Workflow Sample: Episode 576: Business Improvement in SaaS Vendor Operation (Part 3)

Operation: Creation of Icons, Production of Posters, etc.

With the new Business Process definition, "requests" from internal company are now managed centrally.

Those requests of designing from such as the marketing department, the product development department, the sales department, ... are now efficiently handled as a "team". In addition, I suppose that the designers have become interested in each other's work so that contribute to the skill improvement of each designer.

Reference：Episode 574: Business Improvement in SaaS Vendor Operation (Part 1)、Episode 575: Business Improvement in SaaS Vendor Operation (Part 2)

Challenge: Cases where Not In Time for Delivery Schedule

However, there are still cases where it will not be in time for the "delivery date".

For example, when a request of "in a haste" comes, "regular requests" are affected. Particularly when large projects such as "release of new service" or "preparation of new campaign" become in action, various "requests in hurry" will occur. As a result, "regular projects that are flexible to deadlines" will not be in time for the due date.

It should be "a design team that can keep up production schedules" even by utilizing external resources.

[Designing request-Outsourcing]

Solution: Outsourcing

Needless to say, "utilization of external resources" in the busy season is effective.

Certainly, It is also good to nominate the "work staff" inside the company if the personnel system in which "the amount of commission received (contract amount)" is reflected in the evaluation and remuneration of "person in charge of work" is functioning (if directly connected with the increase in revenue of the designer). However, there is a limit even in such "work amount that can be considered positively".

In this Workflow definition, a flow for Outsourcing has been added.

Specifically, a route to advance to "3x. Outsource" has been added to the Step of "2. Designate" and "3. Create". (The name of the User type Data Item "Designer" has been changed to "Designer or Outsourcer".) It enables that those which can be entrusted to the outside can be outsourced.

Discussion: Crowdsourcing

"Crowdsourcing" (outsourcing to an unspecified number of people) attracts attention along with technology evolution of the Internet and Cloud.

In Japan as well, the wording that "the worker can engage in the work of other companies, etc. outside the office-hours" is clearly stated in the recommended work rules by the government (February 2018). The number of "people who use own free time for side jobs" are likely to increase even more in the future.

Of course, there are also "design projects that are not allowed to outsource outside the company" such as "design work based on undisclosed / confidential facts". Therefore, in many companies it is necessary to maintain "design team of certain size" inside.

However, compared with conventional outsourcing methods (including offshore etc), there are many people who realize that "commission fee" and "time to commissioned management" for crowdsourcing have drastically declined. Regarding "quality" as well, since there is "evaluation system within the crowdsourcing platform", it can be said that it is at a high level in various aspects, such as the delivery time, suggestion quality, the response in communication, and so on. Moreover, there are also other advantages such as "able to reconsider the input and output of the design work" and "You can absorb opinions from an external viewpoint".

Today, depending on the business process, it can be said that it is worth enough to consider about an idea that "to rely entirely on crowdsourcing" about that particular "Step".

Incidentally, according to the Japanese Income Tax Law, when paying "writing fee" or "design fee" to an individual, it is necessary to deduct tax according to the payment amount to pay it. ("Withholding obligor" must pay the tax to the government by the 10th of the following month thereafter) And, if there are trustees whose total annual payment exceeds 50,000 JPY, (likewise "Income tax withholding slip" for each employee) there may be cases where you have to prepare "payment report of compensation, fee, contract, or prize" (for national tax authorities, trustee), at the end of a year.

<Example of accounting process of paying side> Tax rate: 10.21%
Advertisement fee 10.800 / Saving account (Any Bank) 9,779
Withholding (Income tax) 1,021

However, regarding "Individual number" that is necessary upon that procedure, (although it depends on the communication method during consignment work), that "identity verification" is not easy. Especially about "spoofing", there is a possibility that it can not be detected at all. Utilization of crowdsourcing may be influenced by the aspect of avoiding risks on compliance, and in some cases it may be necessary to devise management measures such as "do not depend heavily on a particular trustee".

[Designing request-Outsourcing:"3x. Outsource" screen]