Defend Against Outsourcing

If yours is a company threatened by the off-shoring of your services or products, the first step is to acknowledge the reality of the situation. Then, there is some self-examination to do:

• What are you doing of high value for the client? Is it high value because of creativity, relationship, or knowledge of the client’s business from years of collaboration? What services of high value and quality can you develop further?

• Does your client appreciate your unique knowledge? Will this knowledge be easily transferable to foreign collaboration?

• Are you geographically close to your client? Do you take advantage of this nearness to hold strategy sessions and exchange observations about the market? Can this proximity partially offset the allure of lower costs from a cheaper supplier?

• Are there processes in your company that are routine and boring? If they do not represent high value to you and your customer, you should spend some time rethinking. Can you do the process better or should you get rid of it and outsource it yourself?

• Are there niches up-market and/or down-market where you can penetrate to add another skill or service offering to your clients where off-shoring is not as advantageous?

Don’t get caught on the losing end of outsourcing, move to higher ground.

- Michael Oleksak  2007