lot of people are often being made without consultation and proper deliberation. Good communication which is prompt, clear and easily understandable, is a very basic need in every organization.

Cultural differences. When outsourcing to an Asian country like the Philippines, or any country for that matter, you need to know first their culture. It is like when you visit a foreign country you get to know first its people because you might be stepping on boundaries which they consider sacred to them. In the same way, brief them a little about your own culture. This way you avoid clashing with each other just because what you consider as normal to your country could be taboo for them. This way the flow of communication gets better and you can work harmoniously with each other.

Time differences. One way or the other, one party has to adjust. Between California and the Philippines, the time difference is 15 hours and 12 hours between New York and the Philippines. Just when you are about to end your day, the other end is starting his. Usually in the Philippines the work is on graveyard shift. A lot of call centers in the Philippines offer additional benefits for people working beyond 10pm. However, in some cases because the work is graveyard, productivity sometimes is affected. Even though their work is at night, people still engage in daytime activities which affect their sleeping patterns and eventually affecting their work output.

Language barrier. When you acquire your outsourcing partner from another country with English not its native language, the ability to express oneself is sometimes hindered by lack of choice of words to explain it. Sometimes the tendency is just to keep quiet and nods his head in agreement or says yes when in fact it is something which is unclear and abstract to him. There are other times wherein you outsource people for their skills not necessarily in their ability to speak or write. This is absolutely fine so long as you make sure that they have understood the instructions correctly so there would not be frustration later on if the results is done poorly due to miscommunication.

As you can see, the reasons why outsourcing fails are simple yet important. When faced with these situations, you should have a ready solution on hand to avoid failing to succeed in outsourcing.