Landing a lucrative government contract can provide an Impact Sourcing Service Provider (ISSP), a steady flow of work that can allow expansion into new areas and ensure the continued success of existing outsourcing programs. But as The Rockefeller Foundation and The William Davidson Institute point out in their report, Impact Sourcing: Assessing the Opportunity for Building a Thriving Industry, current work from government entities is sporadic and smaller in volume.
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The report acknowledges that governments have a larger interest in outsourcing work that impacts target population. To grow this sector however, ISSPs are challenged with navigating the bureaucracy involved in making change through the legislature. Large, private organizations such as The Rockefeller Foundation can help build partnerships with public entities that will, in time, lead governments to consider Impact Sourcing as an alternative to traditional government work.
Currently, many governments are working on the grueling process of digitizing archives in order to reduce paper files. This process would be ideal for ISSPs, who could save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in government employee salaries, equipment, and associated expenses by sending work to outsourcing centers throughout the world. Through partnering with organizations that can help enact change at the government level, ISSPs could create a wealth of work for outsourcing service providers while offering a valuable service to governments.
Clearly, ISSPs have a long way to go in convincing governments to participate in Impact Sourcing, but as the field continues to grow, organizations like The Rockefeller Foundation can make a big difference. Through sharing their own stories of success through the use of ISSPs, the private sector can help increase government participation to increase the impact of outsourcing.
Outsourcing workers are trained in data entry, processing and organizing data and other skills related to working with business customers. But soft skills and life skills are just as important. Since soft skills are often inherent, how do ISSPs ensure workers include them as part of their training process? Read our thoughts in our next post.