Effective Communication in Outsourcing Success

Information transfer between client and service provider is important for the outsourcing project’s success. During the initial stages of a project, communication can get messy and disorganized. This is expected, as both the client and service provider need time to adjust to the communication protocol.

Two kinds of information in particular are areas of concern: (1) information about the project and (2) information from the service provider. 

More after the jump!

The former deals with issues such the project's progress, its milestones and  the sterling amount of costs.This information is fairly structured and can be handled with ease using traditional information-reporting tools.

IT can play a major role in helping with the communication of this type of information, by establishing communication modes and looking for tools that help them simplify management of the governance process.

Governance tools have many advantages. For one, these reduce costs and overhead associated with the governing process. Also, with these tools the organization with its outsourcing partner achieve continuous improvement in the quality of performance and insatisfaction to end-users.

Such tools can be effective to maintain the outsourcing vision and mission alignment with business goals. In addition, they can be instrumental in identifying issues like performance,

quality and resource utilization.

For the second kind of information, i.e. information from the service provider, face-to-face discussions are paramount. These must happen on a regular basis so that both teams work together. 

Through the use of IT, communication networks can be jointly accessed between clients and service providers, making the information flow smoother.

Moreover, good e-mail protocols can be set up to ensure that information requests are routed to the right representatives from each organization.

Training and education are critical to ensure that e-mails are sent appropriately, with the right headers, to the right people and are written in an appropriate manner. It is very important to train

employees on what can and cannot be written in an e-mail.

Both the client’s and the service provider’s employees must be aware that an e-mail can be read by people other than the recipient, so if someone is unsure about the public nature of the content it is best to document it in an e-mail.