Companies often outsource their work to reduce cost or increase work efficiency without taking the time to select the vendor. And this is the major issue that results in project failure or cost overrun. You must take time and prepare vendor selection criteria to select a good outsourcing company.
First thing first, you need to start by doing proper research. You wouldn’t go to a shop and just buy a washing machine. Obviously, at first, you would do some research and check the price and features offered by different brands; you might also check for reviews and durability. Only after you have done proper research can you buy a washing machine.
Similarly, while selecting outsourcing or a staff augmentation vendor, you should do some research, find their price and service offered, and check for the review and work experience. Then select an outsourcing company that you find promising.
To make this easy for you, here are the five vendor selection criteria to consider while appointing an outsourcing company:
1. Based on your project’s technical requirement
The first thing you need to do is consider your project’s requirements. You need to filter the outsourcing company on the basis of this. For instance, say you want custom software development built, then search for the outsourcing company which specialises in software development rather than the outsourcing company working on blockchain. Technology and software development is a broad topics, but you need individuals with expertise in a certain aspect. So, it’s best to filter out your list of vendors with your requirements.
Even more, you can go for a staff augmentation vendor as per your technical requirement. Staff augmentation is quite similar to an outsourcing strategy used to staff a project to fulfil business objectives. A model consists of evaluating the existing staff and then determining which additional skills are required.
2. Based on pricing
Now that you have a list of suitable vendors to work with, you can start looking at the price offered by each of them. But remember, you shouldn’t just pick a company with the lowest price. Think about the quality too. You can find an unimaginably cheap outsourcing company. But don’t be surprised when their work quality is also unimaginably cheap.
From my personal experience, it’s better to choose a mid-priced level outsourcing company. They tend to provide quality service at a reasonable price. Plus, they are trying to make their way up to high-end agencies, so they don’t show any negligence and work smart.
3. Based on experience
One of the major vendor selection criteria is the past work experience of the company. A company with past work experience in a similar project like yours can quickly understand your requirement and clearly understand what needs to be done.
It’s so much easier to work with them than a fresher or company with no experience in a project like yours. So, you should also check if they have the necessary technology infrastructure or not. If they have past experience and infrastructure, you should contact or reach out to the companies with whom they worked and ask for feedback and review. They can tell you everything about them. And based on that you can decide whether they are worthy or not.
4. Based on the team’s credibility
Many times company focus on the experience and credibility of the outsourcing company and completely forgets about the company’s team members. The team members of the outsourcing company should be equally experienced and familiar with your project.
You should discuss your project with them and get their input on your requirement. This helps you decide whether or not they understand your requirements.
5. Based on communication
Another important vendor selection criteria are their communication skill. You can determine their communication skill based on your interaction with them.
Are they transparent with their work process? How about the work culture? Is the language barrier making it hard to communicate? How about the time difference? Is it too much?
Considering all this factor and their management skills, select an outsourcing vendor finally.
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