In the previous article titled Barriers of Outsourcing to India, we discussed about the problems you may face when outsourcing your work to India. I can sense that the discussion must have deterred many of our prospective readers from outsourcing their works to India. If you remember, in the last paragraph of that very article I wrote that all hopes are not lost, and there is a way to overcome the barriers a small business faces when outsourcing work to India. This article is about that only. It will show you way to overcome the outsourcing barriers.

Time zone barrier

Time zone becomes the most threatening barrier for Americans outsourcing their work to India, as the time difference between the two countries are at least 10 hours. Daytime in America means night in India. This barrier may look insurmountable, but a way could be found across this.

What you can do to overcome this problem is schedule a meeting with your service provider at 10 or 11 PM in the evening, which will be morning the next day in India, or you can schedule the meeting between 10 to 12 AM in your time, which will mean evening in India. None of the two timing is impossible to connect for either of the two parties. And you can always drop a mail should you urgently need to communicate anything in your day or evening, which will get a reply the very next day before you wake up.

Quality of the work

This is the easiest to overcome. Hire a person who is qualified enough to do your work, and who has worked with people in your country, and possibly in your industry. Seek references, and ask for sample work. Most often, these are the only things you need to do to overcome the quality barrier.

Communication problem

Communication problem could be resolved by standardizing the process of communication. Or you can handle this at the time of hiring as well, by filtering out those who cannot communicate well. If your service provider is exceptionally good at what he does, but poor in verbal English then do not voice chat or telephonic conversation. Use written means of communication — mail or chat. This will save the day.

Longer feedback loop

Setting up the length of a feedback loop is in your hand. It depends upon you if the feedback loop will be longer or shorter. When hiring a service provider communicate them your expectation regarding the replies you need for mails.

Tell them that you expect them to send a reply, at max within 24 hours, but preferably 2 to 4 hours. Also mention that the rules apply to you as well. You can also exchange cell phone numbers to use when necessary to shorten the loop.

Copyright and legal issue

Although your service provider lives in different country, he is bound by some internationally applicable rules set by import and export treaty of a country and WTO (World Trade Organization). Make them sign NDA (non-disclosure agreement) as well. Do not lose your sleep over this, rules in India are pretty strict, and they get enforced as written in the law book.

Cheating

You can find cheaters everywhere, even in your country, so this should not be a reason to not outsource, as it is you can sense a cheater when you see him. They often will agree to everything you do, and will ask for 100% advance.

Wait a second. Do not run away when your service provider ask for advance because like you he or she also wants surety, as a result of which the person is asking for advance. Pay 50% advance, but never 100%. By paying some advance you are suggesting that you are on the same boat as he is.

Delivery schedule and deadline

Fix a delivery schedule and translate it in their time zone so that they know when they have to submit the final work.

By translating the deadline in their time zone you are saving the horror of confusion. Give an exact date and time by which you will need the work. Do not say submit it by next Wednesday, if you need the work at 10 AM on Wednesday.

When you say “submit it by next Wednesday”, the service provider thinks that he can send you the work by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, and work accordingly. For some 11:59 PM also mean that they can send the work to their client in the first hour on Thursday, for they think the client is not going to see it before the next day. That is why I am asking you to give deadline in terms of precise date and time.

I hope I have succeeded in rooting out the suspicion you had about outsourcing your work to India. As I said in the previous article, there may be some barriers in your way to outsourcing your work to India, but there is not any barrier that cannot be overcome. And as you saw in this article, you can easily make a way around the problems one face in outsourcing work to India.

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