The big question: to expand or to outsource?
If you’re a project manager, you’re likely thinking you just need more arms to complete your projects with too little time. We get you.
But the decision between expanding or outsourcing is highly individual to your LSP. If you’re consistently overworking your team, expand. If you need support to deal with inconsistent high volume, outsource.
It’s an important choice for decision-makers. It’s a significant investment and deserves some thinking time. As a transcription company since 2016, we’ve seen a lot in a decade. We’re here to provide a balanced view to support your decision.
So, in this blog, we’re going to explore the choice in more detail, as well as the positives and negatives of both outcomes.
The good and the bad of an in-house transcription team
By expanding your existing in-house transcription team, you benefit from:
- More consistency: More team members are consistently available to support projects, and as a result, they provide more consistency on projects.
- Greater control of quality and process: By keeping everything internal, the teams are well-versed in your style, rules, turnarounds, etc.
- More control over data security: Less data exposure to third parties. This can be good for highly regulated industries.
Though, there are negatives to expanding your team:
- Higher fixed costs: Costs of paying salaries and recruitment etc. The costs are paid regardless of how much work is being done.
- Commitment without guaranteed return: As we all know, there can be inconsistent months. There may be times when the new team is needed and time when it is not.
- Time: Need to dedicate more time to training and their development to align with your standards. But by working in the LSP, they may learn quicker than a supplier.
The good and the bad of outsourcing
With an outsourced transcription company, this supplier will be able to:
- Save you money: Instead of full-time hires, the long-term commitment and everything that goes with that, you can only spend money when you need the support of the supplier.
- Scalability: Instantaneous support, only when you need it with ready-made professionals.
- Access specialists when needed: Reputable suppliers should be able to provide industry specialists, and specific languages when called upon.
The negatives are:
- Less control: You’re more reliant on PM prioritisation and their internal standards, rather than yours. This relies on communication to change this.
- More risk is taken for data security: But with the right, GDPR-compliant supplier with good security practices, the data is in safe hands.
Expanding or outsourcing: Which suits you best?
This is highly relevant to your specific situation.
If you are consistently burning out your PMs and have consistent, extra work all year round, it sounds like you need to expand your team and give your PMs the support they need.
However, if your extra work fluctuates between very busy months and normal months, outsourcing may suit you best.
Additionally, as well as volume, this also applies for differences in project sizes; suppliers can provide multi-language support and scale up support for specific work.
This way, you can work with your supplier only when you need them. No extra costs, but always by your side when called upon.
At TauRho Transcribes, we can be the extension of your team when needed and supply extra support to your transcription team. We smoothly integrate with your team and standards to supply you as best we can.
Best of all, we provide transcription support at an affordable cost while prioritising GDPR-compliant and secure processes.
Conclusion
Hopefully this blog helps you to decide whether it’s expanding or outsourcing you need. Either way, if you’re swamped, your PMs will be delighted with the extra support. Don’t leave them out to dry.
If it’s the latter, contact us today.
