Outsourcing

 

OUTSOURCING

 

Imagine going in for general surgery and emerging with one body organ less after an operation. It does not take much to realize that some organs are more vital than others. The removal of specific organs will lead to total collapse of the body and loss of life. Death. Before we downsize, reorganize or outsource, we must have a thorough understanding of the business and be sure of what we want to keep and what we want to give away. I may not mind giving away a bad tooth as much as I would donating a heart.

 

The cannibalizing of many organizations is testimony that this process is not always given enough thought. Returns do not always benefit the company. Does the company get to keep the business and outsource the company, or do we get to keep the company and outsource the business? Which leads to the question who is the company and who is the business. Large organizations are more subject to outsourcing than the smaller companies. Smaller companies are more subject to multitasking than larger business.

 

Outsourcing is a very relieving exercise but there are two organs which when outsourced can prove virtually fatal to a business – the brains and the heart. If these two are outsourced, the business is left without a soul. Its spirit will die. The heart may not be the operations, while the brains may not be located in the board room.

 

Outsourcing must focus on removing fat and making the organization fit, faster and more functional. Removal of body organs as a weight loss strategy can have a disastrous consequences to the business. Outsourcing business can kill a company by giving away its creative capital or service opportunity to another organization. There may be arguments for outsourcing, but it is the cheapest way to start another business and may be the easiest way to kill an existing one.

 

Allan Bukusi, 2005