Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the practice of contracting a supplier to carry out a defined piece of work that a company could otherwise do itself, so that the supplier, not the buyer's own managers, owns running it and delivering the agreed result.
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This term is one of the entries in the OutsourcingVN glossary of words buyers meet while deciding how to get software built.
Why does outsourcing matter?
The word gets used loosely for almost any arrangement involving an outside team, which hides a real difference: under outsourcing, the supplier manages the day-to-day work and is accountable for the outcome, while the buyer sets the requirements and accepts the result. OutsourcingVN is operated by Netbase JSC, and confusing outsourcing with simply "hiring extra people from elsewhere" is how a buyer ends up unclear about who is actually responsible when something goes wrong.
What is an example of outsourcing in practice?
A retailer needs a loyalty programme built and launched in four months but has no spare engineering capacity and no wish to hire permanently for a one-off build. It writes the requirements, agrees a fixed scope with a supplier, and the supplier's own delivery lead plans the work, assigns its engineers and reports progress against milestones. The retailer reviews and accepts each milestone rather than directing daily tasks; the supplier decides how the work gets done, the retailer decides whether the result is right.
What are the common misreadings of outsourcing?
Outsourcing is not the same as offshoring, which only describes where the work happens, not who manages it or owns the outcome; a company can outsource domestically or offshore, and it can also offshore work to its own team without outsourcing anything. Outsourcing is also not staff augmentation, where individuals join the buyer's own team and take direction from the buyer's managers rather than a supplier's delivery lead: see the staff augmentation definition for that distinction. And outsourcing a single bounded project is a different shape of arrangement from standing up an offshore development centre, which is a dedicated team run for a buyer over the long term rather than a project with a defined end.
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Common questions
No. Outsourcing describes who manages and owns the work, not where it happens; a buyer can outsource to a supplier in its own country just as easily as to one abroad.
Yes. A company commonly keeps the part that differentiates its product in-house while a supplier owns a bounded piece of the build, each under its own form of accountability.
Which decisions does outsourcing affect?
Choosing between outsourcing a project, bringing people onto your own team through staff augmentation, or building in-house, based on who should own daily direction and delivery risk, is the subject of the project outsourcing vs staff augmentation guide. For buyers specifically weighing a Vietnam-based supplier, the Vietnam outsourcing guide covers the governance questions that decision raises. When you know the piece of work you want a supplier to own, describe it and Netbase will respond through Netbase's own outsourcing-services platform; submit a project when you are ready.