From Charleston to Chandagar: Local company outsources... -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 1/1/2003
Last Visited: 10/1/2003
"They probably touch 95 percent of the work we do," says Jeff Schwaner, editor and co-founder of Booksurge."They could be handling five or six hundred files in the course of a week."
Because Booksurge compensates per piece of work completed, the company has not had to worry about investing the same amount of money every week for a job where the workload frequently fluctuates.Booksurge originally assigned the work to local freelancers, before deciding that-in a business where deadlines are imperative since orders are shipped within 48 hours-the setup wasn't ideal.But because outsourcing allowed for maximum flexibility in the growth process, says Schwaner, it still seemed like the most sensible solution.
"Ideally, you would like to outsource as much as you can so that you grow in an intelligent and natural manner," says Schwaner.
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As well as providing high-quality work, the companies in India have been extremely accommodating in their ability to adapt to certain technical programs, says Schwaner; in fact, several of the firms had never worked with books before their involvement with Booksurge.
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"It's a sticky question, but the fact of the matter is with the domestic job market the way it is, we could not profitably create a system here that's as reliable as the one we have offshore," Schwaner insists.