While it is a challenge to manage teams, coordinating teams from different parts of the world is a bigger challenge. It is important to communicate clearly from the beginning, and ensure process flows are well mapped, and clear cut deliverables are established.
In this blog, we look at strategies that will help realize the full potential of your offshore team that can define your firm’s success.
Set well-defined parameters:
One of the key benefits of outsourcing is the completion of projects on time with minimal supervision. If that is not the case, please check to see if non-core activities are taking up too much of your team’s time. They may be managing emails, answering calls, reporting et al. Ensure that your offshore team has no such roadblocks, and is able to spend time productively on your projects.
Choose the right partner:
While outsourcing works out cheaper than hiring in-house talent, picking a vendor solely on the cost factor can derail your progress. Much too often, companies are swayed by cost benefits rather than focusing on important factors like experience, reputation, and infrastructure.
View the offshore partner as an integral part of your team – sizing them up based on the value they can bring rather than focusing on minimizing cost. Evaluate their portfolio, look at online references, interview their team and study their processes before arriving at a final decision.
Ensure Flexible Lines of Communication:
An effective line of communication is key to success. Complete communication on the workflow of your firm without any chances for misinterpretation is a must. Be transparent while communicating with your offshore teams. Follow a fixed communication module, hiring dedicated resources to oversee progress.
Leverage innovative workflow software to engage with your outsourced service providers. Take into account the time zone difference while communicating with outsourced teams. Ensure your communication with the team is open and at regular intervals. This will make the team comfortable with your style of operating, and more open to asking questions, and providing feedback.
Assess Technology & Tools:
Basic infrastructure for a bookkeeping setup consists of software and hardware availability, operating skills and experience of the staff. Make sure to confirm with referrals that the offshore team takes all necessary security precautions, is technologically sound, and covered against data piracy with high-end information security and privacy policies. Retention and process continuity are most crucial for an offshore team – make sure your team is adequately staffed, and prepared for any resource crunch/contingency.
Working with offshore teams is now a norm for many accountants and CPAs. The key is to devise effective means of communication and query handling. Proper implementation and utilization of the offshore accounting model will take your firm closer to increasing capacity and growing your firm.
