For everything other than manufacturing, when you outsource you are primarily moving computer-based work from one location to another. That means that the location where you set up your outsourcing center needs to have access to data and systems that exist within your organization. There are a variety of exchanging data with an outsourcer, but each method has its own limitations, and costs. Today we’re going to take a look at the different types of data you need to exchange with your vendor and the different methods for communicating.

Let’s dive in!

While there are a lot of different systems and different file formats, there are really only a few different types of data. They are:

PHYSICAL DOCUMENTS: The work you have for your outsourcing project may exist as sheets of paper, handwritten notes, or forms. If your outsourcing center is in your building or very near-by, it just might be practical to walk documents between the two locations. Many years ago, early legal outsourcing sent handwritten physical documents by ship to overseas locations for typing into a word processing system (and electronic transmission back home). However, this only worked because the baseline for converting this work when it was done domestically was in the months. Sending it by boat to another country was slow, but it was faster than waiting for the queue of work to get completed. Today, times have changed and very little work can wait for snail mail. Physical documents usually need to be converted into…

DIGITAL DOCUMENTS: This could be a PDF, a Microsoft Word Doc, an Excel spreadsheet or any number of other document types.

Most of these digital documents will focus on text, but there could be pictures and other data. If you have paper based data and want to convert it to electronic data, you will most likely need to use a scanner. A scanner starts by taking a picture of a page. You can stop there, if you just need something that can be read by everyone. Alternatively, you could then use an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to convert the image of the text into editable text. Whatever format you need to use, you can automate the conversation process with some combination of scanning and file conversion. The If you already have documents in a digital format, it’s just a matter of standardizing which formats are used for which type of documents.

DATABASES: Your operations may rely on information that is in a database. For example, your outsourced operation may be a call center or a technical support group that has data records for every customer (name address, reasons for call, etc.). In this case, it makes more sense to provide direct access to the database, rather than have the group fill out a manual form and then having another group enter the data on the form to into your database. So, you need to provide access to your database. But do they need access to all of your data? Does the database have secure information (credit card numbers? social security? etc.) that you cannot share. your database built so that you can restrict data, allowing some users to access everything, and having other individuals see only the data they need?

RECORDINGS: It could be voice recordings (legal transcription) or videos (training, insurance documentation, etc.). In the past recordings started in an analog format… cassette tapes, 16 mm film, VCRs… and were then translated it into a digital format. Today, it makes much more sense to start off by recording digitally, so it’s less work and nothing is lost in translation. Analog equipment was far more expensive than today’s digital recorders; a typical smartphone today can make audio and video recordings that are far superior to all but the most expensive professional analog recording devices. The low-cost and ease of making digital recording is increasing their volume in corporations, increasing the need for outsourced management and editing of these forms of data.

EMAILS: Much of the data of a corporation today is in, or has flowed through, email. In this system, we have both the email itself, and then we have the documents and files that arrive as attachments. Email, more than any other system, may be a cloud based service and therefore, may have more options on how an “outside” group can access this data. Email is a peculiar system because we use it to send and receive messages, and we use it as a transport system to move around files. As your firm grows, there is a rising tide of questions about how you use email, not just because of efficiency but because of legal and security issues. Many firms have discovered that their operations have become deeply dependent on email, for “non-email” reasons, such as allowing people to send work to themselves at home. However, when your operation is audited, you find that you have serious security problems. When you rely on the same processes for outsourcing, red flags go off across the organization and your program is put on hold.

With all the different types of data, you have an equally wide range of options in how you will allow access to that data. However, if you plan on using email as your primary means of communication, you need to reconsider this. Using email for email purposes is fine. Sending an email saying, work is going to be sent to you in 20 minutes could be perfectly acceptable. However, if you are using email to send data… internal documents, forms, recordings of meetings, etc. … consider the alternatives. Email is not only one of the least secure ways you can send data, but unlike other methodologies, you can send an email to anyone in the world.

A tiny mistake in the name of the recipient and you could send an important (and confidential) document to someone who isn't supposed to see it. You might make an awkward mistake, sending a personnel file to someone in your office rather than to the outsourced HR group. Alternatively, it could be catastrophic; a critical document about your firm (plans to buy another company, start a major lawsuit, have a senior officer step down, report a financial loss…) can accidentally be sent to someone outside of your firm. If it was a typo, do you even know who received it? A high-school student? A vendor that works with you? A reporter for the local newspaper? There’s an almost infinite risk since email connects you to the whole world. How about one of these systems instead?

EXTENDED NETWORK: If you work in a larger corporation, with a significant IT department, you can extend your network to your outsourcer. They can then have IDs on your network and access to whatever you want them to use. However, this method can have limits. You need to decide how much bandwidth your offshore staff needs, and what it will cost. Depending on how far away you are from your outsourcing location, some applications and databases may not work very well… it requires careful testing and bench-marking. This is usually not a solution that works well for medium and smaller firms.

ENTERPRISE REMOTE: Companies such as CITRIX produce software that allows create “virtual” computers on a server. This solution can be much faster than extending a network. Users essentially dial into these virtual computers. It looks like you are running your own computer, but instead you are accessing databases at the client and may be able to work as if you were in the client’s office. If you are a legal firm, there is a special reason for using remote access. Technically, even though it looks like a document you are working on in on your computer in Bristol England, the document is in fact physically in Washington DC. Other methods would actually move the document to Bristol. In law, the physical location of documents could allow your opposition’s lawyers to move the location for the lawsuit to where the document resides. Lawyers often try to move the venue to wherever the law is the most favorable to their legal arguments. This type of remote software is easier to use, but is still not an easy option for smaller businesses.

INDIVIDUAL REMOTE COMPUTERS: There is a tremendous amount of software than can allow access to an individual computer. This can make it very easy to provide an outsourcer with access to an internal database or information on your network. This can be an excellent option for a small firm. However, a larger firm would probably reject this option. Why? Because many (but not all) of these applications do not scale up well. It may be easy to provide one-person access to you network, but when you have 100 outsourced users, each accessing different computers, this becomes difficult to manage. The software that is the easiest to set up, and perhaps the only option for a very small firm, usually has the most limited ability to provide “enterprise” support features. The software that has more powerful enterprise features is much harder for a small business to set up and maintain.

CLOUD SERVICE: Going one step further, by using cloud services you can make it easier to outsource. For example, if you are going to outsource your accounting work, but you have an accounting database that is on your network, you may not have a simple and reliable way to provide outsourcers with access. However, if you moved your software to the cloud, you would have many more options. Many major account packages have a cloud version of their products. The process of moving your data from a networked version to a cloud version of the same product is usually extremely easy. Some products may not have a cloud version, or you may have a very old version of a project, perhaps because of the difficulty of upgrading. But if you talk to your peers, you will probably find that the cloud versions of software are not only easier to use, but because they are constantly maintained and upgraded, adding new computers, upgrading operating systems and all other technology issues become much easier.

There are many options for providing your outsourcers with access to the data they need to perform your work. However, the combination of the types of data and the different ways to transport that data creates many different paths that you can follow. It’s important to look at all of these options and understand how your need for security, technical support, and efficiency all come together into the right solution. It’s also important for your to understand the degree of expertise your outsourcer has in these areas, and how they have set up similar services for other clients. There are a lot of questions you need to answer, but there are more services and software to support your move to outsourcing than ever before. Choose carefully and even the smallest firm can get a world-class solution for outsourcing work!