What is a Virtual Team?

A virtual team implies individuals who work jointly from different geographic locations entirely depending on communication technology like email,  messaging, voice chat, video conference, and online meet app services. In simple words, a virtual team works as a group about some core members who interact with each other mainly using electronic devices and employ themselves in interdependent assignments. 

How does it work?

 Virtual teams have become an unavoidable circumstance of modern business life and make them work some basic principles effectively one needs to follow.   

• One has to utilize some amount of time in engaging the team members to get acquainted with each other. 
• For virtual team building, coordination is a challenge as employees are not co-located. So to simplify the work, tasks are allocated to sub-groups, and clarity is maintained throughout. 
• As communication on virtual teams is continually less, the leader should retain some strict rules formulating a charter that defines norms of behavior while participating in virtual meetings. 
• Selecting the right mode of virtual communication is of utmost necessity.
• Specifying and sharing the meeting agenda at the right time, maintaining clear policies on communication protocols, and starting and finishing the meeting on time are crucial factors. If the team members work from different time zones, it is essential to regularly rotate meeting times to dissipate the load equally among the members.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is a business method in which a company hires a third party to provide services for them by executing specific tasks and handling operations set to partner. The outside company or the third-party provider engages its computer network and employees to achieve the tasks.

Companies today can easily outsource several assignments, duties, or services. They frequently outsource information technology-related services, including software programming and application along with technical backing.

How outsourcing works

To carry on effective outsourcing tasks, it is important to concentrate on the business partnership along with logistic arrangements.  Retaining a trusted relationship is vital in outsourcing procedures. Some experts suggest emphasizing the exit clause of a service-providing contract. It is important to specify the fulfillment of their obligations.The outsourcing decision is the outcome of three main reasons.

• When the professional skills are absent at the location of the business.

• When the company goes for cost-cutting and searches for low-cost workers. 

• When the company becomes unable to get a volume of workers at their location.

What are the differences between outsourcing & virtual team building?

Nowadays outsourcing and virtual teams are closely related to each other. An outsourcing effort can become strong and viable when a virtual team successfully works behind it.  Spending the time to establish a proper virtual team and investing the right amount for its development surely have an impact on an outsourcing effort. An IT outsourcing partnership can offer companies the option of working with virtual teams.   Regardless of the regions of the workers, the virtual teams can help the companies to attain a wide variety of IT tasks. 

Virtual teams can also offer business benefits, reduce expenses, the potential to recruit people according to their skills expertise. But it is important to decide the specific distinctions between virtual teams and outsourcing. Moreover, to some people outsourcing is just another extension of the virtual team. But actually, it is not. A virtual team is not solely equal to outsourcing.

• Almost every startup is a virtual team these days due to lack of office space, and members are forced to work from their own homes. The team members may not even be inmates of the same territory.

• Virtual teams consist of the workers who are assembled with corresponding skills to achieve a definite task or project, normally by modern communication methods.

• Some companies achieved significant success by using Virtual team building. Due to the shortage of workers, the company had to turn down some customer projects. Enhancing internal staff wasn’t a prudent choice as it could create other complications for them. To enhance growth and achieve new customers, the software developer company had to partner with an IT outsourcing provider for setting up a virtual team.  The virtual team effort facilitated the company to develop an ongoing development model based on requirements.

Virtual teams are most successful when objectives, goals, and perceptions are truly communicated.

• True virtual team leaders broaden their minds, focus from the local to the global, and encourage them to work toward a common goal.

• Members are committed to accomplishing the mission. Tough performing teams can feel the objectives and obligations working in a virtual environment. Team members tend to develop mutual interdependence to achieve goals. 
• A culture of openness encourages trust and authenticity among the team members. Team leaders must focus on behaviors instead of personality. The leader must enhance meaningful communication with others. High-performing virtual teams find ways to maintain standards in terms of frequency and modes of communication.

• The remote staffing team must have access to appropriate technology for gathering valid and current information. 

• A conflict management mechanism should always be activated in case of virtual stuffing. Simple miscommunications should get acknowledged and fixed to ensure proper resolution. When this happens, the team enables to avoid prolonged energy-draining confrontations.

Go to Market ( GTM) is has huge expertise in remote staffing solutions. They provide highly experienced virtual staffing solutions to their clients.