Outsource It!

Out-Tasking and Crowd-Sourcing

Even in very advanced high-tech companies, you can still find plenty of activities that require little skill and can be outsourced easily. And different tasks can suggest different outsourcing methods.

Let’s start with standard “business activity” outsourcing, or “business process” outsourcing. Here’s a simple example: one of my friends recently moved the product image touch-up for a large B2C ecommerce company to China. It turned out to be a very successful, high-ROI move.

Another approach is out-tasking, or outsourcing piecemeal. The idea is simple: farm out IT functions in small increments rather than in large chunks. The best prospects for out-tasking are activities that aren’t core functions or don’t occur ...