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8 Ways Managers are Failing Remote Team Management

8 Ways Managers are Failing Remote Team Management

It’s 2020, and the advantages of hiring remote teams are clear to everyone. You can get the best talent, no matter where they’re located. You can count on higher productivity. And you can meet your targets in a cost-effective manner. Let’s dive and find out how Remote Team Management works.

What business owners feel about remote work:

remote team management - What business owners feel about remote work.

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  • One study showed that the cost of recruiting could be anywhere from 15 to 25% of the employee’s annual salary. With remote work outsourcing, this is not the case.
  • In 2019, the worldwide outsourcing market was worth $92.5 billion. The top reason for outsourcing (59%) is to save money and cut costs.

Yet, many managers aren’t savvy enough in remote team management. There are misconceptions in briefing, feedback, and expectations.

Let’s look at these and how to address them.

Removing the Eight Stumbling Blocks of Remote Team Management

1. Stressing over the Bad Examples of Remote Team Management

Often, managers look at remote working through the lens of full-time employment and misjudge. They wonder if the employee will be as productive, as committed, and available when needed.

Statistics reveal that this is misguided.

  • A recent remote working experiment showed that there was a 13% increased output, with 4% from workers being able to cram in more tasks per minute due to fewer distractions.
  • Globally, there is a renewed emphasis on remote work. In the U.S., there’s a 159% increase in people who are working remotely from 2005 to 2017.

With a culture of dynamic innovation, any company can benefit from remote work, even with a majority of its workforce at a remote location.

2. Hiring Workers, Not Remote Workers

Managers should treat remote workers as a different breed. They’re focused, professional, and have found productive ways to work from home.

Seek out workers who fit into this new paradigm. Align them with the company’s vision. And watch productivity and innovation zoom.

As Alex Turnbull, CEP and Founder of Groove, once said, “Successfully working from home is a skill, just like programming, designing or writing. It takes time and commitment.”

Hire Pre-vetted & High Performance Remote Teams

3. Mixing Up Freelancers and Remote Workers

While many companies depend on freelancers, the drawbacks of such an approach are well-known. Freelancers can be professional, but there are question marks about their long-term commitment.

When you hire remote workers from an established agency, this is not the case.

  • Full-time remote workers understand your business objectives and have a stronger sense of ownership over their work.
  • With freelancers, multitasking is the name of the game. With professional remote employees, on the other hand, there is focus and commitment to your goals.
  • Though remote working can be a home-based job, it involves virtual presence via communication channels like Zoom or Slack. This is very different from a freelance approach.

4. Making Feedback Only One-way

Very often, managers make feedback only about them and their goals. This is understandable, but effective remote team management involves going a step further.

Effective feedback leads to great results:

remote team management - Effective feedback leads to great results

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Actively giving feedback and then asking for feedback from the remote team is a powerful tool. It puts everyone on the same page, irons out alignment issues, and manages expectations.

  • With two-way feedback, you can learn about remote workers, their goals, and challenges. This can help you better manage them.
  • A recent survey showed that more than 1 in 10 of all respondents listed frequent communication as among the most useful ways their company supported their remote work.
  • Remote workers have the advantage of not seeing day-to-day developments on a work project, yet understanding the larger mission goals. This means feedback from them will often provide a fresh point of view.

Also Read: Uplers Guide to Managing Remote Teams – A Sure-shot Win!

5. Ignoring KPIs and Accomplishments

KPIs for remote workers not only establish expectations, but they also help them to stay on track.

  • With digital productivity tools, managers can assign projects and tasks to remote employees. They can access assignments and view priorities.
  • Once KPIs are established, the need for constant oversight and control is lessened. Everyone can do their job with the trust that tasks and goals are being efficiently met.
  • KPIs should be relevant, simple to comprehend, and easy to measure. Both productivity and accountability can be greatly improved by this.

Different companies have different approaches to measuring and tracking tasks. Sam Maley, Head of Growth at Bailey & Associates, says that when tracking the productivity of remote staff, “there is no substitute for real-time screen tracking, either through screenshots or screen recording.”

And Jason Davis, CEO at Inspire 360, has a task system: “the task creator adds in the deliverables and the staff member assigned to the task then estimates the time it will take to complete.”

6. Micro-managing All the Way

It’s only natural that with a remote team, managers want to keep a constant eye on what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and how long they’re going to take.

However, such micro-managing is not only unnecessary but also unproductive. The best way is to strike a balance between supervision and trust.

  • Create a regular communication schedule, whether on the phone, via e-mail, or other tools. This sets up expectations and optimizes productivity.
  • Remember that remote workers are professional, self-motivated, and trained to deliver. Give them a sense of ownership and believe in their abilities.
  • Clear deadlines, as well as feedback on work-in-progress, are essential. This aligns everyone in the same direction.

With these few changes in your management process, you can ensure accountability and efficiency without looking over everyone’s shoulders.

7. Ignoring Remote Team Management Tools

One survey shows that 400 companies with 100,000 employees each cited an average loss per company of $62.4 million per year because of inadequate communication to and between employees.

Luckily, technology has provided several solutions to get the best out of remote teams. Be it communication, time management, or feedback, there’s every reason to use such tools to get the best out of your team.

  • Online chat rooms can be accessible to all team members. These are great platforms for brainstorming, sharing, reviewing, and status reports. They can be private or public, and in real-time or to a schedule.
  • Project management tools are also invaluable. With these, the progress of projects and timelines are available at a glance. Documents and files, to-do lists, and message boards make the experience close to having your team close to you at all times.
  • Other tools, such as those for time management as well as tracking and harvesting data, also lead to breakthroughs in productivity and innovation.

Also Read: Best Project Management Tools To Manage Offshore Remote Teams

8. Not Developing Camaraderie

Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, the online shoe retailer with over $1 billion in sales, stresses fun and friendship as part of his corporate culture. He’s just one of the many managers who has realized the value of camaraderie.

remote team management - Developing camaraderie is a key skill.

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A Gallup poll found that close work friendships boost employee satisfaction by 50%. With remote team management, this quality is as important.

There are several ways for managers to do this.

  • Treat remote workers as people, not just workers. Chat with them about their hopes and dreams. Create togetherness and team spirit before and after work sessions.
  • You could even create informal contests and creative online games with prizes to boost spirits.
  • Trust and respect for each other’s skills and abilities is essential.
  • The best managers also appreciate and reward achievements, usually by publicly acknowledging the individual or team’s contribution.

How organizations can support remote team management

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At Uplers, we’ve been helping companies all over the world work with digital remote teams for almost a decade now. We have rich experience in how to handpick such teams to mesh with your corporate goals and improve productivity without breaking the bank.

To know more about how we can help, do get in touch today.

Hiring for Remote First Check the New Rules

Building a Remote Team? The Rules Have Changed

Almost a decade ago, approximately 900,000 jobs from the U.S. were outsourced to Asian countries, with around half of them being IT and computer programming jobs. However, the reason behind this shift was the employers’ belief in offshore teams and how building a remote team could be the perfect solution to their sustainability woes.

Similarly, ten years and many market upheavals later, Uplers has seen and been a part of a paradigm shift in supplying talent to IT companies and digitally-motivated businesses. Moreover, it has driven progressive offshoring experiences and helped over 7000+ companies hire remote workers, ultimately helping them establish it as the de facto standard for their talent acquisition processes. Above all, thanks to the benefits of a wider intellectual capital, extensive scaling opportunities, and lower labor & infrastructure costs, remote hiring has arrived as a divine intervention for organizations, especially in the times of the pandemic, and is helping them combat its brunt with elan.

In addition, the growing popularity of remote teams has also introduced novel changes, affecting the market in an unprecedented manner. Here, we will take a look at four key changes in the remote hiring trend brought about by this shift, which will make hiring your offshore team easier.

Top Concerns of Managers of Remote teams

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Four New Rules to Building a Remote Team

1. Seek Candidates With Remote Working Experience

“While remote-friendly employers will consider an applicant that has never worked remotely before, it’s always a good idea for an applicant that has some remote experience to highlight this in their resume as it may ‘give them a leg up.”

Betsy Andrews, Career Coach, FlexJobs

Remote work experience does not diminish the value of the candidate’s experience. On the contrary, it enhances their professional aptitude because working remotely needs them to overcome the gaps created by the missing element of human connection. A few of these remote working skills are:

  • Powerful collaboration skills
  • Great communication skills
  • Good time management skills
  • Strong organizational skills
  • Self-discipline
  • Accountability

Seek candidates that have these skills as it is what makes them an invaluable asset because, unlike technical skills, people can’t just upskill or be trained in them readily. In order to find out if your desired pool of candidates possesses these traits, you can conduct pre-employment tests that evaluate their psychometrics to see if they have what it takes to succeed in their remote roles.

2. Customize Recruitment Strategies for the Long Term

Before you begin with any other aspect of the hiring process, it’s very important to understand and standardize your hiring strategies and requirements for the long term. Furthermore, having a standard employee hiring and onboarding strategy not only gives you a crystal clear picture of your roadmap for the future, but it also establishes credibility in the minds of the candidates.

Customize Recruitment Strategies for the Long Term

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In addition, having a standard onboarding process for your remote workers also makes for great employee experience, so much so that organizations that do have it see 50% better new-hire productivity. Therefore, it’s crucial to ask yourself what qualifications do you require from your potential employees, what kind of technical skills they should have, and what sort of mindset they should possess. Seeking the answers to these questions will help you customize your hiring requirements and narrow down on prospective resources.

3. Employ Help From Credible Outsourcing Agencies

Outsourcing agencies are companies that help you with building a remote team for your business. With their vast talent pool, they ease the process of setting up critical infrastructure and sourcing potential candidates for you. Above all, the roles and responsibilities of outsourcing agencies include:

  • Acquiring an office space
  • Setting up infrastructure
  • Conducting recruitment processes and hosting interviews
  • Defining the payroll of the candidates
  • Taking care of the taxation, local registrations, and legalities
  • Onboarding new hires
  • Employing HRs
  • Hiring administrative staff for daily duties

Moreover, these outsourcing agencies work as your offshoring partners and help you build a remote team for you. Ideally, the outsourcing agencies you look for should have superlative expertise and proven track record of providing seamless offshoring experiences. In addition, these partners should be able to source the right professionals for your team. Establish a steady pipeline, ensuring they hire the best candidates.

4. Search for Candidates Who Align With the Company’s Vision

Creating productive and successful relationships require a lot of effort. While you may employ the help of outsourcing agencies to build your remote team for you. It is equally important for you to stay invested throughout the process to ensure that your potential hires align properly.

Search for Candidates Who Align With the Company's Vision

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Moreover, this is especially important for medium-sized and large-sized organizations, with a report by Deloitte showing that 83% of decision-makers think that remote employees who are highly engaged and motivated contribute significantly to the company’s success. Furthermore, 94% of C-suite executives and 88% of employees believe that it helps build a healthy workplace culture that is infinitely crucial to business success.

After that, once you decide your medium for hiring remote workers, set down a recruiting framework that takes care of the following things to promote the right message and make it easier for you and potential hires to find common ground:

  • Define candidate expectations
  • Establish collaboration dynamics
  • Have your team managers assess your candidates
  • Determine a fit for values and culture

Hire Pre-vetted & High Performance Remote Teams
 Digitally Remote Teams are the “New Normal”

The future is remote, and 2020 has given a glimpse into this reality. Businesses are looking for quick and instant end-to-end solutions for a range of functions from web designing to digital marketing.

After that, if you wish to learn and implement the key takeaways from successful growth stories, you would need a digital service and talent provider that  understands your needs. With over 7 years of experience in this field, Uplers has written the success stories for several ventures.

Are you ready to get on this list? Contact the experts at Uplers!

inhouse vs remote team hiring advantages and disadvantages

In-house Vs Remote Teams: Debunk Hiring Myths

There was once a time when you couldn’t imagine working seamlessly as a unit, with people spread all over the globe. Nowadays, not only is this possible, but it’s happening every day. Without remote teamwork, many companies would not have been able to thrive and grow. And rightly so too! The decision you need to make is whether you should build an in-house vs remote team.

Many companies have faced the same dilemma and have resolved it to everyone’s satisfaction.

  • According to one study, 41% of global businesses say they already offer some degree of remote working.
  • Another study shows that by 2028, 73 percent of all teams will have remote workers.
  • 85% of businesses confirm that productivity has increased in their company because of greater remote working flexibility.

Let’s take a look at the main parameters of in-house vs remote team.

1. Costs

The average hourly rate of a remote front-end developer varies between USD 41-160. Whereas, a Front-end Developer’s average salary is USD 119,224.

Now, you could think that this is a balanced comparison.

However, you have to factor in various other expenses when hiring in-house. Very often, these are ignored when comparing costs of hiring in-house or depending on remote teams.

These additional expenses are:

  • Annual bonus and incentives
  • Training and upskilling
  • Office space rentals
  • Technology, such as software packages and computers

In addition, don’t forget the cost of hiring agencies.

  • Standard recruitment costs tend to range between 15% and 20% of a candidate’s first annual salary.
  • This can go as high as 30% for hard to fill positions.

It’s only when you have compared all this, as well as the opportunity cost, that you get the full picture.

Productiveity loss or Contractor cover

Management time and productivity loss in recruitment. Source.

2. Time & Productivity

Remote team workers are billed by duration or project scope and deadline. As such, the duration for projects is decided beforehand.

This means you can be sure about discipline, planning, and delivery schedules.

With in-house workers, there will, of course, be professionals who will deliver on time. This requires careful motivation as well as hiring standards.

Otherwise, as one study shows, in an eight-hour workday, the average worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes.

3. Absence

Even the best employees need to take time off. This could be because of:

  • Illness
  • Personal emergencies
  • Traffic or other infrastructure constraints

Sometimes, employees leave for better prospects. In New York, for example, the average time that tech pros stay with a firm is 1.5 to 3 years.

So if there’s urgent work or a mission-critical job, it could happen that your in-house team fails to deliver because of the above reasons.

Fortunately, when you build a remote team, this does not happen. You are assured of a fixed job and a fixed time slot. The vacancies and absences are not your headaches.Hire Pre-vetted & High Performance Remote Teams4. Specialists

When you’re hiring in-house, you have to make sure that you’re getting the best person for the job.

You have to staff the department with specialists for all sorts of needs. This could raise costs further. What could also happen is that you’re constrained by geography.

Also, consider the important findings of this survey:

  • More than 73% of the candidates today are only passively seeking a job.
  • 45% of employers say they can’t find the workers with the skills they need.
  • 54% of employers provide additional training and development in order to overcome talent shortages.

With remote work teams, you can be sure of getting the best people with the best skills for the job at hand. You state your requirements, and the agency will provide quality personnel.

5. Scalability

When you’re hiring in-house, you obviously take on only the required number of people estimated for the job. Any more would be a waste.

However, the job often grows in size and importance. You need to scale up fast.

Scalability

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This means starting the round of hiring all over again. And chances are that you don’t have the time for this.

One study shows that:

  • Nearly 50 percent of projects experience scope creep.
  • Only 57 percent finish within budget.
  • Only 51 percent are finished on-schedule.

These issues are comfortably handled when it comes to building remote teams. Scalability will be taken care of easily as the agency will always have more specialists to add to the team. For you, it becomes seamless.

6. Talent pool

This was earlier explored in the section on Specialists.

Obviously, when hiring in-house, you have to depend on the talent pool that is available in your location at any given time.

For example, in the US, the best software engineers are often keen to work in places such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, or San Jose.

This can mean that you’re not getting the best resources for your job. The best people may not be in your city or country.

This is a sub-optimal solution for your important developmental work.

The solution is remote teams.

building and hiring remote team model

You will have access to the best people for the job. These will be global experts who are skilled at what they do. So you don’t have to pay for sub-standard resources simply because the best is not available.

Relying on Remote Work Teams

From news organizations to computing firms, from mobile service providers to consumer goods, some of the most renowned companies have realized the benefits of remote teams.

This is not restricted to any one country. Big and small companies the world over are employing this process for the best results.

  • Vodafone has been relying on remote working for a long time.
  • Dell has a remote workforce across teams, countries, and continents.
  • In the US, 56% of start-ups have outsourced work to a remote partner.

Remote Work Teams: Summing Up

In short, before you decide to hire in-house, consider these factors:

  • Costs: when you compare costs, don’t forget to include office space, technology, training, and annual incentives.
  • Time: you need to make sure that employee productivity is the best that it can be.
  • Absence: can you take the risk of projects getting delayed because employees aren’t in the office?
  • Specialists: you deserve the right people with the right skills to do a quality job on your projects.
  • Talent Pool: you don’t need to rely on geography or availability to get the best talent.
  • Scalability; if your project grows in size or complexity, you need to ensure that your team will be able to manage this effortlessly.

Here is, 10 Tips on How to Manage your Remote Team

Uplers: The Best Solution

We’ve carried out remote work for Ogilvy, Disney, Amazon, and leading digital agencies. With an emphasis on web development, digital marketing, and marketing automation.

With expertise and experience, we’ve grown to become one of the largest, globally recognized outsourcing agencies in the industry, empowering businesses across the globe to build a better digital ecosystem.

Contact us today and allow us to convince you of the many advantages of building remote teams.

plan business success with remote teams

Time to Plan your Business Success by hiring Remote Teams

The advent of digital transformation and the severe shortage of engineering talent in western countries have accelerated globalization. This, followed by the increasingly intensifying struggle of maintaining their operations and keeping their workforce intact during the pandemic. It has led organizations to revise their talent acquisition strategy.

Following the astronomical rise in remote work, 88% of organizations reported adopting the approach and expanding their recruitment efforts beyond the in-team/onshore model to hiring remote teams. This includes some of the most popular organizations like Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

Evident from a KPMG global outsourcing survey, offshoring is already a major hit among companies, especially in the west. So much so that North & South America alone constitute 42% of the outsourcing buyer region. This behavior on the part of organizations comes on the back of the purported benefits offshore teams offer them.

Major Outsourcing Buyer Regions

What are Remote Teams or Offshore Partners?

Since offshore partners are third-party resource teams, companies can assign them full responsibility for a broad range of business functions. It includes overseeing development to ensuring legal compliance, and handling daily administrative tasks. These teams become value-added extensions of their onshore team and enable competitive advantage through labor arbitrage. According to a Deloitte Global Outsourcing survey, the main reasons why businesses switch to offshoring are:

What Are Offshore Partners

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The same survey noted that 57% of respondents said outsourcing helped them focus on their core business operations. In comparison, 17% said it helped them break their business mold and drive change from within. They also afford businesses smaller time-to-market and more incredible staff support, allowing them to remain competitive, and scale their services and offerings.

Why Do You Need a Remote Team?

dedicated team model

According to a global manpower study, as many as 54% of companies faced talent shortages, which led to the hiring process becoming long and drawn-out. As a way to stray from this ineffective recruiting model, businesses turned to hiring remote teams. This helped them gain greater access to intellectual capital, thus allowing them more room to accommodate projects.

Global Talent Shortage At Record High

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Take, for example, the case of Repeat Booking. An Australian company that offered sole traders the ability to add customers for automated follow-ups, Repeat Booking needed to grow soon and turned to an offshore team to achieve their business goals. By hiring remote teams, they were able to build their website and scale it to their users in just 180 days.

Remote teams have come to be regarded as the epitome of innovation, apparent from their increased activity prompting the global offshoring and outsourcing market to grow to the whopping US $88.9 billion.

Offshore Development Team

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As the number of businesses hiring remote teams rises, it pays to have a look at its reasons in detail before moving to how to collaborate with them for improved business success.

Reasons Why Every Business Should Leverage Remote Teams

1. Inexpensive Approach

Offshore teams provide better value at a comparatively lower cost. So much so that outsourcing IT services reduce overall costs by 60%, according to McKinsey.

For instance, Apple (the popular member Fortune 500 list) is able to generate great profits each year owing to its offshore development teams.

2. Access to a Wider Talent Pool

Offshore teams provide you with greater access to intellectual capital. It is the joint top benefit among organizations looking to hire remote teams and is what fuels the fancy of 28% of them.

Hire Pre-vetted & High Performance Remote Teams

3. Improved Productivity and Quality

When asked about it, 31% of companies said that they chose remote teams for their improved service quality. Offshore teams also have all the required infrastructure ready at their disposal so that you always get a stable product with superlative UX.

A well-known remote team success story- The communication giant Slack outsourced the designing process of all of its major visual elements i.e. the app redesign and logo design. And to the company’s expectation, this move helped Slack refine the crucial designs of their product, helping them scale to 15,000 users in just over a fortnight.

Slackss-Growth-Shows-No-Signs-of-Slacking-768x547

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4. Flexibility

When outsourcing work to remote teams, you share the risk management and impact with them. This allows you an additional resource that can help you respond to and effectively manage unforeseen situations.

In fact, this practice is so well-known that 81% of businesses have a remote team because they believe it to be a crisis response team as well.

5. Greater Number of Market Opportunities

Working with an offshore team helps you innovate quickly and bring down the time-to-market. In the opinion of 17% of business executives, this opens up a greater number of market opportunities and helps drive a broader transformational change.

For instance, in Repeat Booking case study the dedicated development team was able to develop a fully functional and scalable website for the business within just 180 days.

How to Plan for Success by hiring remote teams?

David Tapper, Outsourcing & Managed Cloud Services, IDC

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A Deloitte study reported improved business outcomes for organizations with dedicated offshore partners courtesy of their cost-effectiveness, better global scalability, and enhanced service qualities. The same study also highlighted the importance of partnering with the right remote team to ensure frictionless and high-quality collaboration.

However, creating a successful and productive relationship requires a lot of effort. While it falls upon the offshore partner to build your remote team, it is equally important that you stay invested in the process right from the beginning. Lay down a recruiting framework before signing up a partner that takes care of the following to ensure a smooth collaboration:

  • Review business goals and targets
  • Establish the dynamics of your collaboration
  • Evaluate your partner options based on their past portfolio, breadth of services, expertise in automation technology, and more.
  • Have an IT specialist on your end
  • Recruit the right professionals that make up your remote team
  • Make use of overlapping hours

How to Manage Remote Teams

While the particulars of your framework may vary, it will more or less resemble the one provided above. Stick to the framework and have your IT team always engage the suitable hires from your offshore partner. Last but not least, allow your remote team autonomy and don’t escalate to micromanaging them as a survey by Trinity Solutions reported that it causes 60% of professionals to consider switching jobs while 71% think it negatively impacts their performance.

Here is, 10 Tips on How to Manage your Remote Team

How to Manage Your Offshore Development Team

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While it isn’t unorthodox to supervise your offshore team, micromanaging them can make them feel they lack freedom. This can end up obstructing their thought process and impeding their productivity.

An equally important consideration on the subject of productivity is taking the difference in time-zones into account. Use overlapping hours to create an effective weekly communication schedule, such as status calls, meetings, and scrum calls.

Also Read: Best Team-Building Exercises for Your Remote Teams

Conclusion

If you’re looking to build your own offshore web development or marketing team and want a partner with a superlative track record, contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.

Uplers is recognized as a forerunner of innovation in web development among global circles of outsourcing agencies. We command both experience and competence to turn your projects into success stories.

How Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Success can Impact the Remote Working Culture

How Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Success can Impact the Remote Working Culture

Moscow, Russia, confirms on Sunday 12 July to the Russian news agency TASS that the human trials of the first possible coronavirus vaccine have passed human tests. The volunteers will soon be discharged, and the vaccine is likely to be the first to conclude all clinical trials.

The Fact-check of the first possible COVID-19 Vaccine

This possible COVID-19 vaccine is developed under the supervision of chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk and is marked safe for humans. However, a fact-check report claims that Russia’s vaccine has just cleared the phase-1 with 40 volunteers and it is still to pass the phase-2, where there will be at least 100 volunteers, and the phase-3, where at least thousand volunteers from different geographies will be a part of the trial.

Amidst this quest for the first COVID-19 vaccine, however, the world has adopted a new normal. The biggest revolution in 2020, aside from a transformed lifestyle pattern, was embracing remote working culture!

What if Russia’s Coronavirus Vaccine is a Success? Will Pre-COVID Business World Revive?

The initial impact of COVID-19 was quite fatal for the business sector and some even faced a complete shutdown. However, a majority of businesses (especially the IT sector) have started accepting the remote working culture as the ‘new normal’.

Humankind is eagerly waiting for Russia’s coronavirus vaccine to turn up into a success. However, the tech sector isn’t escaping the remote working culture anytime soon.. Some facts to back-up:

  • Mark Zuckerberg said on 21st May, “Facebook could get to about half of staff working remotely permanently in 5-10 years and will be the “most forward-leaning company on remote work” 
  • Twitter said that a major part of its workforce would be adopting the remote working culture in the years to come.
  • Matthew Howells-Barby, the Director of Acquisition at HubSpot said that his team has adapted to remote working an year back and it has been a profitable move. Moreover, HubSpot has reported having a proliferating fleet of over 300 full-time remote workers.
  • Shopify clearly expressed its support for the remote teams trend and said its team would continue to work remotely in 2021 as well.

Also Read: Exclusive Research on Why Remote Working is the Future of IT Industry

Will Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Success Impact the Remote Working Trend?

The latest stats report – 74% of companies across the globe are planning to adopt the remote working culture permanently.

Will Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Success Impact the Remote Working Trend

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As a fact-check even if Russia’s vaccine passes the phase-2 and phase-3 trials, by the time it gets approval for production, a majority of the business world would have adapted to the remote work culture. We should not draw any conclusions but instead, look at some statistics on the impact of COVID-19 on remote working:

  • “The world’s largest work-from-home experiment,” as Time calls it:

88% of businesses have encouraged remote working as the best possible solution to stay afloat during these times. 91% of the businesses in Asia Pacific arranged and implemented remote working arrangements during the outbreak’s early stages.

hiring dedicated developers

  • Organizations Now Have a Remote Crisis Response Team

81% of businesses have a remote team as they believe to be a crisis response team. And businesses wouldn’t be willing to dissolve their crisis response teams anytime soon. Instead, a positive growth in hiring remote teams can be expected in the future.

  • Remote Teams Display a Boost In Productivity:

Remote workers offer 35% to 40% more productivity as compared to the corporate office work-culture.

  • Organizations Witness Positive Impact on Workforce Retention

Even post COVID-19 recovery phase later in 2020, companies should expect at least 75% of their workforce to expand their remote working hours by a minimum of 35%.

  • COVID-19 is the Trigger and Cost-saving is the Main Catalyst for Remote Work

31% of businesses pointed COVID-19 to be the trigger to adopting the remote work trend. However, Danny Trinh, the head of design at Zenly (a location-sharing app) said the main reason tech leaders are willing to continue it is cost-saving.

russia covid-19 vaccine - Remote-Work-Stats

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Moreover, 77% of executives believe that the work-from-home trend will help businesses cut down a significant portion of their operational expenses (OpEx). Even if Russia’s coronavirus vaccine is a success, businesses are not likely to switch to the usual corporate working environment.

 What is the Future?

Despite its enormous potential, it is too early to suggest that Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine is a cure to the pandemic. Research sources have been carrying out extensive analyses on the topic. Conversely, remote work culture and the ‘hiring remote team’ trend might have evolved as an urgent necessity for the business world initially, but the practice has started blossoming some great profit buds for organizations within a small time.

Best Team Bonding Activities for Your Remote Teams

Best Team-Building Exercises for Your Remote Teams

The augmentation of the internet has made it possible to work from virtually anywhere provided there is a Wi-Fi connection. However, it can still be difficult to inculcate a company culture when everyone is situated in different parts of the world. Virtual team building exercises have had a major role to play in the remote working culture.

Whether people are working from home due to COVID-19 or if it’s just the nature of their job, remote working may cause people to feel lonely, isolated and estranged. Before the physical distance between employees turns into an emotional distance, it is important to create a comfortable and engaging remote team culture with the help of virtual team-building exercises.

Importance of Team Bonding in Remote Working

Have you ever wondered what Apple, Google and Amazon have in common? Apart from the fact that they are all multibillion-dollar tech giants, another commonality is that they all possess a strong company culture. In addition, one of the many ways in inculcating company culture is with the help of team-building activities. 

  • About 75% of employers rate teamwork and collaboration as “very important”, yet only 18% of employees get communication evaluations at their performance reviews.
  • Team bonding activities builds a sense of unity among the teammates, brings people together and creates a healthy competition. 
  • Most importantly if people are to work together they must first be able to trust each other. Trust makes people feel safe and valued. When people feel safe, they communicate more openly and it sums up to a motivated remote team.

Biggest Stuggle Working Remotely

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Advantages of Adopting Remote Working

Before we look at best team-building exercises for remote teams let us quickly look at some research-backed benefits of working remotely

1. Remote working can save a company thousands of dollars

2. Happier healthier employees

3. Working remotely boost productivity

4. Saves time and money spent on commuting

5. Better employee retention and loyalty

Best Team Bonding Activities for Your Remote Teams

1. Conduct Virtual Learning Events

Learning can be fun but can be even better when it’s shared. Virtual learning events can act as a great team-building exercise for remote workers to come together in a professional setting as they work together to overcome challenges, find solutions and collaborate. Here are 7 forms of virtual learning events that you can conduct

  • Small coding competitions
  • Knowledge-based competition
  • Webinars
  • Live training sessions
  • Virtual learning series based on upcoming trends and updates
  • Online workshop series
  • Virtual experience sharing sessions

2. Create a fun and expertise-based repository

  • Create a virtual company magazine to be shared across the company every month. At Uplers, we have Uplers Unplugged, our inhouse monthly magazine featuring tales of friendships, quizzes, inspiring life stories of employees, exciting recipes, movie and tv series recommendations and much more.

Uplers Unplugged

  • Create online masterclasses  for particular topics
  • Provide recommendations on great web series, shows, or movies to watch.
  • Establish channels for sharing ideas.
  • Conduct brainstorming sessions, for example, a brainstorming session for blog topics, campaign ideas
  • Weekly virtual debate sessions on current national/international topics for enhanced employee engagement.

3. Conduct Virtual Game Sessions

Team-building games can be a great way of engaging remote teams with the added element of fun. Here are our top virtual game suggestions :

  • Conference call trivia– getting everyone to know each other
  • Virtual Bingo- to promote team bonding. Bingo is a classic game that most people are familiar with, its virtual version is easy, fun and engaging.
  • Charades– everyone’s favorite, brings the team together. Nothing like a good old game of charades.
  • Celebrate holidays together– planning a visit to your remote team in holidays can help get coworkers to understand each other’s culture better and bridge the cultural gap.
  • Baby photos – a great remote team ice breaker to help teammates get to know each other better. Ask all teammates to send in their baby photos. Once received, make a collage and get participants to guess who is who within a certain time limit. 

Hire Pre-vetted & High Performance Remote Teams

4. Conduct Virtual Tea/ Coffee Sessions and Video calls

  • Make video calls a part of your daily communication with your team. Having a scheduled call at the same time every day would not only give the remote team something to look forward to but also help in reducing the physical distance between remote teams.  
  • Casual video calls-  non-work related calls are a smart idea as it gives the colleagues a chance to talk about anything but work, bringing them closer and allowing them to get to know each other outside of work. It can be a great trust-building activity.  
  • Virtual tea breaks- the idea is to bring people together over a cup of tea or coffee and to encourage remote workers to interact with each other as they would if they were in office. Each conversation can have the potential to help colleagues bond over shared interests.
  • An extended idea of this is practiced at Uplers, where the top performers of the month get a chance to have a virtual tea session with the CEO and top management. This way the employees get a chance to directly interact with the top management, engage in discussions over biscuit and beverage. This not only adds to remote team motivation but also helps the CEO to know the employees on an individual level. 

Also Read: Exclusive Research on Why Remote Working is the Future of IT Industry

5. Virtual Ice-breakers

Icebreakers are designed to help ease employees, get to know one another and help build a lasting team bond. Icebreaker questions and activities can be a perfect complement to the other team-building exercises mentioned above, especially virtual tea and coffee breaks. For starters, you can schedule an ice breaker meeting, ask all remote workers to briefly introduce themselves and their favorite food item.
Here are some virtual icebreaker questions you can engage your remote in:

  • If you could be an animal, what would you be and why?
  • Do you love working from home or would you rather work from the office?
  • Ask all remote coworkers to share a preview of their home office setup
  • Are you an early bird or night owl?
  • Dogs or Cats?
  • Tea or Coffee?
  • What is the best book you have ever read?
  • What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?

6. Virtual Dinner Parties

It is no unknown fact that food brings people together. However, what can you do if you are situated miles or even oceans away from your coworkers? Do not worry. The internet has made even virtual dinner parties a reality. You can decide on a cuisine early on ( take a vote) and ask all teammates to prepare one dish each of that cuisine. Decide on a time, schedule a video call and voila! You are ready for a virtual dinner party! This can be a great replacement for in-house lunches and drinks after work. So what if you can’t physically hang out with your coworkers? You sure can have an awesome meal together, only separated by a laptop screen.

Summing Up

Next time you are planning for #FunFridays or #SortedSaturdays with your remote team, we hope you consider the virtual team bonding activities that we have put together in this article. The current state of world affairs surely points towards remote working as the future way of working. With remote working becoming so commonplace, it is time organizations incorporate virtual team bonding as well.

For more assistance on how to build an ideal remote team, contact us

30 One-line Reasons To Hire Dedicated Development Teams

30 One-line Reasons To Hire Dedicated Development Teams

Do you wish to maximize returns from your business?

Is hiring dedicated development team without sacrificing on your budget your top concern? 

Do you wish to bridge gaps in your company’s performance?

What if we told you there is a single solution to address all the above concerns. Yes, you read that right. A dedicated development team model offers many advantages and acts as a single point solution to address common business concerns.

Why do we need a dedicated team model?

The dedicated team model (DTM) is a widely recognized method of outsourcing. Companies use this model to successfully execute their business activities through a third party team that functions under company’s control.

These employees show commitment and dedication to their work no matter where they come from, combination of expert expertise and affordability results in increased efficiency, productivity, and efficiency.

dedicated-team-to-a-remote-team-comparison-alternative-to-freelancers

Dedicated development teams aim to bring together people, expertise and technology beyond time zones to fuel companies’ growth.

Is there anything else you want to know about dedicated models for your next project? Please don’t worry. In this article we provide 30 reasons to choose it over other options.

30 One-line Reasons To Hire Dedicated Development Teams

1. Offers you on-demand transparency, security and flexibility

2. 100% Controlled Execution

3. Enhanced Operational Expertise

4.Competitive price compared to in-house team

5. Access to a global talent pool

6. Faster turnaround time to client’s needs

7. Saves time and money to set up office space and procure equipment for your team

8. In comparison to inhouse teams, it can scale easily

9. Save on the resource cost if you hire an offshore dedicated team from tier 2 and tier 3 countries.

10. You can train your dedicated team to follow your work processes and agency-wide standards.

hiring dedicated developers


11. No overhead costs of the dedicated developers as they are on the payroll of the outsourcing agency.

12. Authority to manage the team structure

13. Ability to fit your limited budget

14. Get quicker responses to emergency situations

15. Elevation in performance efficiency level

16. Focused approach with core competencies

17. Great results & organizational transformation

18. A faster-paced development cycle

19. A dedicated team promotes collaboration 

20. Highly efficient workflow with a single point of contact- project coordinator

Also Read: How to Set Up Distributed Teams for your Digital Marketing Agency

21.Eliminates the challenge of finding the right talent 

22. It provides you with the flexibility to grow or shrink your project when necessary.

23. You pay only for the actual hours required to complete a task

24. Refining domain knowledge

25. Easy replacement if an employee takes sick leave or quits.

26. Eliminating artificial dependencies between projects

27. Variety of communication channels for smooth coordination

28. Use of project management tools to keep track of progress and tasks

29. Decreases administrative overhead

30. Minimized risk with competent project management

Wrapping up

Dedicated development teams are best for any company, startup or established, no matter how large or small. The pre-arranged team of experts is readily accessible for assistance when solving complex business issues.in-house capacity gaps can be readily addressed. Looking for a dedicated remote team? Build your team with Uplers.

How to Set Up Distributed Teams for your Digital Marketing Agency

How to Set Up Distributed Teams for your Digital Agency

In January 2020, if you would have told anyone that they would spend a chunk of their March and April working remotely, they would have asked you to stop yanking their chain. Wasn’t that just wishful thinking?

Well, some magical monkey’s paw has now made that wish come true. We are all sitting in our comfy PJs, attending meetings over Zoom (Am I audible? Can you see me now?), and have officially lost track of what day it is! As we stay in, working from home is “in.”

However, as we adjust to this “new normal” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies may find it challenging to track and manage their remote teams. But, companies are readily adopting the ‘distributed teams’ trend to beat the heat of this pandemic. 

In this article, we would be hovering over the following segments:

  • What is Distributed Team
  • The Distributed Team Advantage
  • The popularity of Distributed Team (Statistics and Numbers)
  • The Core Ingredients for Managing Distributed Marketing Teams
  • Actionable Tips on How to Set-up A Distributed Team
  • How to Build The Right Work Culture among your Distributed Teams
  • The Road Ahead

What is a Distributed Team?

The concept of distributed teams is not new. Even if you operate from a physical office, every team becomes a distributed team after surpassing a stipulated team size. These teams are then distributed across cabins, rooms, floors, office buildings, cities, countries, and even continents!

A distributed team comprises decentralized, location-independent coworkers who communicate and collaborate to achieve a common goal. 

In simpler words, the workforce is a mix of full-time employees and freelancers, who may or may not share a physical office space. As stated previously, these teams could either be co-located or operate internationally!

The Distributed Team Advantage

Major enterprises such as Google, MasterCard, Oracle, Amazon, GSK, and Microsoft have been making use of distributed teams for years! It is an indication that the shift towards working remotely and employing distributed teams started way ahead of the pandemic. If anything, the Coronavirus outbreak has catalyzed the adoption of this approach.

So, what pushed this decision in the first place? The following advantages:

1. Limitless Access to Talent Pools

The talent shortage is one of the greatest hiring challenges of the current times. Traditional hiring procedures will only tap into the local talent possessing a limited number of eligible candidates. Commuting to work and the time taken thereof is yet another challenge to overcome.

On the other hand, distributed teams originate from different locations, which not only broadens your talent base but also makes it quicker and easier to employ the services of a top performer. Furthermore, using flexible talent facilitates on-demand services, which will offer your company a bang for its buck.

2. Happier Employees

Happy employees make for a happy business – this adage comes through when you offer workplace flexibility to your employees. A study indicated that full-time remote workers are 22% happier with their job when compared to those who have never worked remotely. The reason for better job satisfaction stems from better work-life balance (91%), better focus/increased productivity (79%), less stress (78%), and no more commuting (78%). 

Happier Employees

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Naturally, happier employees are more likely to stick around longer. Higher employee retention will save you on resources.

3. Greater Scalability

The current global condition has made a strong case for companies to stay adaptive and agile. It has come to light how organizations may have to scale up or scale down at a moment’s notice. Distributed teams enjoy hiring flexibility, especially as it allows you to recruit talent on an ad-hoc, need-per-basis rather than offering full-time employment. As a result, distributed teams can easily be regrouped and reorganized as when the situation demands so.

4. Access to Local Intel

Small and medium enterprises that wish to expand to different geographical areas can hire distributed teams right from their targeted region. At the same time, the teams are equipped with local insights, which will make their efforts more relevant and effective!

For example, consider that you are a company based in France but marketing to the UK. Naturally, a UK-based marketing team can conceptualize more appropriate campaigns. Depending on their inputs, the company may delegate tasks to its web development team in the Philippines, SEO teams in Brazil, and content development teams in India to align the various aspects of marketing.

Distributed Teams in Numbers

Here’s what the world (and major industries) thinks of distributed teams:

what-percent-of-company-works-remote-2019

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The Core Ingredients for Managing Distributed Marketing Teams

A company cannot accidentally shift towards a remote work environment. The transition must take place deliberately and with elaborate planning. To manage your remote teams, you need to take care of the following systems and practices:

1. Communication

Whether you are attempting to align marketing with sales or outlining a new marketing strategy – communication plays a vital role in sustaining all activities. Avoid using negative phrases and offer corrections and suggestions paired with GIFs and emojis to set a positive tone.

2. Coordination

Building coordination between distributed teams will ensure that you have a highly responsive marketing unit. Have a timezone spread in place so that overlapping teams can hand over the business to each other teams in a ‘pass the baton’ relay format.

3. Collaboration

Collaboration between distributed marketing teams is both a science and an art. Managers will have to closely monitor the collaboration between the various limbs of marketing and develop a formula that works for them best.

4. Organization

Curate an organizational structure to facilitate and execute the marketing efforts. Your team does not need to reinvent the wheel. Thus, ensure that they enjoy organizational support to address the pain points that affect them.

5. Operations

Operations are all about bridging the gap between planning and execution. Train your distributed teams to mirror the procedures that an in-house marketing team would follow to achieve the desired result.

6. Culture

Even though the employees may operate remotely, they are an integral part of your marketing department and the organization as a whole. Hence, companies must make an effort to inculcate a healthy work culture that is uniform and inclusive. Nearly 80% of Millennials prioritize culture fit above every other factor that determines their willingness to work for an organization.

Actionable Tips on How to Set-up A Distributed Team

Now that you have an understanding of the key elements that come to play while managing a distributed marketing team, you have to establish a process to facilitate smooth and seamless operation throughout the network.

Here are a few actionable tips that will help you set a standardized marketing process:

1. Recruit the Right Talent

It has already been established that distributed teams give you access to top talent on a project or ad-hoc basis. Thus, if you do not have a distributed marketing team in place, now is a good time as any to get started. Remote working may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Some individuals will outperform others, while some will find struggle with staying productive. Find the right people and make them a part of your team. Individuals who are self-motivated, independent, trustworthy, and capable of making autonomous decisions are more suited for remote operations.

Freelance Adoption is Increasing

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On the other hand, if you already have a marketing team in place, you could hire a marketing head or a manager possessing the requisite experience and speciality in handling distributed teams.

2. Focus on Onboarding

Whether it is new recruits or your marketing team turning virtual, onboarding plays a crucial role in determining the team’s abilities. Unfortunately, several companies fall short in providing a holistic onboarding experience.

distributed team - Focus on Onboarding

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An employee that has a better understanding of the tools and how to operate them will be more engaged and enthusiastic about delivering the desired results. Further, creating an organizational chart can lend structure to your distributed marketing team. Finally, assigning team leaders that can aid and assist the onboarding of your marketing team can help the employees adapt to the digital workplace.

Thus, if you wish to have a marketing team that is loyal, creative, productive, and innovative, you need to have an effective onboarding strategy in place.

Digital Marketing Team

3. Define Clear Expectations

Your team members cannot read your mind. As your marketing team gears up to work together remotely, they lack the personal connection and cues such as interpreting body language or reading between the lines. At the same time, it is easy to misunderstand or overlook any instruction. Hence, it is crucial to set out expectations clearly while working with a distributed team.

As a marketing unit, your goals have to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound). Communicate these goals to keep them focused on the big picture. At the same time, break down these expectations into smaller, individual goals to ascribe them to different roles and positions to enhance accountability. 

With a more transparent system in place, marketing heads and team members can easily track and report on the progress and focus on the end result rather than the hours spent on achieving it.

4. Establish Multiple Channels of Communication

Email marketing is great. However, operating a distributed marketing team through emails will be slow and frustrating, to say the least.

Your marketing team is responsible for translating your brand value and company message. Thus, it is mandatory that the distributed teams are in constant communication to ensure uniformity in brand voice. As a result, several communication channels over digital platforms have to be readily accessible.

Have a mix of video conferencing tools, instant messaging applications, and other collaborative platforms to keep all team members in the loop. You need to enable synchronous and asynchronous channels of communication to offer more context to every interaction.

5. Conduct Regular Meetings

There is something personal and comforting about bouncing ideas off of each other through face-to-face communication. Considering that marketing involves frequent brainstorming sessions, you may have to come together often to exchange ideas. While in-person meetups may be on hold, you can conduct virtual meetings to track progress, review goals, and revise your marketing strategies.

However, exercise caution while hosting virtual conferences as they may result in unproductive time sinks. To avoid letting this opportunity go to waste, draft an agenda, and stick to it before your team gets on a call. In addition to group meetings, encourage one-on-one interactions to check up on your employees.

6. Choose a Collaborative Platform

There is a slew of marketing collaboration platforms that can facilitate seamless collaboration. Utilize technology as an extension of your team and individual capacity to bridge the gaps between a distributed team. 

Have a dedicated tool for all activities, whether it is monitoring the efficacy of email marketing or checking up on your content marketing efforts. Get a marketing dashboard where all metrics are readily available so that your teams can deliberate on issues and develop innovative solutions.

A visual dashboard not only reports on the marketing strategies, successes, and tasks, but it also makes the distributed team feel like a part of a common process.

7. Make Data Accessible

According to a report titled ‘The Experience of Work: The Role of Technology in Productivity and Engagement’ employees spend more than 25% of their time searching for information that they need to do their job!

Hence, to allow your distributed teams to operate as a cohesive unit, you must provide the right information at the right place. Whether it is company details or brand designs, marketing teams must have access to information in a centralized location. Skip the confusing email attachments and share all the information in a Cloud-based repository of company data.

As a result, you are allowing unrestricted movement of data between your teams while preventing the formation of data silos, loss of data, and data dilution. Passing on bad data to your sales team will only result in a loss of time and resources!

Naturally, the last thing you want to deal with right now is the constant bickering between sales and marketing.

8. Develop a Team Spirit

Extended lunch breaks and chit-chats around the breakroom may seem unproductive. Still, they are an integral component of social life, and there is no better substitute for team building than a people-to-people connection. 

distributed team - Develop a Team Spirit

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At the same time, there is no denying the fact that working remotely can result in an employee disconnect. Hence, it is imperative to develop a working team spirit. The collaborative tools and platforms can double up as channels for having fun and unwinding with your colleagues. So take this time to build rapport between distributed team members.

Companies are encouraging quarantine activities such as the Getty Museum Challenge to motivate and engage remote team members. Plus, it’s a great way to tap into your creativity!

9. Define Key Performance Indicators

Most marketing activities have moved over to the digital domain. The corresponding key performance indicators (or KPIs) can help you quantify and track the progress made by each individual or team in reaching the marketing goal.

Some marketing KPIs for the different branches of marketing are outlined below:

  • Social Media: Reach, Impressions, Followers, Likes, Comments, Clicks, Shares, Mentions, etc.
  • SEO: Total website traffic, organic search traffic, keyword ranking, page views, uniques, domain authority or page authority, conversion rate, etc.
  • Email Marketing: Delivery rate, email open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, conversion rate, etc.
  • Content Marketing: New leads, opt-ins or downloads, marketing qualified leads, time on page, pages per session, etc.
  • Paid Ads: Total spend, cost per click, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, impressions, etc.

These KPIs will allow you to keep an eye on the performance of your marketing campaign and work on the avenues where you fall short.

Also Read: How to Train Your Offshore Teams as per Your Company Standards

10. Respect Time Zones

Time-Zone-Differences

Scheduling activities and meetings can be easy when you are operating in the same time zone. However, if your marketing teams are distributed across continents and time zones, it can be rather tricky to formulate realistic work hours that accommodate everyone without disrupting their personal schedules. 

Moreover, most collaborative platforms have an in-built calendar to set up schedules and timelines. Similarly, a good practice is to block overlapping periods for strategic discussions and meetings where you may need inputs from other teams.

Moreover, teams may agree on setting up time boundaries where employees can turn off their devices and spend their time with their family or get some sleep.

How to Build The Right Work Culture among your Distributed Teams

Every business has a unique company culture that reflects its guiding philosophy

Make your remote teams a part of this work culture by:

  • Introduce new employees to the teams and regularly communicate the work culture.
  • Circulate internal emails on the latest news, updates, and developments on the ongoing projects. Keep them fun and informal.
  • Recreate a digital water cooler over Slack or Google Hangouts, where employees can exchange non-work information.
  • Conduct informal virtual events such as book club meetings or parties where they can talk about their personal interests.
  • Include training and courses that enhance your employee’s knowledge base in terms of career-related skill or educational growth.
  • Promote in-person meetups wherever possible.
  • Establish a feedback system to promote transparency and establish a sense of shared leadership.
  • Prioritize the health and wellness of your employees and take time out to check in on employees that are exhibiting signs of burnout.

Rather than picturing your distributed teams as small groups or individuals, companies must adopt a unified outlook. Make your employees feel like they are a part of something bigger, and it will make them give their best. For instance, the shared sense of accomplishment that comes with reaching a goal or a target surpasses that of an individual’s achievement.

The Road Ahead

The benefits of distributed teams remain uncontested. However, managing them can feel like a challenge for those having a traditional approach.

Invest in your distributed teams, and your company will be suitably rewarded. Eventually, it all boils down to developing trust, building rapport, and establishing communication that can determine the success of your remote marketing teams. Above all, communicate, communicate, and communicate to ensure that your marketing department can function as a well-oiled unit.

There is no shortcut to having a fully functional distributed team network. In other words, it takes time, effort, and patience. In these trying times, your team’s ability to adapt and rise to the occasion will surprise you.

A final piece of advice – Jump aboard the remote culture bandwagon because it is clear that it is here to stay!

Do Not Wish to Work with Freelancers The Best 5 Alternatives to Freelancers!

The Best 5 Alternatives to Freelancers

Quick Summary: This article begins with discussing the popularity of freelancing model and why businesses prefer to hire freelancers. As you read more it unveils the reasons to find better alternatives to freelancers and lists the Top 5 Alternatives. The article helps you make an informed choice by offering you the pros & cons of each suggested alternative and concludes with a recommended solution. 

Almost 30% of Fortune 500 companies are hiring freelancers through Upwork. Moreover, the number of freelancers grew by 7%, from 53 million to 56.7 million in just 5 years. Freelancing is one of the most popular business models and meets a major part of outsourced requirements. But, one of the biggest drawbacks of freelancing for businesses is lack of reliability.

 Do you think, lack of reliability is the only drawback of working with Freelancers? Let’s read more!

Why do businesses work with freelancers?

  • Lower Cost: Cost of hiring in-house resources in tier 1 countries is way high and therefore, businesses opt for hiring freelancers in tier 2 and tier 3 countries. This helps them save a huge amount of investment in resources.
  • Wide and Diverse Pool of Resources: Freelancing helps businesses explore resource options across the globe. This helps them meet diverse potential and find the right resource at a cost-effective price.
  • Ability to Scale Quickly: Unlike, in-house resources where businesses have to plan long-term payroll budgets and overhead cost budgets, freelancing gives businesses the opportunity to hire part-time resources. Businesses can scale quickly and meet urgent requirements easily.

What is the need to find alternatives to freelancers?

disadvantages of freelancers

  • Lack of Reliability: Freelancers are self-employed individuals specializing in various technical skills. These individuals work on remote jobs from clients and are not bound to the payroll of any service provider. This makes their reliability and commitment a concern for businesses.
  • Juggling Among Multiple Projects: 76% of freelancers work as part-time freelancers to be able to earn extra money. This creates a question on their accountability towards a project or client. And as a fact, 70% of freelancers juggle between two to four projects simultaneously.
  • Security Concerns: There are no standard security parameters and contracts when working with a freelancer. Outsourcing through well-trusted sources is less likely to breach a company’s intellectual property.
  • No Long-term Commitment: Businesses and agencies generally hire freelancers to leverage the cost-cutting benefits of outsourcing for temporary short-term projects. There is always a need for a more reliable alternative to freelancers.

Top 5 Alternatives to Freelancers

1. Build an In-house Team

The most popular hiring model is the in-house team model. This model offers maximum trust and can be adapted by almost all business types. However, it lacks the benefits of outsourcing.

Pros of In-house Team Model

  • Maximum Trust and Security: Each business has its set of custom processes, intellectual property and private client data, which is prone to leaks if outsourced to freelancers. Therefore, the in-house team offers maximum data security and privacy.
  • Long-term Solution: In-house team model offers long-term solutions as the resources are less likely to switch jobs frequently. Furthermore, having an in-house team allows businesses to create standard skills and practices which are easily transferable across the company.
  • One-to-one Management: Any other communication channel like chat messenger, calls, or video conferences can replace the efficiency of face-to-face communication. In-house team model helps businesses employ one-to-one management and skill training.
  • Focus on Quality and Culture: PayPal depends on its in-house team for delivering the best quality solutions to businesses worldwide. The in-house team model help managers focus on the quality of the solutions as the team is well-aligned towards the company’s goals and values.

benefits of outsourcing over problems with inhouse team

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Cons of In-house Team Model

  • Scarcity of Talent: The in-house team model doesn’t allow recruiters to look for talents offshore and therefore they need to look for the right talent within a limited radius.
  • High Resource Hiring Cost: Cost of hiring the right talent in tier 1 countries like the US, UK, and Europe is far higher than in tier 2 and tier 3 countries. This impacts the growth of businesses with lower investment potential, especially startups.
  • Higher CAPEX Cost: Hiring a team in-house means added infrastructure cost, electricity cost, and office-level internet costs. Additionally, the employer is liable for overhead cost benefits like employees’ health insurance and meal expenses, etc.
  • Recruitment Takes More Time and Effort: Hiring resources in-house means long-term budget planning and therefore it takes efforts in finalizing the right resource for your business. 83% recruiters believe hiring resources in-house is tough.

2. Outsource to A White Label Agency

White-label service is a model of outsourcing in which a service is sold under the name of the client’s brand but are executed by the white-label service provider. Like other types of outsourcing, this is a popular model for agencies who wish to reduce their operational cost (increase their profit margins) while steadily increasing their client base. The model is counted among the best alternatives to freelancers for B2B clients.

Pros of White Label Service Model

  • Reduction In Operational Cost: 59% of businesses utilize outsourcing as a cost-cutting tool. Agencies look for white label partners in tier 2 and tier 3 countries, to cut down on the operational costs.
  • High Scalability: Outsourcing services to a white label partner can be the right bet when aiming at urgent scalability goals. Outsourcing to countries like India and Philippines gives access to a wide and skilled resource pool, which makes scaling easy.
  • Focus on Business Development: Following the footsteps of outsourcing, white label services give you a wide room to focus on your core business activities. When you outsource projects to a white label partner, it is accountable to meet your project requirements. Meanwhile, you can focus on your business development goals.
  • Secure and Reliable: White label agencies follow strict NDA norms and make sure the shared data is secure. Unlike the disadvantages of freelancing, the client here deals with a trusted business entity and therefore there is a very low risk of a security breach, abrupt project abandonment, or project failure.

Cons of White Label Services

  • Scope of Misunderstanding: As you pass your project vision to a white label agency, this vision travels a long loop of individuals including the sales executive, the project manager, and finally to the execution team. And the project information is likely to distort at some point in this loop. This creates a room for misunderstanding and repeated feedback.
  • Low-level Control: Antonymous to in-house team model, a white label agency works with its own standard processes and team structure. You as a client have low-level control over the processes followed and can only take a look at the reports and deliverable. Based on these you can give your feedback for a desirable outcome. You need to overcome some disadvantages of outsourcing to crack the white label outsourcing model.

3. Hire A Dedicated Team

The ‘dedicated team model’ is a type of outsourcing structured such to help businesses build their offshore dedicated teams at a white label agency. Businesses having well-defined goals or long-term projects can hire a dedicated team from their outsourcing provider. This team is on the payroll of their parent company (outsourcing provider) but works dedicatedly on the projects of the client company. This model basically combines the values of in-house team model with the top benefits of outsourcing. Read its pros & cons to understand better:

Michael-Dell alternatives of freelancing dedicated team model

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Pros of Dedicated Team

  • High-level Project Control: The client can manage the team-structure, the process followed and even the time-zone for the dedicated team. A project manager can be hired to better manage the execution process.
  • Long-term Commitment: A dedicated team is generally signed under long-term contracts and the same team can work for you on all your ongoing projects. This saves the efforts on skill training and avoids issues related to resource transition. The reliability makes it one of the best alternatives to freelancers.
  • Decrease In Overhead Costs: You build a team without investing in the infrastructure cost, electricity and office-level internet cost. Further, you as a client are not liable to pay overhead costs for your dedicated team.
  • Lower Operational Costs: The most common reason why businesses adopt the offshore team approach is to reduce operational costs. Building dedicated teams in tier 2 and tier 3 countries earn businesses a huge profit in the resource cost.
  • On-demand Scalability: A client gets total control over the offshore team structure and can add members to its dedicated team on-demand. Choosing an outsourcing provider with a large resource strength will be a smart move here.

Cons of Dedicated Team

  • Not Beneficial for Short-term Projects: Unlike freelancers, a dedicated team is hired under long-term contracts. The model offers access to resources with long-term commitment and the resources are not allowed to juggle between multiple projects but are committed to working for a dedicated client.
  • Scope of Coordination Gap: Offshore development comes with an attribute of cross-culture gap and it may take some time to completely set the seal on this gap. However, some outsourcing service providers allow dedicated clients to visit and provide on-site training to their dedicated teams.

 

Hire Offshore Dedicated Team

4. Hire A Shared Team

The shared team model is similar to the dedicated team model but with less control. In this model, clients have part-time access to shared resources. Here the shared team works on two to four projects from different clients simultaneously.

Pros of Shared Team Model

  • Lower Resource Cost: Hiring offshore resources gives businesses access to a wide talent pool at a cost-effective price, especially if the shared team is hired from tier 2 or tier 3 countries.
  • Managed Project Flow: The client can manage his shared team and the project flow authoritatively. He has control over the team structure and team productivity.
  • No Overhead Cost: When hiring a shared team, the client is not liable to pay for the health insurance, travel expense or meal benefits for the members as they remain on the payroll of their parent company.
  • Main Team Members Can’t Be Replaced: The shared team model comes as a combination of a dedicated team and shared team. Therefore, the dedicated or the main members of the team are under a long-term contract and cannot be replaced.

Cons of Shared Team Model

  • Limited Resource Availability: Resources under a shared team offer part-time services to a client and juggle between 2 to 4 clients at the same time. This model doesn’t offer clients the same flexibility as the dedicated team model.
  • Loss In Productivity: Having a part-time resource team under your management has some challenges with the management and there is a scope for loss in productivity.

5. Build A Remote Team

As another popular subset of the outsourcing model, a remote team model is where businesses hire remote resources to set up their dedicated remote team. The remote resources specialize at their work and offer great productivity at affordable costs. It offers all the benefits of outsourcing and can be ranked just below the white label and dedicated team model.

dedicated-team-to-aremote-team-comparison-alternative-to-freelancers

Pros of Remote Team Model

  • Access to a Large Talent Pool: The Gartner survey states 22% of CIOs find trouble in finding the right talent in-house. The remote team model helps businesses connect and hire the right talent from across the globe.
  • Lower Resource and Overhead Costs: Remote team model is advisable when looking for offshore experts at lower costs. One can hire remote developers and marketers for as low as $15 – $20 per hour in India. The overhead cost per remote employee is almost negligible as compared to an in-house employee.
  • Superior Control Over Project and Team-structure: The remote team works on your payroll and you can manage the remote team structure and project-flow authoritatively.

Cons of Remote Team Model

  • Credibility Issues: Some remote workers can be self-employed individuals who are not answerable to a resource provider. However, the remote model is far more credible than the freelancing model.
  • Communication & Cross-culture Gap: A remote team with resources from different diversities and culture may display a cross-culture gap. Communication gap is evident in this model.

Conclusion

No denying that outsourcing to freelancers helps save cost, meet urgent requirements and meet the right expertise, but the model still lacks credibility. A majority of freelancers juggle between multiple projects and aren’t committed to a single client. This establishes a crucial need for more credible alternatives.

The dedicated team model and white label services top the list as the most efficient and credible options. On the other end, no hiring model matches the credibility of the in-house team model. Cost-saving, credibility, management, communication and security are the top factors to consider while a business explores the possible alternatives to freelancers.

Inhouse team vs remote team vs dedicated team1

In-house Team Vs Remote Team Vs Dedicated Team Model: Which Is The Best Choice?

The changing landscape of IT outsourcing has revolutionized the way businesses operate. The vital need to find a quintessential alternative to the in-house resources has given rise to offshore teams. In 2019, the global market size of IT services offshoring amounted approximately $92.5 billion. Furthermore, there is a momentous growth recorded in the digital offshoring value every year. But, does it mean a step back for the in-house team?

main reasons to it outsourcing disadvantages and advantages

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The business arena hints transition from the regular in-house vs outsourcing game. The Remote Team model and the Dedicated Team model are other promising contenders to keep an eye on.

The fleeting growth of IT services offshoring market from $45.6 billion in 2000 to $92.5 billion in 2019 is evidence of the fact that businesses are ready to leverage the alternatives to the in-house team model. But, does that mean that remote and dedicated teams are better options than the in-house team model? Let’s open the book of facts & reasons.

The main sections of the article include:

1. In-house Team Model

2. Remote Team Model

3. Dedicated Team Model

4. In-house Team Vs Remote Team Vs Dedicated Team: Comparison Table (Exclusive)

In-house Team Vs Remote Team Vs Dedicated Team Model: What to Choose?

In-house Team

What is In-house Team Model?

This model simply means utilising your in-house team for your projects. This is the most common model as it offers the CEOs maximum trust. A team that shares your vision and business goals. There is no better challenger in this game if your in-house team has the right skill-set.

Best Fits For?

‘All business types’ – Simple as it may sound, be it start-ups or large enterprises, every business type can have their best bet on their in-house team unless the team fails to deliver the right expertise and meet the company’s desired efficiency. In that case, in-house vs outsourcing comes into light.

Successful IT leaders, PayPal, Salesforce and Amazon depend on their in-house team for their development solutions. But, we have a list of pros & cons below to analyze which is better outsourcing or inhouse.

benefits of outsourcing over problems with inhouse team

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Pros of In-house Team Model

  • Intellectual Property is Sheltered

Every business has its individual business processes, client data and intellectual property that if leaked is likely to cause the business a loss in its reputation, revenue, or client base. That is where a business can confidently depend on its in-house team. Amazon leverages its in-house team for most of the development tasks to protect its development secrets.

  • Building Skills and Constructing Transferable Standards

Every business invests time, efforts and a certain amount of revenue in training its in-house staff for the right skillset. These skills are transferable in-house and can be utilized to build functional standards across the company. These standards can be followed by a new set of employees and the company saves on the training cost of new employees.

  • Seamless Coordination and Efficient Management

The efficiency of face-to-face communication and seamlessly assisted operations cannot be compared with any other digital communication standards. The in-house team gives managers the right platform to polish their management skills, draw great productivity and offer quality solutions. Conversely, remote team management has been a challenge for businesses. And PayPal extensively depends on its in-house team to offer the most superior quality solutions and products across the globe.

  • Encouraging Personal Participation and Profound Team Ethics

Other than the sense of accountability, there is always a sense of pride when working on your company’s project yourself. This develops a sense of loyalty, as employees feel more involved and influential with the project. The feeling gives rise to superior work ethics and team spirit.

  • Better Accountability and Planned Budgeting

‘Accountability’, certainly the first concern that shoots up the brain of every business owner when he considers drawing a line between in-house vs outsourcing. It goes without saying that the in-house team model offers better reliability than the remote or dedicated model. Furthermore, the business owner has a say in the salary of his/her in-house resources and can efficiently plan long-term budgeting.

Peter Drucker

Cons of In-house Team Model

  • Long-term Overhead Costs

Every business is liable to prepare payroll for its in-house employees. The in-house team model generally offers long-term employment and the business is responsible to pay for its employees’ health insurance, extra-time benefits, meal and travel expenses, etc. Moreover, the added infrastructure cost and employee retention cost, add up to the investment.

  • Lacking the Right Expertise

Certain geographies face a scarcity of the right talent when it comes to certain skilled business operations. Furthermore, most businesses excel in a single niche, which fades the versatility. This leaves businesses with the obvious option of offshoring. 83 Percent of recruiters have to invest an extensive deal of efforts in sourcing the right talent in-house.

 

  • Scalability Requires Much More Time & Effort

Hiring the right talent in-house for a long-term basis requires extensive efforts and time from the recruitment team. The process can extend from weeks to months and doesn’t meet your urgent scalability goals.

  • Paying Way Too Much

In tier 1 countries including the US, UK, and Australia, the cost of hiring skilled digital resources is way much higher than tier 2 and tier 3 countries. This may be due to the scarcity of the right talent or the high economy of tier 1 countries.

Remote Team Model

What is the Remote Team Model?

A remote team model is defined as a type of outsourcing in which businesses hire several remote resources to build a distributed or remote team. So here, these are skilled resources with great expertise, and available at affordable costs. They work remotely and are dedicated to a client or business on a long-term contract basis.

Also Read: Exclusive Research on Why Remote Working is the Future of IT Industry

Best Fits For?

The model is preferred by clients who have a well-analysed project scope and progress with a clear vision of investment. Other than the cost benefits, the remote work model renders a well-proportioned list of benefits for a business.

remote team vs dedicated team statistics

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Pros of Remote Team Model

  • Increased Productivity

A remote team can increase work productivity by as much as 13% as compared to the in-house team. 2/3 of employers, report some increase in the productivity from their remote team as compared to the in-house team.

  • Negligible to No Upfront Cost for CAPEX

“Office space is not cheap and start-ups need to find ways to save money, especially in the early days,” says Savage of GoShare. Costs like office furniture, electricity, business-level internet and other infrastructure facilities can be saved when opting for a remote team.

  • Access to a Large Pool of Resources

Employers who invest in building remote teams are open to hiring talent from around the world. Owing to the scarcity of the right talent in a specific location, businesses prefer to opt for the remote work model. As the Gartner survey reports, 22% of the CIOs are unable to find the right skillset in-house.

  • Finding the Right Expertise at the Best Price

When seeking for talent to join the remote team, employers look for candidates independent of their location. This allows employers to hire resources from tier 2 and tier 3 countries, allowing them to leverage the lower resource cost benefits as compared to tier 1 countries like the US, UK and Europe.

  • Reduced Overhead Expenses Per Employee

A survey of 2018 reports, an estimated $5 billion in the upfront cost for U.S. companies who hired remote teams (part-time and full-time). With the remote team model, an employer is not bound to bear the cost of health insurance, extra-time benefits, meal and travel expenses, etc. for its employees. Cost remains an important parameter in in-house vs outsourcing decisions.

inhouse vs remote vs dedicated team model remote pros and cons

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Cons of Remote Team:

  • On-on-one Communication and Remote Team Management Becomes Tangled

The digital communication channels including phone, email, chat or video calls, cannot replace the efficiency of face-to-face communication. As a manager, it is hard for business owners to analyze the capabilities and managing remote workers. They need to push greater efforts in skill development and creating the right coordination among the member in the remote team.

  • Scaling Isn’t as Easy as It Seems

Though remote team model, grants access to a large talent pool, finding the right workers to be added to your remote team remains a crucial challenge. The associated concerns include data security, time-zone management and reliability.

  • A Cross-culture Gap Is Evident

Remote workers from different geographies, different time-zones and with no direct connection with the in-house team display a cross-culture gap. This can make remote team management a tough peak. However, start-up culture is more about shared values and goals.

  • Risks Associated to Project Failure

Remote workers are generally self-employed experts who aren’t answerable to a parent agency and work on a contract basis with clients as full-time or part-time resources. Though these experts have a significant level of expertise and a reliable work portfolio, the risks associated to delay in timelines and project failure are higher.

Dedicated Team Model

What is the Dedicated Team Model?

As the name resembles, the ‘dedicated team model’ is about building a team of dedicated resources with the help of a specialised resource agency. This model of outsourcing is leveraged by large & long-term business projects. A perfectly-structured dedicated team is a good harmony of great skills, accountability, authoritative management and affordable costs. The model is constructive for clients having defined project-scope and business goals.

There is a list of pros and cons related to the dedicated team model, which are discussed below in the article.

 

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Best Fits For?

Dedicated team model is the right choice for constant workload projects where the dedicated team is liable to serve a client in the same sense as his in-house team. It can help startups to cut down on the upfront costs of building a skilled team and help large businesses with their team expansion goals.

dedicated team to remote team comparison

Pro’s of Dedicated Team Model

  • Team Dedicated to Your Goals & Processes

Unlike a shared resource team, a dedicated team functions as a team of experts working full-time on your projects. You as a business owner can manage your team independently and align them according to your project and business goals. Some resource agencies grant businesses access to train their dedicated team at their premises and align them according to their processes and time-zones.

  • Manage Team Structure and Scale On-demand

Large enterprises often prefer to choose the dedicated team model to meet their staff augmentation goals. Hiring a dedicated team from a specialized resource agency avails a business the capability to manage their team structure. The business owners can make quick calls about new additions to the team. Unlike managing remote workers, a dedicated team is more synchronized and the outsourcing vendor is liable to help you manage the team seamlessly.

  • Build Team for Long-term Goals

A dedicated team serves the best for long-term projects and the same team working on a prolonged project avoids the hassle related to resource transition. Skills and standards developed across your dedicated team are transferrable and helps you in the long term.

  • No CAPEX and Overhead Costs

Equivalent to the remote team model, the dedicated model helps save business owners from the CAPEX cost, including infrastructure setup, furniture cost, electricity and business level-internet. 44% of US businesses choose offshore development to reduce costs. Clients also save on overhead costs like healthcare insurance, free-time benefits, and meal expenses.

  • Increase in Productivity

The Harvard Business Review claims that businesses experience a 10% increase in the average productivity from the dedicated development team model, without surpassing the budget. Moreover, businesses have access to a larger resource pool across the globe.

Also Read: Myths Associated with Hiring a Dedicated Web Development Team

Cons of Dedicated Team Model

  • Cross-culture Gap

Though a dedicated team works in close coordination with the hiring manager at the client-side, it gets a narrow perspective about the company’s values and goals. This creates a cross-culture gap, which is likely to fade over time.

  • Not Fit for Short-term Projects

Dedicated team model doesn’t fit right for short-term projects. Hiring a dedicated team for a short-term project (less than 2 months) may result in investing more time and finances as compared to the fixed time mode of outsourcing.

A Comparison Graph between Dedicated Team, Remote Team and In-house Team Model

Dedicated team vs remote team vs inhouse team

Summing Up

The Upwork projection states that by 2028, 73% of all teams worldwide will utilise the remote team model. Another parameter that puts the dedicated team model above the other models of outsourcing is that it combines the benefits of an in-house team model with the remote team model. However, there couldn’t be a better bet than the in-house team model, if your resources have the right skill-set and deliver the desired returns on investment. A business needs to scrutinize its goals and capabilities well before making a choice!

Benefits of Using The Dedicated Team Model (DTM)

If you want to complete a project successfully on time in a cost-effective style and without much hustle, then hiring a dedicated team is the right thing. Why hiring a dedicated team for your project makes more sense?

Not just one, but, here are plenty of advantages favoring a dedicated team model (DTM) over getting your own inhouse team!

Whether you want to cut expenses for search and recruitment, and you want to save the infrastructure cost and overhead expenses – in both cases hiring a dedicated team is the right choice. It is a cost-effective solution to complete your project in a desirable style. You may be loaded with the cyclic or seasonal workload with strict deadlines, in such situations onboarding, a skilled and dedicated remote team for your project need is the best and quick solution. This way you can cut the risk with competent project management. Also, you can put your focus on core strategies and business.

Moreover, when the scope of work is not properly defined, you can change the request at any time. You can extend the team whenever required. In such a scenario, you’ll get better flexibility and scalability for completing the project the way you want.

The following diagram will bring clarity on why hiring a dedicated team over your inhouse team and freelancers are the best choice.

Top Advantages of Having a Dedicated Team by Your Side

  • Access to best talent resource with reliable support
  • Collaborative & Flexible engagement including changes of requirements
  • Focused approach with core competencies
  • Reduction on annual operating cost
  • Faster turnaround time & increased productivity
  • Elevation in performance efficiency level
  • Absolute control over the project
  • Great results & organizational transformation

These are the top advantages you can have while having an offshore remote team on your side for completing your project. However, DTM has 5 big advantages you can have, have a look at it:

1. The Cost-effective Partnership Comes in a Handy Way

Dedicated Team Model (DTM) has a transparent, simple, and monthly billing cycle. Depending on the size and composition of the team allotted to the project, every month the client pays the service provider. This way you can get rid of an ongoing salary of the assigned team by paying them on a project basis. In other words, you can easily ‘hire and fire’ team for your project as per need.

Also, there are good chances of getting a good outsourcing partner for your agency’s ongoing projects to need.

Hire Pre-vetted & High Performance Remote Teams

2. Proper Onboarding is the Key!

You need to be super clear about project needs and be sure of the hiring team’s communication skills, competence, and experience before you decide to bring them on board. Make sure by investing proper time and energy in onboarding any new offshore remote team for your project.

For starters, you absolutely must invest some time getting to know each other, especially when you’re planning to work together for a longer period. You can introduce your key agency members to their project managers and other coordinators. You can explain your company’s vision and values for a better understanding of your working cultures. This will help in reducing the gap and make them connect with your business goal.

3. Using Tools to Your Advantage

Thanks to technology, making our life easy and work processes simple and efficient, especially when both teams are sitting oceans apart. Yet effective communication and collaboration are integral yet essential variables to make impeccable project delivery in time. Likewise, advanced tools help in tracking and updating projects in real-time so that suggestions and feedback can be implemented simultaneously. It is good to avoid unnecessary ‘To and Fro’ amid the project.

Using good remote team management tool empowers both ends – your project need and the outsourcing partners. It becomes easy to streamline the processes further, efficiently. For instance, you might consider these good team collaboration and project management tools– Slack, ProofHub, Asana, Basecamp, InVision, TrackDuck, and BugHerd. These tools will help you in better team collaboration and easy communication. Email and text can often be misunderstood, it is good to speak to each other as much as possible.

4. Constant Update of Work-in-progress Projects

Streamlined communication and interactions are required to complete any project on time. With a clear understanding and expectations set for the dedicated team, you can decide on deadlines ahead of time with deliverables. Also, you need to set a proper tracking and feedback system. It becomes important as you won’t directly be overseeing the work, but you can have a look at every step and module while developing your project with the help of any outsourcing partner.

A quick call whenever required is a good way to stay updated with your project progress. However, you need to set a call in advance due to the availability of hiring a remote team in your time zone. It is good to speak frequently as much as you can.

5. Ultimately, a Reliable and Long-term Partnership

Once you find a good and reliable offshore team and you want them to stay – or if you want to start a long-term partnership – then you need to make them feel valued. You can explain and connect them with your virtues, values and work culture and align them with further projects.

You know when it’s time to take a new leap in your relationship after working on some projects, consistently. Take your relationship on a new level of partnership, mutual understanding and shared responsibilities. You can guide your partner about efficient processes and advanced tools that can save huge efforts and lot of money. Always share regular and constructive feedback on the completed task or what can be done to improve the functionalities and overall project.

We’re pretty much sure that you’ll be able to reap the rewards in the form of a stronger and long-lasting partnership. Remember, some good karma never cost much and doesn’t hurt, either.

Wrapping up

Choosing the right team, getting started and organized to process further development of your project are some of the things you need clarity before hiring any team to complete your business objective. And if you believe in building a strong and long-term partnership, then you’ll know which team to select for your ongoing project need.

If you want to build a project successfully in a cost-effective way, then you can hire a team of dedicated developers from us. Communicate with our executive and make things clear before putting a dedicated team on any project. You can have a chat and make a quick call to understand and make things clear at both ends. Uplers will be glad to assist you and we’ll see if you require a dedicated manager to further coordinate on the project.

Let’s build a strong and growing partnership. Start chanting the holy mantras of better team collaboration and team management by partnering with Uplers. Contact us today!