It's not just trendy anymore - companies are starting to go offshore to take advantage of opportunities that other countries offer. 

Offshore outsourcing has been one of the major talking points for business people all around, and it even became an election issue in at least one country where candidates used good ol' fear-mongering tactics to try and scare voters. 

Companies go offshore because they want to maximize their resources while minimizing expenses. With this strategy, getting rid of extra services offered by local companies is a great way to cut down costs without losing quality! Let's go over some examples of how businesses can go offshore successfully.

"Why go offshore?" For a business, that is the question. Offshore outsourcing is pretty much all the rage these days and businesses are flocking towards hiring outsourced teams to help work on their projects instead of hiring full-time staff locally. This method is very successful time after time and with just about any kind of work out there.

However, one must never go offshore without weighing the pros and cons first, or else they may find themselves in an unfavourable situation. With this article, we hope to answer your concerns and questions regarding offshoring so you know what you're getting yourself into before taking such a big step for your business.

The benefits of offshore outsourcing for businesses

Offshore outsourcing is a practice that allows a company to outsource their work in a country other than where the company is based. This can offer many benefits for businesses, including lower labour costs and higher productivity.

Offshore outsourcing can cut expenses by up to 50% in labour-intensive jobs such as IT software development, accounting, customer service and medical transcription. Logistics businesses can also go offshore for significant savings when shipping goods from one country to another [insert graph]. Moreover, companies who go offshore usually experience an increase in revenue due to greater productivity and lower costs. In addition, a company can go overseas without having to set up an office or hire new employees there, which can result to lower operational costs. This also allows companies to go overseas without having an office there, which results in lower operational costs.

Going offshore is beneficial for both small and large businesses alike. Small businesses may find it difficult to go offshore since they only have limited resources to work with, but this becomes easier if their partners go offshore too so that the project gets divided into smaller, more manageable parts. Bigger companies may go onshore as well as offshore depending on what aspect of their business needs attention at any given time; however, they may need more assistance from a third-party provider who can make sure everything runs smoothly and efficiently.

India, the Philippines and China are popular countries for offshore outsourcing because of their large English-speaking populations. There's also a rapidly growing middle class that makes it possible to find high-quality workers with competitive rates who can communicate well in English. These advantages have made these locations go from insignificant offshore destinations at the turn of the 21st century to go locations with significant contributions to software exports by 2008.

Companies must consider several things when setting up remote offices, including whether or not they need an onshore and/or offshore component and how technology and process will be managed and measured. It is important to know if you want your office located near your market or your suppliers or partners. You must also consider whether you want to go with a single offshore office in another country, go onshore/offshore in multiple countries, go onshore/offshore in different time zones or go online with no physical office at all.

Companies can go about offshore outsourcing by hiring an offshoring service provider who will be responsible for sourcing the right workers, managing the project and ensuring the quality of work. Such providers are usually highly experienced in offshoring projects and there are many services they offer aside from just finding candidates like accounting, legal assistance, training and business process improvement consulting. The company must communicate its goals so that both parties know exactly what the project entails. This is to make sure that all parties involved go into a project with a full understanding of expectations, responsibilities and deadlines.

Companies go offshore to reduce costs, hire cheaper labour and improve efficiencies. 

While many companies employ offshore outsourcing for customer support, it also has certain risks prevalent in the trade-offs you need to learn about.

Being capable of understanding these risks can prepare you for the worst but hoping that everything will go well with your business decision.

Here are some possible risks associated with offshore outsourcing :

1) Poor quality control standards 

With most businesses going offshore, they can drastically reduce costs by hiring lower-paid workers. The problem is this leads to poor quality control standards. With higher turnover rates, oftentimes some individuals do not have proper training or experience. It's important for you as a business owner or manager to set up a strong quality control system to protect your business and interests.

2) Employees go on strike 

Oftentimes, companies go offshore because labour is cheaper and there's high demand for jobs. With this comes the possibility of employees going on strikes if they feel their demands are not being heard or met. This can pose a serious problem, especially when you're trying to service clients and maintain positive relationships with them. These problems are difficult to solve if corrective actions are not taken fast enough or at all on both sides.

3) Business culture clashes 

When you go offshore, you must have translators who are fluent in English so clear communication between parties remain open. However, even though there are translators, there are business culture clashes that pose a problem when doing business in certain countries. You need to be aware of the different cultures present in your company's offshore branch to solve these issues and maintain harmony within an organization.

4) Security risks 

With the goings-on of certain companies going offshore, they have taken advantage of less than reputable individuals who provide security via either human or technological means. It is always important to thoroughly research your potential offshore partner and ensure that you go with someone you can trust so you can avoid any security risk problems. These types of risks include any damages caused by theft or fraud. This poses a serious problem for many businesses owners and employees if such events should take place.

5) Communication problems 

The goings-on of business goes offshore were in the Philippines, they are hiring people to answer phone calls or provide customer support. Oftentimes, these positions go offshore to save money. This poses a problem for companies because when there is no proper communication between workers, it can lead to serious problems with customers and business partners alike.

These are just some things you need to consider when going for offshoring. You should weigh your options carefully before moving forward with any action. With careful planning, you can minimize risks associated with the goings-on of business go offshore so you do not fall prey to them

Many companies go offshore for various reasons such as to reduce costs or gain access to talent and skills they don't have in their company. However, we often hear that things go wrong with offshore outsourcing/offshoring when the client and the partner firm fail to meet each others' expectations.

To avoid this, here are some guidelines:

- Before going offshore, identify your needs and understand what you want from an offshore partner (e.g., do you need them only to handle certain non-core responsibilities? Or would you like them to take over entire business units?).  

- Get references or testimonials from your potential partners or clients who went through this process before. The reference check is important! - Ensure that your partner is aware of your company's culture. For example, do they understand that it might go against the company's values if they dismissively go about offshoring? - Ensure that you are comfortable with your offshore partner both personally and professionally. This will ensure the project runs smoothly because there are no miscommunications or misunderstandings along the way. You'll also appreciate working with someone who has a similar work ethic as you do!

- Finally, make sure you review your agreement/contract very carefully before signing it to ensure that everything is clearly defined and documented. The last thing you want is to go through legal proceedings when something inevitably goes wrong during or at the end of an outsourcing engagement! So keep these tips in mind to find the right offshore partner for you.

Before you go offshore, consider the following tips to ensure that your business is ready for this type of partnership.

Make sure you have an agreement in place with the service provider. A service level

agreement (SLA) should include deliverables, expectations and metrics associated with the partnership. Having these items detailed in the SLA will help alleviate questions down the road when it comes time to review results or make changes. 

"Contracts are not just about legal protection," said Rodney Rice, CEO of US-based BizTech Process Management, a provider of managed print services and outsourcing. "We do work in 22 countries around the globe, so contracts are also critical in terms of positioning us to go into new locations."

While most companies go offshore for cost savings, it is important to make sure that quality is not sacrificed in the process. If you go offshore without a contract in place, you could be setting yourself up for future problems. Experts suggest creating an audit plan before you go offshore so that there are no surprises once your business gets started.

Look at the service provider's track record of success. 

"We work with our clients closely to help them understand what they are trying to do," said Jill Schiefelbein, senior vice president of strategy and marketing for Atlantic Zeiser, a manufacturer of cutting systems. "It is critical to have good communication channels between us and the seller."

Atlantic Zeiser considers long-term relationships crucial when going offshore, so they go to great lengths to find partners with established track records.

Prove that you value your offshore partnership. 

"Be willing to go the extra mile to learn about the offshore market," said Schiefelbein. "We recently moved an entire customer service department into India when our call centre started experiencing high turnover rates in the U.S."

When Atlantic Zeiser's home-based customer support staff members learned that many of their new Indian counterparts had never been on a phone before, they found different ways of communicating with them – from sending pictures of what they were seeing on their screens to creating tutorials for them based on how they did things at home. The company had more than 1,000 employees go through customer service training.

"As a result, our call times dropped by 60 per cent," Schiefelbein said. "Just go the extra mile to invest in their success."

Ensure that there is proper due diligence on the financials of the offshore provider. 

"Many companies go offshore for cost savings reasons, but you should go into an outsourcing partnership with your eyes wide open." said Ken Vollmer, Mphasis' (formerly HP's) global marketing director for business process outsourcing. "You need to understand what goes into running a company like this and do your homework before you go offshore."

BizTech offers training courses in how to benefit from go-live support activities offered by its outsourced IT department, including how to go about measuring results.

"We do this so that our clients, who are typically very hands-on, understand what goes into running a go-live help desk," said Rice. "This kind of support helps reduce go-live risk levels."

When you go offshore, make sure you have the right partner for your company's specific needs. Make sure that proper due diligence has been done on the financials of the service provider, and make sure there is an SLA in place. Finally, invest time upfront in training employees involved with the partnership about how to go live support activities that can benefit them after going live occurs. This will help ensure success down the road for both parties involved.