Outsourcing has come a long way since the early days of where typically IT work was undertaken offshore and call centers were set up. From giants like Google and IBM to early-stage startups…everyone’s involved in offshore outsourcing.
Outsourcing Norm
As satisfaction levels are steady and partnerships are developing based on trust, offshore production is set for strong growth over the next five years. In fact, brands and IHAs are predicting more investment in offshore creative production over the next 12 months.
Are in-house agencies really outsourcing?
The chances are that your closet competitor is secretly outsourcing. According to TKM Consultants Benchmark Report “Delivering Offshore Success” 76% of agencies currently offshore some level of creative production. IHAF reports that 75% of in-house agencies have been offshoring for at least two years.
Doing More For Less Is Real
Findings from our March 2022 survey ‘Challenges for IHAs in a post-pandemic world,’ revealed that 56% of UK in-house agencies say the biggest challenge they will face will be having to do more for less!
The Cost Issue
The cost issue looms large now as in-house agencies are under pressure to prove the ROI on their campaigns and projects. The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the creative services industry, according to Marketing Week, with over half of marketers experiencing a decrease in their marketing budget.
The Time Factor
In 2014, Deloitte found that the average employee answered 110 emails per day, and couldn’t spare more than 24 minutes per week. That’s 1% of a 40-hour week. Jump along to 2022, and in a typical working week, most employees only have 20 spare minutes. Creativity for IHA workers shouldn’t be the leftover minutes of the day or week, but quite often it can be.
The Creative Challenge
In March 2022, EKCS asked delegates at Creative Operations London what their biggest challenges were for their team right now. In the ‘challenges for IHAs in a post-pandemic world’ survey, 27% of IHAs said ‘finding time for creative work.’
The Benefits of Outsourcing
- Making Budgets Work
An article published by Campaign Live highlighted how Nestlé was able to reduce production costs by as much as 80% using offshore production partners. For creative and artwork, production and digital work, using an offshore production partner can make significant savings for in-house agencies without any loss in quality.
- Meeting Deadlines
Meeting deadlines is one of the biggest challenges with 51% saying so in the EKCS The Modern Challenges of an IHA survey. For in-housers, time gets taken up with company pressures and priorities. As a result, meeting deadlines creates extra pressure and overtime. Using off-shore production partners, who are working in different time zones is an advantage for creative teams. Every business has peak periods and it is here that IHAs can leverage the help of external partners. With knowledge transfer and collaboration, external and in-house teams work in tandem to handle peaks.
- Creating Time To Be Creative
There are so many challenges that hinder creative output when working in-house. But the key challenge is time, or lack of it. That’s why more and more IHAs outsource their creative production to an offshore partner.
