What is Outsourcing?
Client Description
Since our client has requested us not to disclose the company name or provide details that may hint towards the company identity, we will refer to the client as Client X. Client X is a US-based mobile content and services provider with a number of large multinational content partners and clients. Client X designs and runs mobile sites on mobile networks in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. One of their latest projects is a mobile social networking site in which mobile phone users can meet in mobile chat rooms and exchange pictures, audio clips, and video clips.
Services we Provide to the Client
In 2006, we were contacted by the general manager of Client X to see if we could provide 24/7/365 content vetting services for their mobile social networking site. The mobile operator offering the site has very strict guidelines as to the content that is allowed to be exchanged between their mobile phone users. These guidelines force Client X to manually screen every chat message, guestbook entry, picture, audio clip, and video clip before it is sent to the recipient. This content vetting has to occur realtime and 24/7/365. After all, this mobile phone service is useless if a picture sent by user A is received the day after by user B. Customer satisfaction can only be guaranteed if content is received within seconds.
The initial discussions were very effective and we decided to move ahead within a week after first contact. Within two weeks, we had drafted and signed our agreement, set up a glass enclosed partition within our office with a dedicated IP Camera, and we had hired the initial team of six full-time content vettors working in shifts to provide full 24/7/365 coverage. All in all, they were up and running within three weeks after first contact.
At the time of writing, Client X has expanded their offshore team at MicroSourcing to 16 fulltime employees. Besides content vetting, these offshore team members also provide design and development work and we are on the verge of providing them with an online marketing team. Client X has made MicroSourcing a big part of their business after seeing the results we can provide.
MicroSourcing's Added Value
We are capable of providing Client X with the 24/7/365 content vetting that they need for the successful operation of their mobile service. Furthermore, we are capable of delivering these services at a fraction of the costs they would have incurred using domestic employees or by using third party content vetting services. With MicroSourcing, the profitability of their mobile service has dramatically increased. Client X is currently rapidly expanding its offshore team to include other tasks like design, development, and marketing.
To us, Client X shows the speed with which we can go from first contact to providing a fully functional offshore operation. The extremely low price that Client X has to pay to assure 24/7/365 coverage furthermore demonstrates the true power of staff leasing as opposed to using specialized third party services. The costs of using a domestic team or third party content moderation services would have been a lot higher than the fixed costs per month per full-time employee that Client X pays to MicroSourcing. The fact that Client X is now rapidly outsourcing other core tasks to MicroSourcing proves once again that clients will always expand their offshore team once the benefits become apparent.
