Six Advantages to Using Offshore Support
By Mark Wilcox
In today’s global and interconnected world, organizations are constantly seeking innovative ways to gain a competitive edge. One strategy with traction is the utilization of offshore talent.
The concept of offshoring involves employing skilled professionals or outsourcing tasks to individuals or teams located in other countries. The practice offers numerous advantages that can be invaluable to businesses of all sizes and industries, including legal services and legal software, two areas where this talent is growing exponentially. From lawyers to legal technical skills, the corporate and law firm worlds are relying more and more on those offshore with expertise and resources.
Key advantages commonly achieved by offshoring:
1. By embracing offshore talent, organizations have access to a vast global pool of skilled professionals. This allows them to tap into trained legal resources that may not be readily available or affordable in their local markets. Offshore talent can bring diverse perspectives, experiences and expertise to the table, enriching the overall skill set and problem-solving capabilities of the business. Organizations can leverage offshore talent to fill skill gaps internally or to execute complex projects that require niche knowledge.
2. Collaborating with professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds enables businesses to foster a culture of innovation and fresh thinking. The unique perspectives and approaches brought by offshore personnel can spark creativity, leading to breakthrough solutions and improved business practices. For example, in India, Six Sigma-trained specialists in the legal field can be leveraged to identify operational waste, implement legal process improvement programs and assist with legal software and digital transformation programs.
3. Outsourcing noncore tasks to offshore talent also allows organizations to focus more intensely on their core competencies. By offloading time-consuming and routine activities, resources are reallocated toward strategic initiatives and critical areas that drive growth and profitability. In legal departments, in-house resources can concentrate on the tasks they were hired to execute: high-value, high-risk and high-visibility legal issues, rather than administrative or repetitive work. This increased focus can lead to greater operational efficiency, improved customer and employee satisfaction and a competitive edge in the marketplace.
4. Another advantage of utilizing offshore talent is the ability to establish round-the-clock operations. By strategically leveraging time zone differences, organizations can ensure a continuous, follow-the-sun workflow and quicker turnaround times. For instance, a company in the United States can pass on projects to a team in Asia, where work can be carried out during U.S. overnight hours. This enables businesses to maximize productivity and achieve a speedier time to market, providing a competitive advantage in an increasingly fast-paced global economy.
5. Using offshore talent offers scalability, allowing organizations to quickly scale up or down based on their specific needs without the limitations of local talent availability. In the case of outsourced offshoring, this comes with the major added benefit of avoiding the headaches of new overhead structures when scaling up, including HR, IT and real estate.
6. Finally, one of the most common reasons corporations turn to offshore personnel is the potential for cost savings. Hiring employees or outsourcing tasks to countries with lower labor costs can significantly reduce operational expenses. This cost efficiency is particularly beneficial for startups and small businesses with limited budgets, as it enables them to access high-quality talent at a fraction of the cost, but this applies equally to corporate legal and compliance organizations, which are continuously tasked with doing more with less.
What about Information Security and Data Privacy?
Two traditional perceived risks related to offshoring that are now much more manageable are information security and data privacy. Countries like India now have the IT infrastructure, personnel, business resiliency framework and technical facilities to handle sensitive business data and corporate intellectual property and routinely do so for the world’s largest companies. Cross-border data privacy restrictions, for example, can largely be addressed through standard contractual clauses, binding corporate rules, a robust third-party oversight policy framework and other measures. Information security licensing and certification regimes, routine audits and adherence to international standards can now be expected to match domestic firms when engaging with reputable companies offshore.
The significant brainpower, resource support and expertise outside the U.S. can be key to operational success here in the states, and this includes the legal industry.
Embracing offshore support offers a multitude of advantages that can bolster performance and foster growth. From accessing a global talent pool and cost savings to enhanced innovation and scalability, the value of utilizing offshore personnel cannot be overstated. However, it is crucial for organizations to carefully evaluate their needs, establish effective communication channels and foster strong relationships with offshore teams to ensure successful collaborations. With the right strategy and approach, businesses can leverage offshore talent to achieve their goals and thrive in today’s dynamic global landscape.
About the Author
Mark Wilcox serves as Global Vice President of Business Development at QuisLex. He has 30 years of sales leadership success across multiple industries and is skilled at applying innovation and process excellence while providing value to clients. QuisLex is a certified minority-owned business enterprise that delivers value to legal departments at Fortune 100 companies and Am Law 200 law firms by modernizing legal functions, right-sourcing legal tasks, helping to reduce legal spend and applying cutting-edge technology to legal processes.
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