Outsourcing, insourcing, remote staffing, homesourcing… What does it all mean? With the increase in outsourcing companies globally, there has been a change in awareness in terms of relating to the process, along with the words used to describe it. Many of these are either used as synonyms despite initially having differing meanings, or are terms created to describe processes which already existed.

Here is a glossary of some of the words which you may come across in the world of outsourcing.

Outsourcing Glossary

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
1. As a verb, Business Process Outsourcing is the contracting of a specific business task to a third-party service provider.
2. As a noun, BPO is used to refer to a company which provides the third party to carry out the contracted task, and all related services.

Homesourcing
1. Using telecommuters to carry out a task or process, whether they are employees or independent contractors.

Inshoring
1. Outsourcing a task to a provider that is in the same country as your business.
2. Also called Onshore Outsourcing.

Insourcing
1. Using employees or on-site contractors to carry out a business task which could be outsourced.
2. The transfer of an outsourced business task back to in-house employees.

Nearshoring
1. Engaging a provider in a neighbouring country to carry out a task or service – e.g. A New Zealand company would nearshore to Australia, and many U.S. companies nearshore to Mexico. The provider could be a direct employee or a third-party supplier.

Offshoring
1. Engaging a provider based in another country to carry out a task or service. This provider may be a direct employee of the company, or be employed by a third-party provider.
2. Often used as a synonym for Outsourcing although their meanings are slightly different.

Outsourcing
1. Engaging a third-party contractor based off-site to carry out a task or service.
2. Often used as a synonym for Offshoring, although outsourcing does not necessarily have to be carried out in another country.

Remote Staffing
1. Employing a worker to carry out a task or service who is based in a different location to the main company, but is still an employee of the main company.

Confused yet? At Deployed we can help you cut through the jargon and find out how outsourcing (or offshoring, or remote staffing) can benefit your business. We get to know your business and help you untangle the outsourcing process to make it easy, straightforward, and seamless. Deployed will assist you in bridging the gap, so that your business can successfully maximise the potential of remote personnel.