Outsource?

It’s a big decision, should you or shouldn’t you?

The world is changing at a remarkable pace, yesterday alone I:

1.  Had Kenyan green beans and asparagus from Peru delivered to my door.
2.  Held a text conversation with a friend who is stuck in Austria (inconsiderate things volcanoes).
3.  Sent my camera to be repaired by a man in Glasgow who I found on line.

None of this seems very strange, it was an average Sunday, but I wouldn’t have done any of it 10 years ago.

Somewhere somebody is specialising in a specific task and doing it better than you, be it: book keeping, developing advertising, system maintenance or making horse shoes.  Given our amazing ability to communicate you can find that service and have it delivered straight to your door.  You don’t need to invest in capital equipment or employees or developing skills.

Outsource?  It’s a redundant question.  A better one is how do I outsource?  How do I develop the skills to coordinate, integrate and develop my supplier base?

Who is better at it than me?

Image by Benson Kua