The Impact of Virtual Outsourcing – Part 1

There is a move worldwide to send jobs to independent contractors. Whether its virtual technicians, call center reps, sales people, or marketing specialists, this move of using virtualized workers will continue to expand and is definitely here to stay.
By 2020, a massive one-third of the global workforce is expected to be hired online (maybe even as high as 50%). So what does this mean to big business? It means you will need to prepare for virtual outsourcing in a big way.

Business team of three analyzing statistical data

Rethink the World of Work

As the country continues to recover from the recent economic downturn and associated unemployment, folks may find that many jobs did not totally disappear. They just evolved from a cubicle-based titled job in a busy office building to a virtual cloud-based position in the sky. Today, more work is being sent home to independent contractors who are in business for themselves, and who have more specified skills to get the job done. These highly skilled workers may have either been laid off of their regular jobs, or are expertly trained technicians or entrepreneurs who choose to offer their services from home.

This shift to the cloud has forced everyone to rethink how they view work, broaden the way they view their workforce, and expand their thinking to include those other than the ones who live within a 50-mile radius of the physical business location.

Beam Me Up, Scotty!

Large U.S. corporations presently use thousands of work-at-home specialists in various positions to outsource their work in a fractionalized manner. Companies save money by outsourcing individual jobs to independent workers, rather than paying full-time employees who also require benefits.

This shift means that those workers who are savvy enough to move their talents to the cloud can find a lucrative source of income working from home on their computers. It also means that organizations will continue to find large talent pools of virtual workers prepared to provide exceptional work product without carrying the cost of housing the worker.

Contact Centers Are Already There

Contact centers have been moving to the cloud for some time, utilizing workers from home-based locations across the country to serve customers in all types of industries. At first glance, it would seem this limits businesses because the workers are off premise. Actually, quite the opposite is true. Instead of having workers who are generalists, the jobs are broken up into parts with each part sent to independent experts, working in their specific area of expertise (fractionalizing the work). This not only makes the projects more affordable for companies, but also more practical. Instead of paying full-time employees for a full week of work, you pay independent contractors only what they produce or the time it takes them to do a particular job. It also means your organization has a specialist performing the work, rather than a generalist who may not have the same level of expertise.

All Types of Positions Are Moving

Everything, from virtual assistants, engineers, project managers, programmers, to designers are moving to a virtualized model. CEOs and managers should see this as a positive move as it gives them access to a much wider talent pool, allowing them to get the right person for the job, regardless of geography.

Fractionalized work performed by a virtualized workforce ensures the best talent, regardless of location, is tapped to perform the job in a cost-effective way. There are multiple benefits to using this new world of work to boost your company in ways that weren’t possible just a few short years ago. We will cover this topic in Part 2 as we continue explore the impact of virtual outsourcing.

Read our Ultimate Guide to Customer Service Outsourcing to learn more!