Outsourcing one or a few aspects of business such as architectural or civil engineering through increasing human resources or other methods is becoming very popular. With many attractive benefits, outsourcing becomes a possible and cost-effective strategy for many companies to choose.

Just like any works, outsourcing has its own shortcomings and challenges. It is important that you know how to handle and control it so that it goes in the direction you want it to be. The article has discussed in more detail about retaining control of your project, especially when you are outsourcing software development.

What it means and why is it important

If you are the owner of a project that is under construction or a consulting business that provides implementation services to the client, you have to understand this principle. In both cases, of course, you always want the results will be satisfactory and develop your goals as intended. If you want to achieve that, you need to keep control and monitor the outsourcing process, while asserting intellectual property rights.

By keeping in control, you will ensure that all project items are implemented as intended and with better results. Besides, trust is also an important factor, especially with large outsourcing agents or outsourcing the main part or whole of the project.

You will be enabled to give the control up by trust because your outsourced civil engineering services will be fully correct with your needs and objectives. Keeping control is easier now due to not having micromanaged, which will be a 1-1 win for you and your design partner as you will do what you do best without any disruption.

Different outsourcing strategies mean different levels of control

The differences between outsourcing strategies depend on the different levels of control you apply. This means you should choose the type of outsourcing based on the level of control you can hold.

How to keep track your projects when outsourcingManaged services

In the case that you do not have a fully specialized in-house team and you have no problem delivering everything to outsourcing, then managed service is probably the best choice for you. When you outsourcing in conjunction with managed service, the partner takes care of the entire development process, including management and execution, so there is no need for you to be involved in the project.

The types of the project like the one above often share a fixed scope which is called turnkey projects. To ensure that you are still the owner of the intellectual property after both parties deliver the final results, you need to have an agreement with the service provider about the white-label.

Dedicated teams

This kind of outsourcing is seen as an intermediary that helps you bring one or more people into your team. Besides, you also enjoy the whole section of development or even the entire development process of your partner. However, for managed service, your dedicated team or project management team will be more responsible than the partner agency.

This way keeps you in control of the progress of the project while delegating technical processing rights to the team you are outsourcing.

Outsourcing is ideal for both companies without in-house experts as well as companies with an in-house team of experts but lacking certain skill-sets, unfamiliar with the design knowledge required, and want to form a new group rather than reinforce an existing one.

Staff augmentation / team augmentation

One option where you can easily keep the highest level of project control is to strengthen the staff or the team. You can outsource a few experts to advance the capabilities of your internal team, or to fill in the skills gaps of your organization or you need a large number of certain specialists for a project.

If you only need one person to develop your project then you should hire a freelancer. If you need two or more experts, please contact the outsourcing service provider agencies that you are looking for. This is less expensive than the process of hiring a full-time employee.

The partner agents have their own policies to ensure project progress and staff quality. If something goes wrong with the staff they gave you in the first place, they will have another team to replace it. With this staffing approach, you can easily control both the human resources and technologies of the project, leading you as the sole owner of the resulting product or service.

What to look for with outsourced architectural or civil engineering design

Regardless of what type of strategy you decide to choose, if you choose to outsource then here are some rules to help you find a good architectural or civil engineering outsourcing service that matches the level of control you have over your project.

  • Technical expertise: Looking for a professional partner with qualified techniques is of course the top priority. It could include skills in using software like Civil 3D, Revit or AutoCAD or design experience in your areas. Choosing a partner with solid expertise and experience gives you the peace of mind to assign tasks to them even complex process, without worrying about low-quality results.
  • Good communication: Transparent communication is a fundamental foundation for building trust. If your development partner is good at communication then you will also feel safer assigning tasks to them on the project.
  • Company culture: Cultural similarity is also an important factor. If the culture of your partner is similar to yours, there is a high chance that both sides will share values and see things the same way, making it easier to perform the task the way you want it to. Again, similar values will result in better alignment and no need for you to manage everything.
  • Compliance with design standards and best practices: When you work with an outsourcing provider or an agency capable of demonstrating their standards of work, you will feel more secure because they respect your intellectual property and any potential NDA involved. Besides, it is also a guarantee of the quality of the results they produce. Above is information about countries for architectural and engineering outsourcing.

Hopefully, the above information could help you answer how to keep track of your projects when outsourcing to a remote team. If you are seeking quality architectural drafting or civil engineering outsourcing service, EPO Industry would be a leading candidate for you. Feel free to contact us should you have any questions about the outsourcing industry. We would happy to perform a trial project for  you at no cost.