Your Outsourcing Partner Should Beat What You Do at Home

In his Wisdom From The Patio video series, Kongusto founder and President Joel Ciniero argues that companies that treat outsourcing as a cost play are setting the wrong expectation from day one.

Say the word “outsourcing” to most business owners, and the first thoughts are usually cheap and low quality. According to Joel Ciniero, that assumption shapes how many companies move forward, and it’s where the trouble begins.

At first, Ciniero says, the approach seems to work. “It works fine until you stand up and the full weight of your scaling, your product, your customers all come to bear on your shoulder.” That’s when the reality sets in. “You start to feel the claws digging in your shoulders and into your hips, and you realize it wasn’t as easy a lift as I thought it was going to be.”

His answer is to raise the standard before the partnership begins. “As companies, we should not outsource for kind of the average,” he says. “We should outsource for excellence.”

For Ciniero, that means holding an outsourcing partner to a clear expectation: “We should have an expectation of our outsourcing partners that they can perform better than we’re performing that same service at home, not just cheaper.”

For telecom providers, managed service providers, contact centers, and other organizations weighing an outsourcing partner, the idea reframes the evaluation. The question worth asking goes beyond what a partner will cost. It’s whether that partner can do the work better than the company can on its own, especially when growth puts real pressure on the service.

It’s a pointed message from an executive who leads a nearshore outsourcing company and is holding his own industry to a higher bar.

The takeaway: Outsourcing for the lowest price may hold up early on, but outsourcing for excellence is what holds up once the business is under real weight.

Watch Joel Ciniero’s “Outsourcing for excellence” video, part of his Wisdom From The Patio series.

Connect with Joel Ciniero

Joel Ciniero is President and Founder of Kongusto, a nearshore outsourcing company. To learn more about his perspectives on business leadership, workforce strategy, and outsourcing excellence, visit www.kongusto.co or contact him at [email protected].