Tomorrow’s Impact Sourcing Customer

Impact Sourcing is a global initiative that leverages the power of the Internet to bring online jobs to high potential but disadvantaged people. It’s a win-win. Organizations receive high quality digital work and communities gain a foothold in the global economy. Impact Sourcing isn’t just outsourcing, it’s socially responsible outsourcing.

Impact Hub helps growing businesses get started with Impact Sourcing in order to catalyze industry growth. We’re invested in the industry’s future and we’re motivated by the opportunity to improve lives. Since we’re focussed on increasing demand for Impact Sourcing services, I’d like to put social impact aside for today’s blog post and address the business side of things.

UNDERSTANDING TOMORROW’S CUSTOMER

I often speak with founders of small, innovative, online businesses from Washington, DC, San Francisco, and New York. They often have complex data projects, user generated content and nearly all of their business functions are digital. These are tomorrow’s Impact Sourcing customers.

These digitally-savvy professionals seem to come from the same tribe. Nearly all of them use Apple devices, MailChimp for email marketing, Kayak for plane tickets and so on. These platforms have millions of users because they offer a superior customer experience.

Today’s purchaser is accustomed to finding business solutions via attractive, easy-to-use websites. Small, but growing companies don’t often work with outsourcing consultants or vendor managers who can point these customers to the right Impact Sourcing Service Provider. These kind of organizations want a simple, straightforward mechanism to research, select and engage with service providers – and it needs to be easy, attractive and online.

IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES

At Impact Hub, we believe the Impact Sourcing purchasing experience needs improvement. In fact, we think this is one of the primary developments needed to increase demand of Impact Sourcing services – and therefore social impact. Thinking more broadly, the industry needs more consistency in it’s branding, language and the way services are described and marketed.

Impact Hub provides a centralized platform that gives customers a positive first impression of Impact Sourcing. Aside from basic website upgrades and marketing initiatives, we think a broad and fundamental shift is required. We must make it easier for businesses and organizations to discover the industry’s value proposition.

NEXT STEPS

After the customer’s first impression, it’s all about closing deals quickly and efficiently. In our opinion, industry advocates and service providers should proactively help customers:

• Identify internal processes that weren’t cost effective to outsource until now
• Move existing contracts to Impact Sourcing Service Providers
• Explore new service offerings

If the above guidance could be delivered to potential customers in an online, easy-to-digest format, without a consulting firm- more small businesses would buy into Impact Sourcing.

We want to hear from you, so please leave a comment with your thoughts on customer experience. We want to help raise the visibility of your services.