In a world where we are increasingly connected, it can be quite a melting pot of preferences, fads, obsessions and wide-spread consumerism. The number of people wanting products and services all around the globe pushes the supply curve upwards.

This in turn creates a necessity for more providers/suppliers among competing businesses. Old businesses grow from new and recurring clients; while new businesses are often born from old demands that are unaccommodated.

In terms of manpower, as the number of consumers increase, so do the demands for a greater workforce. After all, growth in any business eventually leads to a growth for the required population of workers.

So Many Options

“Show me one person who wants one thing and I’ll show you ten people who can sell it to him.”

Every business relies on a different business to keep them running. A service provider relies on a Contact Center to keep their customers happy, a Contact Center relies on carriers and equipment manufacturers to support their clients, carriers and equipment manufacturers rely on supply businesses for materials and services, these suppliers rely on transportation and fuel businesses, and so on and so forth until we reach businesses that cater to each and every worker. I digress to emphasize that point.

Returning to the point of this discussion: increased consumers, increased demand, increased workforce, more than one way to skin a cat. There. We’re all caught up.

Sourcing the workforce to meet demands and still make a significant profit is no easy task. It involves more than the normal research, negotiations, benchmarking, short-term/long-term projections and a lot of tiring questions. What do we need done? Whom do we need? How long do we need them? How much do we spend as compared to how much we will make?

Multiple Ways to Get to One Result

The shortage of manpower isn’t an issue on a global scale. In fact, each customer is most likely a worker (or for a number of people – funded by a worker). This is how outsourcing has stayed as a major industry – by being the main source of one-off, short-term and of course, long-term work.

An example — let’s say web design, can be outsourced locally or overseas; accomplished by home-based freelancers, contractors, specialized independent operations centers, moonlighters and multi-service outsourcing companies. All of these ready and capable to deliver for whatever design task. In the same way that all these options can also take on communications services via chat, email, sms or voice. One desired result, multiple options.

The Company You Keep

The business moves forward a step at a time. Each step leading closer to a new goal. Establish a list of expectations and plans that your chosen outsourcing partner (or outsourcing type) may need to help you with in the future.

It’s best to always keep all your options at the ready. You never know when you’ll need a service previously offered by your outsource partner, but was not needed at the time of initial transaction. Or at times, having a list of potential future partners that can easily be called to handle what the current provider cannot.

The best bet of course is to find a multi-service outsourcing company or at least one that is flexible enough to become a reliable partner. I’m a fan of flexible companies that can and will deliver. It saves time, strengthens business relationships and minimizes involvement of too many individuals or companies.

After all, even if businesses need other businesses to function, keeping a tight circle of reliable people/partners keeps the loop secure.