What are the advantages of outsourcing?

[calydon]

For a classroom assignment - I need to answer the question, "What are the benefits of outsourcing?" in the context of graphics production for games.

I thought this is the perfect place to ask.

I have thought of these ones so far:

-getting a variety of styles that aren't present in your current art dept.
-work that is cheaper than can be produced in your region

[Noah Bradley]

I seriously want a "No, we will not do your homework for you" sticky.

[Interceptor]

not keepign artists on fulltime means you're paying for the art when you need it, and you're not the ones necessarily paying for benefits and health care and like that, I think

[stuartjems]

There are many outsource advantages,
1.Reduce overheads, free up resources
2. Minimize capital expenditure
3. Eliminate investment in fixed infrastructure
4. Offload non-core functions
5. Redirect energy and personnel into the core business
6. Free your executive team from day-to-day process problems
7. Focus scarce resources on mission-critical projects
8. Get access to specialized skills
9. Reduce need for internal commitment of specialists
10. Save on manpower and training costs
11. Control operating costs
12. Improve efficiencies through economies of scale
13. Improve speed and service
14. Level out cyclical or seasonal fluctuations
15. Eliminate peak staffing problems
16. Provide the best quality services, products and people
17. Be reliable and innovative
18. Provide value-added services
19. Increase customer satisfaction
20. Establish long-term, strategic relationships with world-class service providers to gain a competitive edge.

[FourTonMantis]

I seriously want a "No, we will not do your homework for you" sticky.

We should just all draw more pictures of Nibru and post them here.

[Noah Bradley]

All hail Nibru.

[kab]

Money.
Less responsibilities.

BTW: the opinions of a bunch of guys on a forum, even a forum of mostly working creative-professionals, is not a source of research for academic work.

[Kamber Parrk]

I seriously want a "No, we will not do your homework for you" sticky.

Well. . .

You could ask your fellow students in the class for their opinions.

NO! WAIT! You're competing against them for a grade. . .

[kab]

When did school become a competition? I always thought of my classmates as co-workers, not competition, it's not like there can only be one "A" per class. Use each other for feedback and help eachother do good, and I promise you you will enjoy studying a lot more, and most likely do better work.

[IanE]

Question: What are the advantages of outsourcing?

Answer: Massive Black.

[paberu]

Here is your answer: Outsourcing in Games Industry (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=outsourcing+in+games+industry)



edit: Can we probate any one who starts a thread asking for us to do their assignment work? Especially if their post count is below 10 posts and they don't have at least a sketchbook going?

[kab]

Again, I wonder what makes people think a message-board is the place to conduct research for these types of assignments? =p

If I had ever cited my source as http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=173588 on a written assignment, my tutors would not be amused

[Kamber Parrk]

The OP might be able to find a forum in the Philipines or India where a smarter, younger, more ambitious student will do his outsourcing homework for him!

That'd be ironic!:devil:

[nauvice]

this is not the perfect place to ask at all, a library is

[Peter Coene]

Well, a major benefit of outsourcing is that you can send the work overseas and thus get it done for nickels and dimes compared to what you'd be paying for American employees. Sure, the end product might be a bit shoddy by comparison; but that's why you market it to the parents who don't know any better and only want it so that their kids will shut up and leave them alone.

*sneaks away to avoid angry lynch mob*

[GriNGo]

People who work overseas don't necessarily do bad work. Maybe they'll do even better work then in the US. You just need to be sure about the quality of your outsourced employee.

[calydon]

Thanks for the responses so far - esp. StuartJem's.

I had to LOL at some of the responses. :)

For those that said this is the wrong place to ask, I disagree.
I wanted the responses of artists, not just academics. Also, I was hoping to get some advantages from the artist's POV, not just the outsourcing company's.

If I want to get the real story 'straight from the horse's mouth' I think it's best to go straight to the source -in this case game company owners and artists. This is the place to meet artists, right?

For those who said this is the wrong place to post homework assignments - well, maybe, but it is much like a company that asks you to do a survey for free. Why would you? You're not getting paid, and it wastes your time. Still, some people do them.

But I'm not like that so if you posted a useful response in this thread PM me with your Amazon wish list.

ps. Sketchbook is coming RayK

[kab]

This is a forum for artists, some of them are professionals, some of them know something about outsourcing, some of them could see your post, and some of them would answer.

Still, you'd be far better of going directly to someone like Jason Manley, or the other guys who are familiar with the business side of the industry, with a well thought-out series of questions relating to your assignment. Interviews are a good way of doing research, but it helps to focus them a little. Asking a general question in an open message board, you're going to be left with a heap of information-fragments with no sources as to their validity.

The reason why people answer surveys is that the questions are structured to give the interviewer an image of what the person answering feels about something. Taking a survey is a way of giving feedback that in turn could give you a better service. Try posting a survey online with a single, generalized question about something only a fraction of the audience has any experience with and I think you'll see A: that you won't get a lot of responses B: the responses you get will be largely irrelevant to what is the actual answer...

If you want good information, you need to talk to people who know what they are talking about.

I might not be a game-developer, but I think you are asking the wrong question as well. From what I understand, game-developers outsource work for much the same reasons that someone would outsource a telephone helpline, to save money. I think the differences between outsourcing various tasks come down to disadvantages, not advantages. Some tasks can be performed by unskilled workers, while others, such as 3d and illustration work, needs specialized skillsets.Therefore, a developer needs to weigh the advantage (money) against the possible disadvantages (quality of work, communication, timeline). As the low-cost countries are beginning to learn the skills needed in game-devloping, outsourcing that task is getting more and more viable.

Perhaps you need to rephrase your question to get better answers, otherwise, your entire assignment can basically be summed up in a single word, money.

[Tim Murphy]

You've just got a number of correct answers but let me put some more details. With regards to cost, businesses can cut more than half of it when they are successful in outsourcing. When I say successful, what I mean is that your workers are good and they submit quality work. Also, that they can be trusted.

In terms of time, they can save a lot of time from doing the job. Especially for work that eats a lot of time. By "getting a variety of styles" you can really access various skills that are great.

I think you should also take note of the problems in outsourcing. Without proper interviews and screening, you might get the wrong providers. They might not meet your standards.

You have got to be the most thread-accurate adbot I've ever seen. I'm too in awe to even report this.