In days gone past, outsourcing meant businesses wouldn’t expect the same output or performance from their remote team. Providers would promise, and still do, the same quality or better when businesses would move positions and tasks offshore.
Despite the promises, clients assumed and prepared for a drop in quality, along with the drop in labor costs. Outsourcing was tolerated, not trusted.
Things have changed for the better. A ‘global’ workforce removed the barriers that may have previously inhibited businesses from outsourcing. Most understand they can source and place high quality, well-educated staff from another country. Businesses, and the managers and leaders that run them are surprising themselves what the type of remote talent they can hire.
“Old” Outsourcing
There is no date or event when the old became new outsourcing.
Before smartphones and fast internet, outsourcing meant call centres and low-level admin roles. It was business-critical work, but it felt low-value. Strategic roles stayed in-house. It was important business critical stuff, but it felt cheap. The positions higher up the organisational chart remained in-house and onshore. Smart companies were already outsourcing everything that made sense.
Businesses lowered their expectations in exchange for cheaper labor costs. Training and development was expensive. It was difficult to meet and collaborate. Zoom or Google Meets wasn’t a ‘thing’. IT and infrastructure was difficult to align and required a lot of maintenance after set-up. Perhaps most importantly, working from home or remotely was unfashionable and impractical.
Smart companies, though, were already asking:
Which of the following is an example of outsourcing that truly adds value?
And they answered by outsourcing everything that made sense — from payroll processing to CAD design.
Outsourcing in 2023 and beyond
Today, almost every task, role, or career can be delivered remotely.
Whether someone’s across the hall or across the globe doesn’t matter. If you’re already working with a distributed team, you know this. In many cases, outsourcing doesn’t even feel like outsourcing anymore.
A good offshore provider should deliver talent that performs just as well as someone based in New York or London — often for half the cost.
So, which is an example of outsourcing that works? Here are real use cases we’ve delivered through Connect:
- Expert digital and print graphic design for a full-service marketing company in the UK.
- A 24/7 customer success team handling the entire support function for a leading US-based SaaS business.
- Remote product developers pushing mobile applications faster than their onshore competitors.
- Data entry and processing agents delivering 99.90% accuracy.
- Macedonian architects and engineers preparing construction drawings for an on-site team in New York.
Which is the best example of outsourcing from this list?
That depends on your business needs. But every one of these examples proves the point: offshore talent, when sourced right, works.
The Shift to Global Teams
Things have changed for the better. A truly global workforce has removed the barriers that once stopped businesses from outsourcing. Today, most business leaders understand they can source high-quality, well-educated staff from another country.
Businesses — and the managers who run them — are often surprised by the type of remote talent they can now hire: reliable, skilled, and culturally aligned.
What is the best example of outsourcing in today’s world?
It’s not a call centre. It’s not just data entry.
It’s a senior software developer building out your product.
It’s a customer success manager keeping your churn low.
It’s a lead generator booking qualified meetings while you sleep.
Rethinking What You Outsource
Businesses today should look at every and any role as one that could be better placed offshore. Not to cut corners — but to unlock better value and often, better results.
Whether you’re hiring in IT, software development, finance, sales and marketing, or back office support — Connect can help. We work across all levels of the organisational hierarchy, sourcing full-time offshore staff that meet the standards you’d expect of local hires.
So, next time someone asks:
“Which is an example of outsourcing that’s worth it?”
You’ll have more than one answer.
Still Thinking Remote Means Lower Quality?
No business should have to lower their expectations on quality and output when it comes to remote staff anymore. The world’s best companies already know this.
What is the best example of outsourcing for your business?
Let’s find out together.
Reach out to Connect for pricing, timelines, and real examples of the kind of talent you could bring into your team — starting now.
They could be your next hire.