Today, with the help of the Internet, we are not defined by borders and we can work from home in foreign companies. Aside from remote working, the Internet has made outsourcing even more accessible for businesses.
Outsourcing has become very popular and it is not a limited practice only for small businesses. Industry giants like Google, WhatsApp, and Slack are outsourcing, making it an effective and proven business model for others to follow.
So what made this practice so popular and why are more and more companies outsourcing some services?
It’s no wonder why cost reduction is the main driver of outsourcing. It often happens that the desired professionals and services in the country where the company operates cost too much.
That is why companies prefer to employ those services from a different country where the exact work costs them less.
Another equally popular reason for outsourcing is the lack of available talent internally. This is especially true when it comes to Artificial Intelligence.
AI can provide significant benefits to companies; However, as it is still an emerging field, AI-related positions are difficult to fill.
So if you’ve decided to outsource AI talent, it’s likely due to one of the reasons mentioned above.
Understanding the reasons for outsourcing is important, but it is equally important to know the details and technical aspects of the process to successfully outsource an AI team.
How to successfully outsource your AI team
- Research the team
As the saying goes: “Supposing is good, but finding out is better”. Since you are delegating a significant part of your business operation to an external team, it is important to ensure that the members are professionals.
Try to find out the projects the team has worked on and the results they got. Ask the team for their portfolio where details of past projects, such as the problem, solution, and results are described in depth.
With the help of LinkedIn and Google search, you can also separately check the profiles of the team members and their professional background.
- Schedule a consultation call
Once you’ve researched the team on the web, another great way to get to know them is through a consultation call.
This step should not be skipped as it gives you an opportunity to discuss the problem you want to solve. Ask the team what ideas they have for your AI project and if they see any risks related to it.
The consultation call will not only give you a better understanding of the team’s professional background, but will also help you see how the communication will unfold. Is there a cultural fit? Or maybe a language barrier?
If you are outsourcing a team from abroad, it is important to ensure that the communication language is satisfactory and that both parties understand each other perfectly.
PS: If you are looking for a customer-centric team with expertise in fields like AI, data science, big data, data mining, and much more, look no further and schedule a free consultation call with our AI experts.
- Technology skillset
Remember when we mentioned earlier that AI professionals were hard to find? That’s because AI is a challenging field and becoming a professional requires extensive experience and intelligence.
Since you want to outsource a portion of your business operations, you don’t want to settle for just any AI team, you want to make sure they are true professionals and your project is in good hands.
Ask the team what their top tech skills are and find out if they specialize in things like creating and implementing ML models, planning and executing an ML project on time, and if they know the particularities of a successful data science team.
Ideally, the AI team should be able to work crosswise with your business leaders so that together they can identify where AI can add value to your business. To successfully execute the project, an Engineering Director and project managers is also important so that all the steps are thought through and everything goes well.
In terms of other members, it depends on the project, but in general, ML engineers, data scientists, data engineers, and other professionals are often part of AI projects.
- Project Management process
It is important to be aware of how the implementation and execution of your project is going. This is especially true if this is your first time partnering with the outsourcing company.
What stage is the project in? Are the deadlines being met? Is the planned budget sufficient?
To stay on top of these issues, you need constant communication with the outsourced team. While email and phone communication is an option, an effective way of being in the loop are the project management tools like Jira, Asana, Trello, etc.
The tools will help you see in more detail the status of each individual task and who is assigned to it, deadlines, advanced reports and much more.
- Prepare legal documents
After deciding to start the partnership with a company, make sure you have all the necessary legal documents that will protect your business.
Do not share your project details, as well as your data, with an unfamiliar company until there is a mutual agreement regarding the terms and rights between two parties.
Generally, a document signed before starting cooperation is a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). However, check with your lawyers to make sure you have all the necessary documents to protect your business.
Conclusion
Outsourcing can be a powerful tool for your company to quickly and effectively gain access to AI talent and accelerate your project execution.
However, it is also a procedure that should be taken very seriously and thoroughly examined before engaging in it.
Pay attention to all the steps mentioned above to make sure your AI outsourcing is successful. Understand if the company of your choice is focused only on fees or if they really want to find out if there is a fit between you two.
If their priorities are understanding your problem and making sure their service can help your business, then that is already a good sign.
Do you want a customer-centric company that takes all the steps mentioned above seriously? MaxinAI is a team of 60+ Ph.D. level experts previously employed in companies such as General Electric, CERN, Trip Advisor, Zalando, etc.
We took projects like power consumption prediction, document data extraction, facial recognition, and successfully delivered them to clients around the world.
If you want to be our next success story, schedule a free consultation with our experts and let’s build something great together!
