Legal process outsourcing, also known as when law firms and businesses transfer their internal projects to an external service provider, has been gaining ground with the advent of globalization and improvement of internet technology. It’s a convenient solution to problems that come with having convoluted internal workflows. Firms and businesses in the West now have the option to outsource to service providers in the Philippines, India, and China—countries that have gained great reputations for their specific sets of expertise in their chosen fields.
There is a huge selection of outsourcing service providers located in different countries, all of which have their own strengths and pitfalls. However, with due diligence you can reap all the rewards when you strike gold with the ideal legal process outsourcing provider. But how can you choose which is ideal for your company? We’ve put together a standard list of requirements here:
Costs
This is one of the foremost benefits of outsourcing, as potentially big money can be saved by simply relegating projects to a talented labor force for a much lower cost. However, this can fail if taxes in the provider’s base of operations are very high, if data networks and telecommunications are low-quality and unreliable, if intellectual property can easily be stolen, among other potential issues and problems. It’s important to examine the financial status, political situation, as well as economic trend in your target country, and the cost a disruption would cause to your business—be it due to political instability, infrastructure breakdowns, natural disasters, and more.
Check Client References
Besides doing your own research, you can always get the best kind of assurance from your peers in the industry. You could ask for a provider’s list of clients and call them up, or simply ask your colleagues who are familiar with outsourcing to gather their opinions about particular providers. Many big companies and firms constantly outsource as a part of their workflow, so you should definitely ask and learn from them.
Infrastructure
Though one may think that the performance of a data network and telecommunication infrastructure is what truly matters in a prospective country, it’s actually the reliability of the infrastructure that’s important. Unreliable infrastructure can lead to sudden and unexpected failures in computer networks, power grids, cell towers, satellite links, and other causes of resource-consuming downtime.
Time Zone
Outsourcing to a provider in a different time zone can make it feasible and practical for companies to work on more projects, and even offer 24/7 support hours and services. This is ideal for companies that work in complementing shifts: one shift could simply transfer their work to the providers across the globe, who will then hand over the finished tasks in the morning. However, this would probably not be ideal for companies whose providers have a huge time difference from them, as it would make communications difficult and cause inevitable delays.
Cultural Compatibility
One should always consider this in provider destinations. Do you and your target country share particular languages? Cultural sensitivities? It could make or break your working relationship with your outsourcing provider if there are more differences than similarities, causing difficulties in communication, delays, and misunderstandings.
If you think the entire selection process for your ideal legal process outsourcing provider is proving to be more daunting than you expected it to be, then you’re probably doing it right. If you seriously and thoroughly consider and screen potential candidates and weigh all of the relevant factors—besides the obvious criteria, that is—you are only inevitably bound to arrive at the best possible provider suited to your specific business and special circumstances.
