Outsourcing is the act of sending work to a third party to be completed and sent back to the original company. It shouldn’t be a controversial topic by that description, but some outsourcing is a way of getting work done more cheaply with no longer-lasting benefits. This divide shouldn’t detract from industries that truly benefit from outsourcing. Here are the best ways outsourcing is benefiting our industries.
1. Gaming
The video game industry is an untamed beast right now, but the effects of outsourcing have made themselves more and more evident. The wave of “Remasters” and “Remakes” is going strong now that gaming is old enough that many games are completely unplayable on modern systems. This means older IPs (intellectual properties) are needing to be worked on and ported to modern systems. However, the companies themselves have often focused on their own, new projects. Enter companies like Bluepoint, or the porting division of Sony. Bluepoint is most famous for making a Demon’s Souls Remake. This way of using a third party to completely remake an older game means From Software, the IP owner, can carry on with new games while Bluepoint gave us the Remake. This isn’t the only example and is the head of a trend that should see outsourcing give gamers more games in the same timescale through this split of workload.
2. STEM – Genetics
STEM careers are often large endeavors, involving multiple departments and areas of expertise. To make these more accessible and reduce the amount of manpower and funding needed to set up a STEM business, outsourcing provides an answer. Even something as complicated as cell line engineering in genetic therapy research can be outsourced and completed by a company with the best equipment and researchers, then returned with the results to the original company. This cuts down on the lab space that a company needs to develop something this advanced and makes outsourcing a key player in the medical landscape.
3. Business Peripherals
Peripherals are those pieces of technology and software that supplement a business and improve organisation and productivity. It could be an app, a calendar system, an intranet, or more. These systems take licencing the apps, developing them, and implementing the data of the specific business. That is a lot of work for a small company that needs to focus on its real clients or products. By outsourcing software development to somewhere like vironIT, a company can have engaging, productive software without having to have a software development team in their own office.
Similarly, a peripheral AI that can be used to analyse data, set schedules, learn from business input, and more is the sort of technology that requires a team of specialists. Instead of having to find those specialists (and ones who are currently available) to recruit, a company can simply outsource to a specific place that has those specialists waiting. Outsourcing, in this way, expands a company’s talent pool with only a minor extra cost. This cost is especially efficient if you only need to outsource on a project, as that could only take a matter of weeks or even days, not justifying a full salary but simply a one-off payment to the outsourced company.
