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Barcelona has become the ultimate outsourcing destination for increased efficiency, productivity, profitability and overcoming software installation issues. This article outlines the main outsourcing advantages and disadvantages as well as some facts about outsourcing in Barcelona.
In a world where the need to outsource is becoming ever more apparent to rival fierce competition, it can be sometimes hard to know where to start, especially if you are a business seeking the perfect price point without compromising one single aspect of quality. For those seeking the perfect balance between high-caliber results and cost-effectiveness, look no further than the European Mediterranean sea, as Barcelona, the fourth biggest tech hub in Europe after London, Berlin and Paris. Tech innovation is growing faster than ever, and Barcelona is bang on the front line. With the city´s high perceived quality of life, ever-growing cosmopolitanism and extremely high level of talent within the software and tech sector, Barcelona is increasingly becoming more digitally attractive to major corporations, with examples of major enterprises, such as Nestle, for example, bringing their digital headquarters to the heart of the city. What is more, is that as well as the level of highly attractive and qualified talent, the outsourcing services in Barcelona come at a substantially lower price than its tech counterparts in London, Berlin or Paris. However, as previously stated, the level of quality remains at the gold standard, making an investment in Barcelona highly profitable.
Outsourcing advantages and disadvantages
Disadvantages of Outsourcing
Outsourcing part of the job of the company could be seen as a safe and wise practice because of the several benefits that can bring to you. But, at the same time, outsourcing can hide an incredible variety of challenges that you have to predict and solve before they actually strike you. Starting from the beginning of the process, the contract should be clear and understandable for both parties, in order to avoid any problem during the collaboration. The main focus of each company is to ensure a quality standard for every task that every single employee carries out. Suppliers can, however, produce a work of less than quality required, decreasing the company’s reputation. Sometimes cheaper means lower quality. Timing is also crucial since outsourcing is a way of saving precious time and energies which are not at the disposal of the company at a specific moment. If the suppliers are late it’s not uncommon that the costs skyrocket and the timetable is not respected at all. Lastly, there is a serious problem with company values, characteristics and work ethic. If it’s passion, integrity, commitment, and creativity that drive you, you definitely have to demand to see and feel them in the final outcome.
Advantages of Outsourcing
The biggest and most obvious advantage of outsourcing is the cost savings. Reason for that is that the job can be completed by an outsourced expert with fewer resources hence, less cost at a higher qualitative outcome. It might seem a paradox to get the job done at lower cost at a better quality. However, the lower cost results out of lower salary levels of other countries, for instance. Also, the outsourcer needs less time to complete the task due to their expertise and equipment compared to the company with less experience, which increases efficiency due to a better out-balance of resources. Outsourcing provides the opportunity to focus on the company’s core activity which leads to a better efficiency again. Due to outsourcing, an investment in infrastructure or technology can be avoided without lowering standards and qualities of a company’s portfolio. Outsourcing is also a solution to a workforce with a higher age since it is harder for older employees to adjust to new processes, systems, and software, resulting in a reduced recruitment cost. Another important factor is the risk-sharing by splitting responsibilities. All in all, outsourcing can improve your competitive advantage by offering customers cheaper and qualitative higher options compared to their competitors.
Outsourcing advantages and disadvantages in Barcelona
After all said, it is clear that outsourcing can be of a great value, however not only the process itself is important but the place to where outsource your activities for the best cost saving while achieving quality performance is not less important. Barcelona represents a perfect spot for outsourcing, it is one of Europe’s hottest startup capitals. It is a perfect opportunity to outsource without the need to go abroad.
The Barcelona brand works well for innovation. One of the driving forces of building this brand recently been Mobile World Congress that is an annual innovation and technology event. Not to forget the high level of tourism, that further supports the attractiveness of the city. If you compare Barcelona to the other European cities, such as Berlin, London or Zurich it is far more attractive, as it is less saturated, therefore less competition and more chances on obtaining the needed resources. In the developed countries like Germany or Uk, the competition is too strong and it is therefore hard to grow, which makes costs of the labor very high. In Barcelona, you can still get quality work being done, as there is a large skilled and experienced workforce while enjoying competitive costs. Moreover, recently Barcelona became one of the main startup hubs, it is the city that attracts more and more innovative and creative people and companies to come together to create value for the customers. In addition to all above Barcelona has a great economic infrastructure that further benefits outsourcing activities.
Conclusion
To summarize, the implementation of outsourcing processes is a key administrative tactic to potentiate changing economic systems that are in an intense search for better alternatives within the business sector. In this article we looked at main outsourcing advantages and disadvantages and you can see that in the case of technology, the dynamic pace of evolution is forcing businesses to keep up and seek for innovation hubs, where there is a large concentration of experts and resources for optimal prices. Barcelona is rapidly becoming one of the leading hubs due to its weather, the standard of living, multiculturalism, trendy atmosphere and most of all, foreign investment in diverse technology projects.
In principle, every company defines processes to carry out their activities and identifies its core and non-core processes. The non-core are those that could and should be outsourced in order to achieve the highest added value for customers and shareholders, that is, achieve greater efficiency at a lower cost without leaving aside the quality and service standards. In the vast majority of cases, the technology services are better left with experts that can easily adapt to innovations.
This would allow a company to focus on its core processes while partnering with specialists to increase productivity, growth, and profitability by establishing collaborative relationships and aiming at strengthening its competitive advantages.
Btw, check also these articles & ratings:
1. Top App Development Companies Of 2020 according to DesignRush
3. Top Healthcare Software Development Companies Of 2020 according to DesignRush
We also created an infographic with article highlights:
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About the Authors
Matteo Eritale, Olga Lúcia Molina Martínez, Beatrice Aimee Lenz, Jacob Henry Tucker and Mariam Makalatiya are marketing master students in EADA Business School. Their passion is to boost efficiency in teams.
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