Understand how to manage your company's outsourced services in your strategic management system
Many companies opt for outsource some of your company's services in order to increase the quality of your services and products, optimize the company's time and productivity, and resolve budgetary issues. All this in order to achieve customer satisfaction and rationalize costs, while maintaining your quality standards.
However, outsourcing poses some challenges for managers, among them: the qualification and training of staff. outsourced in the company's routine processes; the turnover of the people who carry out the work. outsourced services and control of the activities carried out by the other company. Sometimes, the outsourced service is not carried out within the company that hires it, making it difficult for the area manager to control. For companies that are required to comply with quality control, laws and certifications, you need to pay extra attention and plan before outsourcing the necessary procedure. After all, your brand and reputation are at stake.
According to Priscila Nogueira, Stratec's director of strategic alliances, several studies show that the main challenges for managers when hiring outsourced services include the quality of the services provided, the qualifications of the people who provide these services, obtaining people's commitment and standardizing the processes that have been outsourced. "Regardless of the objective you want to achieve with outsourcing, whether it's reducing costs, focusing on core business, or others, the manager who hires an outsourced company will always face these challenges," he says.
To mitigate the risks of contracting outsourced services and increase control over them, it is recommended that the company defines its processes very well and formalizes them throughout the organization, preferably on a platform where the information is available to the entire strategic and administrative level.
Priscila comments that Stratec's Strategic Management software allows indicators to be defined and monitored throughout all the processes in the organization's value chain, in line with strategic objectives. All the criteria, policies and rules governing the contract with the outsourcer can be included in the software, allowing it to be managed. "As the software is web-based, with the possibility of defining different access profiles, the outsourcer will be able to monitor its performance and draw up action plans if it is not meeting its targets. In addition, the software allows documents to be attached to the values achieved for the indicators and the action plans, which makes it easier to provide evidence of them," she said.
In addition, there needs to be integration between the service provider and the outsourced service so that they are familiar with the culture of the contracting company, its values, goals and processes, thus avoiding problems during execution. "Training and education in the company's processes and values are fundamental to the outsourcer's integration into the organization. Also, having clear indicators and targets, aligned with the organizational objectives, structured feedback based on facts and data, allow them to integrate and commit to the organization," says Priscila.
