Times are tough. But then, aren’t they always?
For most businesses cutting costs or keeping costs contained is critical. The challenge is how to balance business need for expertise and implementation assistance with budget constraints.
Recruiting and employing team members with expert level knowledge and experience comes at a high cost. Startups, SMME’s and even large businesses are struggling to afford the full cost of permanent expert level team members.
This is precisely why the concept of co-sourcing was developed.
Co-sourcing differs from outsourcing in several ways:
A Project versus a relationship
Outsourcing is project driven, while co-sourcing is a long-term relationship. A co-sourcing relationship combines internal talent and external expertise to create an internal-external collaboration. This high-value relationship is suited to implement and maintain long term process projects requiring continued monitoring, assessment, and refinement. Processes like SHEQ programs and ISO standards development and implementation.
No management input versus retained outcomes management
With outsourcing outcomes management is reliant on the competency of the outsourced service provider manager with little input from you, the customer (except for complaining about poor service delivery!) With co-sourcing the outcomes driving management can be retained internally, with the external expert providing only the specific functions for which expertise is required.
No skills development or transfer versus skills development and skills transfer.
Outsourcing provides no skills development or skills transfer for your team. With co-sourcing, the nature of the collaborative relationship lends itself to process skills development and skills transfer.
The benefits of co-sourcing
Co-sourcing provide benefits (some unique) in that it:
Provides expertise at a “shared expert” costing structure, saving hugely on payroll.
Still provide a long-term relationship where the service provider gets to know your business well, saving time and providing deep insights.
Allows the expert to expand expertise over multiple business models and markets, bringing fresh insights to your business process development.
Still retain information and data integrity and safety based upon a confidentiality and non-competitor agreements.
Saves cost on employee facilities for a high-value-high-status employee.
Expands your business network.
A valuable strategy
Co-sourcing is a very useful strategy to augment team skills at an affordable cost.
It is especially valuable for:
- startup business development,
- during business growth spurts and
- during the lows in the business cycle,
when cash is scarce, and costs must be contained.
A win-win workplace solution
Co-sourcing also benefits the expert service provider in that it allows especially senior experts, but also other high value talent who prefer more mobility, to continue contributing to the market without the need to go to the office every day.
It provides flexibility of work environment and working times for highly talented individuals so inclined.
It also provides modularity in income source, protecting against loss of just one employment-based income stream when the expertise is no longer needed.
All in all, co-sourcing is a win-win workplace solution driving high-value outcomes.
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