Next-level Productivity
Over the past decade, increased connectivity and new online platforms have democratized outsourcing, making it possible for businesses big and small to access the work of talented developers abroad. The benefits of outsourcing are well-documented; it is cost-effective and can raise the productivity of the entire team.
As outsourcing has become more widespread, new outsourcing management platforms have popped up to make working with a development team abroad considerably simpler. Besides popular project management options like Jira, Trello, Asana, and Basecamp, there are many platforms on the market to help your business organize an outsourced team at home or abroad. Here are eight platforms that you might not know about but that can help manage outsourcing work.
1. 4me
4me is an outsourcing-management platform that allows companies to manage their relationships with Managed Service Providers (MSP) through a Service-Level Agreement (SLA) arranged on the platform, no matter where they are in the world. The startup, which recently raised US$1.65M from Storm Ventures, helps businesses coordinate multiple outsourcing teams using real-time reporting, as well as collaboration tools that help IT, HR, and finance teams keep the company on track.
2. RedBooth
RedBooth is an intuitive project management platform that allows companies to create project timelines assigned to different groups and systematize tasks (such as employee onboarding) to make them repeatable. It can be integrated into most apps, including email, allowing any message to be turned into an action item immediately.
3. PlanBox
PlanBox is an agile project management platform called an AI-Powered Enterprise Innovation Management Software that helps operationalize design thinking, agile experimentation, and collaborative innovation across remote teams.
4. PandaDoc
PandaDoc integrates all essential company paperwork on an online platform that allows you to sign contracts, share agreements, receive quotes, and eSign documents with a team abroad. They use high-security encryption used by financial services to keep information safe and have proven to decrease busy work by 50% by streamlining paperwork, especially across borders.
5. Wrike
Wrike is a work management platform with over one million users and is one of the fastest growing companies in North America. It integrates contracts and agreements with real-time tracking software that automatically manages workflows, tracks budgets and resources, and organizes approvals.
6. Due
Due is a cloud-based time tracking service that helps manage time invoices and payments across international outsourced teams.
7. PassPack
PassPack allows companies to maintain control over their passwords when working with several organizations at once. It uses a unique encrypted system to manage passwords from the client side, make it possible to share and hide passwords easily to assure the security of the companies documents.
8. Xero
Xero is a small business accounting software that integrates everything from invoicing to payroll in a single intuitive platform. Most important for outsourcing teams, it also accepts international payments, automatically calculating losses and gains based on currency exchange. Xero also has a free version for those just getting started.
Outsourcing development requires a high level of coordination between in-house and outsourced teams. These new platforms are improving communication, streamlining payments, and organizing project management for organizations that do not operate out of the same office. With the help of innovative software platforms, cross-border collaboration has become widely accessible to businesses of all sizes.
