When businesses look at outsourcing, they often compare the idea of full offshore staffing with hiring people through sites like Upwork and Freelancer.

On the surface it seems like a good, simple solution – someone external to your office does the bulk of the work for you. Given the nature of the sites, it is highly likely that the freelancers will be overseas, a large percentage in the Philippines.

There are some significant drawbacks to using an online freelancer as opposed to investing in a dedicated remote team.

The first is in the name – Remote team. Freelancers on these sites are individuals. Not the best solution if you want to work with more than one person at a time and build relationships with your existing employees. You will be occupied facilitating the communications from your front office to the freelancer, and checking in on them as individuals. This is a drain on your time which could be used more productively elsewhere.

The second is the time you will waste writing the job description to the specs on the website; and sifting through multiple responses from unqualified candidates will quickly become very frustrating. With 10 million users on Upwork, you can guarantee you will get a large number of responses – and a lot of them will not be qualified. Many online freelancers do not have the skills to do the job but are desperate to secure the role, meaning they will either skirt around the details or straight-up lie in the hope you will be seduced by a low bid. There is no benefit to your company in getting a cheap freelancer if they cannot do the job.

Therefore, you will need to carefully analyse all the bids – which could be in the thousands – to make sure they at least come across as who they say they are (claims like “fluent in written and spoken business English’’ are widely used and sadly often not true.)

With Deployed we take the time and worry out of your hands. We manage the hiring for you, so any candidate you interview will be well qualified and capable of doing the job you need before you even speak to them, saving you time and money.

If you are lucky enough to find someone with the skills you need through a freelancing site – one who actually finishes the job rather than disappearing or presenting you with sub-par work that needs to be fixed by you or your existing team, you then have to manage payment. Overseas payments incur bank charges and take more of your time. Deployed manages your overseas payroll for you, making the process simple and painless.

Using Deployed means your outsourcing team works in a fully-functional office, not from their home. Home-based working means an unstable internet connection, low quality equipment, and the distractions of day-to-day activities from family sharing the space.

Freelance sites are designed for outsourcing a single task and hoping to get a decent result, as opposed to setting up a long-term relationship with an offshore team.

Deployed is easy, cost-efficient, and productive. With Deployed your remote team will become an extension of your existing team, leaving you able to rely on their talent for major projects and ongoing tasks. You will not be wasting your time having to tender every project hoping to find a diamond that is affordable, willing, and experienced enough to get the results you need.

Deployed vs Freelancing sites: