Onshore Outsourcing: The Advantages of Keeping it Local

Considering onshore outsourcing for your business? Find out right here.

Published on December 24, 2022
Last Updated on December 13, 2023

Companies of all sizes can find outsourcing services, specifically onshore outsourcing, to be beneficial in cutting costs. By partnering with a solutions provider, businesses gain the expertise, infrastructure, and technology needed to either maintain or grow operations. While outsourcing teams from foreign countries remains the most popular method, it does come with certain challenges. Onshore outsourcing, also known as domestic outsourcing, is an alternative that can similarly drive businesses forward. Here's why.

Onshore Outsourcing Meaning

onshore bpo

One of the key benefits of outsourcing is its ability to help businesses divert time and resources for the right operations to be properly prioritized. Onshore outsourcing is when a company decides to outsource part of its functions—from customer service support, to back-office support, to legal processes—to a third party supplier or BPO call center that operates in the same country or region. 

Onshore outsourcing is also viewed as more straightforward compared to offshore outsourcing. There's a third type of outsourcing service to consider called nearshore outsourcing, which can be seen as the middle ground between onshore and offshore. Here's a quick breakdown of the three outsourcing methods:

onshore outsourcing meaning

Partnering with an outsourcing business is a strategic way to drive company growth. 66% of businesses in the United States outsource complex operations such as customer service support to an onshore BPO. It's also a great way to cut costs: 59% of companies are able to cut down site expenses with outsourcing, enabling them to refocus their resources and operations.1

Whether an organization is aiming to scale quickly or to cut operational costs, businesses can definitely leverage a lot of value from onshore outsourcing. With a BPO service provider handling the staffing, training, infrastructure, and technology aspect of a business, its leaders should be able to focus their attention on other matters: core competencies, meeting benchmarks, and driving growth.

Choosing the Right Outsourcing Method

Due to the lower costs of labor in foreign countries, offshoring and nearshoring are known to be more cost-effective options compared to onshore outsourcing. But cost isn’t the only factor to consider. 

Aside from the fact that outsourcing in the same country or region eliminates the complex regulatory landscape that needs to be navigated when offshoring, partnering with an onshore BPO offers many other advantages:

Eliminates Cultural Barriers. Dealing with cultural differences is one of the main challenges with offshore and even nearshore outsourcing, as other cultures might have different values and work styles. Offshore contractors may approach tasks differently, possibly creating friction in the workflow. 

On the other hand, onshore teams are not hampered by linguistic or cultural barriers and they also have a deeper understanding of local markets, which can greatly benefit business operations. Skill sets and knowledge bases may greatly differ per country, so knowing what an outsourcing partner can deliver is imperative. Simply put, onshore outsourcing means you can get a team with a specific set of talents determined by local conditions.

Additionally, partnering with an onshore BPO company can help expand a brand’s connections in their local networks, resulting in additional business opportunities.

Convenient Logistics. A major benefit of onshore outsourcing is that businesses can visit their teams on-site thanks to the close proximity between partners. As a result, face-to-face meetings, team building, and collaborations are more efficient and productive.

Geographical distances can cause other issues that are out of an outsourcing provider’s control, such as delivery delays or infrastructure problems that might not be immediately resolved.

Easier Management, Better Control, and Increased Accountability. Since distance isn’t an issue, organizations can experience better control over their operations with onshore outsourcing. Management processes like quality control and benchmark-setting are typically easier to handle when the outsourcing partner is locally accessible.

Closer proximity also leads to an increased amount of accountability on the part of the outsourcer, who may be better equipped to eliminate issues like delays in processes, and even provide additional services such as personal meetings and face-to-face demonstrations.

Less Complexities, Less Hassle. Working with teams in different time zones is one of the biggest challenges of offshore outsourcing. With onshore outsourcing, however, time-sensitive issues won’t be an issue. Domestic outsourcing also eliminates the need to travel to-and-from different continents for monitoring purposes.

Overall, the advantages of choosing onshore outsourcing include:

  • Ease of communication
  • Local market knowledge
  • Convenient logistics
  • Time zone compatibility
  • Locally appropriate skill sets
  • Network expansion opportunities
  • Same legal landscape
  • Increased control

Ridiculously Efficient Onshore Outsourcing

It's not uncommon for growing organizations to work beyond their scope due to the multitude of tasks and goals they’re aiming to accomplish. Onshore outsourcing is a strategic way to delegate non-core services to a team of experts without the hassle and complexities of working with an offshore team. High attrition rates may also be a concern for most organizations seeking to partner with an onshore BPO. That’s why it’s important to evaluate an outsourcing business’s culture and history before finalizing a partnership.

Recognized by the Everest Group as the World’s Fastest Business Process (outsourcing) Service Provider, TaskUs has established a Ridiculously Good standard of operating procedures that have stood the test of time. We have continued to deliver world-class solutions, increase client satisfaction, and enhance employee experiences for more than a decade in the BPO industry. The core of our onshore outsourcing services revolves around the integration of AI technologies and the human touch—we firmly believe that the collaboration between tech and humans can allow us to push for growth beyond imagination.

TaskUs’ onshore outsourcing services are available in some parts of the United States and Europe to provide our partner clients with access to a wealth of talent resources, ensure a cultural fit between employees and end users, and cater a white-glove customer experience.

Find out more about TaskUs’ onshore outsourcing services.

References

TaskUs