How to monitor the performance of outsourced teams

How to Monitor the
Performance of Outsourced
Teams
Managed Outsource Solutions
8596 E. 101st Street, Suite H
Tulsa, OK 74133
Back office outsourcing allows access to skilled and
qualified people for specified jobs and improves
productivity.

www.managedoutsource.com (800) 670 2809
Outsourcing is a good business strategy to improve efficiency, minimize costs and focus on core
competencies. Back office outsourcing to a reliable BPO service provider allows access to
expertise and productivity. When businesses start expanding and are loaded with many projects
that require special skills, businesses resort to outsourcing. Outsourcing helps business to
maximize use of external resources and provide tailored solutions that make business processes
less cumbersome and increase revenue.
Although outsourcing offers many advantages it comes with many challenges like rushing to
outsource in the absence of a good business case, difficulty in implementing an efficient
outsourcing arrangement etc. The client seeks better service, often at lower costs, than it would
get doing the work itself and the vendor wants to make a profit. That tension must be managed
closely to ensure a successful outcome for both client and vendor. Therefore businesses should
always monitor outsourced projects. The following are some of the tips suggested by 12
members of Forbes technology Council to measure the success of the individuals or teams
handling their outsourced projects.
• Identify whether they are delivering what they said- Stephanie Roberts, Sunrun: Tracking
“say:do” helps to measure success from outsourcing. This can be showcased via OKRs
(Objectives and Key Results) and shared among all. If the development team is unable to
deliver what they promised then your organizational objectives and desired results cannot
be met.
• Monitor sprint velocity- Ryan Chan, UpKeep Maintenance Management: Tracking sprint
velocity should be standard practice in your engineering team. One of the biggest
drawbacks in outsourcing to remote teams is poor communication and by tracking sprint
velocity you can bridge the gap and hold the team together.
• Check whether they can speed up- Kishan Patel, Kunai: The essence of outsourcing is
looking for external talents and it needs time to acquire the context around your business
and what they’re building for you. The ability of the external resource to grasp the
context and get productivity quickly shows that the external partner is best suitable for
you organization. Make sure that you provide enough time, otherwise it can lead to
problems.

• Daily meetings are good- Nacho De Marco, BairesDev: Daily meetings help business
owners to prioritize and distribute tasks and align themselves with the delivery schedule.
The work is adjusted as required and revised and corrected against client feedback. This
helps the team and client to have a better management of the project and it also ensures
efficient and fully optimized results.
• Automation is a must- Fred Voccola, Kaseya: Companies should measure managed
service providers (MSPs) on their ability to work as an extension of the IT team and their
ability to meet service-level agreements. By adopting automation and with the power of
integration, MSPs can provide value to enterprise and boost overall productivity.
• Make sure that the work aligns with company objectives, Dan Stuart, Bidvine:
Outsourced projects should align with the organization’s objectives and every outsourced
development project must have an internal owner with smart objectives.
• Consider the cycle time- Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster: Cycle time refers to the total
time that elapses from the moment work is starte on an item and tracking this metrics
helps you to set realistic and clear expectations for your outsourced developers.
• Transparency and communication is important- Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media LLC:
Good relationship with your outsourced developer helps to set clear expectations. Having
a point of contact on your side who has frequent communications with the team you’re
managing, and having the ability to see how tasks are progressing helps to have
transparency.
• Set correct milestones- Alexandro Pando, Xyrupt Technologies: It is difficult to find a
good partner. It is the duty of the company to handle the project efficiently and it requires
a different approach. Setting appropriate milestones and deadlines is a good measure of
how the relationship can go. Begin the milestone with something small and then evaluate
the work.
• Use standard measurements- Tarek Alaruri, Fairmarkit: It is important to ensure that all
development teams are being measured consistently. Make sure that the features are
delivered on time within the expected tolerance for quality, all expected unit tests and
quality-assurance processes being completed to satisfaction.
• Measure the risk burndown- Christopher Yang, Corporate Travel Management
Outsourcing projects comes with complexities and so risk management is important. Risk

burndown is a great metric to be tracked and revisited periodically so companies can
proactively measure the rate at which risk exposure decreases over time and fittingly
apply any mitigation strategies as necessary.
The era of outsourcing is not going to end any time soon. But there are not many non-core
activities left to outsource in mature outsourcing industries and markets anymore. Therefore,
businesses in these markets are starting to push outsourcing’s boundaries into more core and
advanced business areas, such as idea generation and innovation. In the year 2020 outsourcing
will spread out to new areas. The following are some the changes that can be expected by 2020.
• New outsourcing will challenge internal limits: Pushing outsourcing to advanced areas
requires overcoming structural constraints and pushing internal limits without giving up
controls over the strategic direction of the company. Organizations that can successfully
identify new value creating set ups in advanced business areas will have an advantage in
the year 2020.
• Innovation and idea generation is important: To meet the new realities facility and
service management providers should increase their innovation and idea generation
capacity. At present the majority of service providers are not capable of providing this
service due to no economic incentive to provide innovation when service providers are
bound by contract and secondly, the business in general is not willing to pay for advice
on innovation.
• Emergence of experienced economy: In an experienced economy the economic value
resides in experience and in other immaterial attributes. This creates new pathway for
service innovation and market opportunities. Customers will demand more outsourcing
service related to design, aesthetics, culture, storytelling, values and experience. These
are immaterial in nature and entails a greater focus on service design and the user
experience for existing offerings. This type of client-centric approach, with particular
emphasis on the emotional journey, will be essential. With more significance given to the
wellbeing of organizational employees, new organizational wellness will be demanded by
the customer.
• Outsourcing areas become more specialized: As technological advancements are rising
at rocket speed, the domain of outsourcing will expand to new service areas, creating new

market opportunities for both the customers and service providers. New service
opportunities will emerge for customers where information and data constitute the
primary economic asset. Large volumes of data with integrated storage, analytics and
application will drive the efficiency, quality and personalization of products and services.
Back office outsourcing allows access to skilled and qualified people for specified jobs for better
quality business processing and also improves customer satisfaction and revenue. Business
process outsourcing company also ensure privacy and security with specialized security
processes and work to provide a competitive advantage to the business.

How to monitor the performance of outsourced teams

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