As a company, we know what we expect from our future partner. We also clearly define the goals ourselves, while remembering the importance of openness and flexibility. We know the principles of building effective cooperation and remember the importance of security principles in outsourcing. We are ready to realize the full potential of cooperation. However, before us is another very important question: where and how to look for a proven partner?
Features of a good outsourcing partner? What to pay attention to?
Searching for a proven IT partner that will fully suit our needs and work style can be a challenging and time-consuming task. First of all, we should carefully define our own goals and expectations, and then keep in mind the most important qualities that a valuable outsourcing partner should possess. One of the main determinants of quality is, of course, experience. We can easily verify it by looking at the website of the candidate we are interested in and reviewing the materials there (including, but not limited to: case studies). Based on them, we will be able to get a preliminary idea of whether the company, for example, has worked with well-known brands, implemented demanding projects and dealt with our industry. Among other important aspects to keep in mind when looking for an attractive partner, we should mention: the level of knowledge of the professionals employed, the quality of teamwork, the ability to communicate effectively and the variety of services offered.
Where to look for reliable outsourcing partners?
There are many places where we will be able to start looking for the perfect outsourcing partner. It is worth looking into several of them and not limiting ourselves to one source or method of obtaining information. By deciding on several search methods, we will easily create a database of attractive candidates. Among the most effective solutions are: checking IT portals and sites dedicated to the industry of interest, attending conferences, using LinkedIn and analyzing materials provided by companies or platforms with ratings and reviews.
Check out platforms with ratings and reviews like Clutch
One of the first places we should visit are business portals dedicated to collecting and analyzing data, trends and opinions about companies. Among the most popular platforms of this type is Clutch. The site is visited every month by hundreds of thousands of suppliers and customers who can evaluate their outsourcing partners and the effectiveness of completed projects. Thanks to the collected opinions, comprehensive portfolios prepared by companies and various listings, we will be able to easily and quickly find attractive candidates for future cooperation. Clutch significantly improves our search process. Thanks to the rankings prepared by the platform, we can choose from the most and highest rated companies and conveniently check their credibility, achievements, quality of projects and experience. As an added convenience, we can also check out specific lists containing IT providers only from selected countries or offering specific services. Britenet, thanks to many years of experience in the international market and effective implementation of various projects, can boast positive ratings and reviews and high positions in many rankings on the Clutch platform.
Visit specialized portals dedicated to your industry
An attractive way to look for a reliable outsourcing partner is to follow the content of specialized portals dedicated to our industry. There we can find valuable and substantive articles about our sector, and even texts dedicated to specific solutions relevant to our future project. When reading individual articles, it is worth paying attention to the authors of the publications. Experts are often associated with a company that may prove to be an ideal candidate for cooperation. If the author of an entry is able to demonstrate in-depth knowledge and professional expertise in our industry, it means that his company has specialists to whom we can safely entrust our project. This is because we will be sure that their team includes people who will understand our needs and expectations. Also, the communication process itself will be much more transparent and efficient. This is how companies from the insurance industry, among others, began their cooperation with Britenet, which came to us thanks to articles prepared by Łukasz Nienartowicz, our Head of Business Intelligence, for the weekly newspaper Gazeta Ubezpieczeniowa.
Participate in industry conferences
Another place to consider in our search is industry conferences of all kinds. As in the case of the aforementioned specialized portals, also at conferences we will be able to listen to and meet with speakers who specialize in issues related to our industry. Companies where active conference attendees work on a daily basis may turn out to be great partners for our project. What's more, listening to the prepared presentations, we will be able to assess the quality of preparation and communication skills, which are not insignificant during cooperation. Another advantage of participation in conferences is the opportunity to meet and talk directly with a company representative.
Watch for portals and conferences related to the IT industry
Our search should also be expanded beyond the industry we are interested in. If we are interested in finding the best available outsourcing partner, it is worth observing portals and attending conferences dedicated to IT itself. The advantage of many IT providers is their diverse offerings and experience in implementing demanding projects in different sectors. Therefore, it is not worth limiting our market research to sites related only to our industry - this way we could overlook candidates offering high quality services and a team of specialists. On portals dedicated strictly to IT, such as, among others: Computerworld, we will find professionally and reliably prepared rankings and lists, which are worth suggesting when selecting candidates. Participation in conferences will be a great opportunity to listen to lectures prepared by specialists related to technologies or solutions that will be key to our project.
Analyze the Case Studies of your candidates
When we find the first promising candidates for cooperation, we can check what materials we can find on their websites. A good source of information about the company are discussions of specific projects, or so-called Case Studies. Outsourcing companies present their most interesting or challenging implementations in this way. Thanks to them, we will be able to find out whether a particular supplier has worked with companies similar to ours. Besides, in this way we will learn not only about the technologies used, but about the specific challenges the team faced and what solutions were decided upon. The case study analysis will allow us to get to know the candidate better, including their methods of operation, experience and the sectors in which they operate most effectively. Britenet boasts an extensive and growing catalog of case studies, in which it presents the most attractive projects, implemented in a variety of services for many sectors.
Take advantage of LinkedIn
If you want to learn as much as possible about a potential outsourcing candidate or are just looking for proven partners, be sure to look at LinkedIn. This is the most popular social network for people interested in making professional and business contacts. Companies can use the site to search for employees, while employees themselves can learn more about their future employer. It's also a great place for companies looking for partners. On LinkedIn we can find a company we are interested in, and then carefully analyze its profile. This way we will learn more about the way it communicates, its methods of operation, its preferred marketing, as well as its employees. Thanks to the portal's extensive options, we can accurately track the careers of individual professionals and team members.
Searching for a proven outsourcing partner - is it really that difficult?
The answers to the questions: where and how to look for an attractive and proven outsourcing partner are difficult only on the surface. The multitude of possibilities and extensive tools facilitating candidate selection make the process itself very simple. Thanks to aggregators of ratings and reviews, detailed lists or industry conferences, we can easily create a list of attractive IT providers. Once we've selected the companies we're interested in, we can take a closer look at them by checking their portfolio, catalog of case studies or LinkedIn account. In fact, the most difficult task ahead of us is to compare the information we have gained and choose our future partner from among the best of the best.
