What to hand off first, and what to keep in-house
Hand off first the work that repeats every week, follows rules you can write down, and can be checked by someone other than the person who did it: data checking, catalog updates, reviewing AI answers, research lists. Keep in-house the decisions only your team can make, live customer calls in your hours, and one-off jobs.
Score a task in one minute
Think of one task that eats your team's week, then tick every line that is true of it.
Is this task ready to hand off?
Keep it in-house for now
Too much of this task lives in someone's head or needs live contact. Start with a different task, or write the rules down first.
How to read this
- Keep it in-house for now: Too much of this task lives in someone's head or needs live contact. Start with a different task, or write the rules down first.
- Hand it off after some prep: Fill the gaps first: write the rules, collect examples, or split the task so only the checkable part goes out (see below).
- A good first task: Start with a small paid trial batch and measure the error rate and your review time.
Tasks that usually hand off well
| Task | Why it hands off well | What to send with it |
|---|---|---|
| Checking and cleaning data | Clear right and wrong answers, easy to spot-check | A sample file, the rules, 5 fixed rows |
| Product catalog updates | Repeats with every new product or price change | Your template, image rules, tone examples |
| Reviewing chatbot and AI answers | Each answer can be scored against written criteria | The scoring rubric and 10 scored examples |
| Research and lead lists | The output is a list anyone can verify | The fields you want and where not to look |
| Drafting email and chat replies | Your team approves before anything is sent | Your top 20 questions with model answers |
| Bookkeeping entries | Rules come from your chart of accounts | Categories, a month of examples, who to ask |
What to keep in-house
- Decisions about pricing, refunds, hiring or strategy. The team can prepare them, but your people make them.
- Live phone support during your business hours, if the team's working day doesn't cover them.
- Work whose rules live in one person's head. Write the rules down first, then hand it off.
- Tasks that need sensitive personal data you can't remove or mask.
- One-off jobs. Explaining a task takes time, and it only pays back when the task repeats.
Choosing well matters. In Deloitte's 2024 Global Outsourcing Survey of more than 500 executives, 70% said they had brought some outsourced work back in-house in the previous five years. Starting with one well-scored task, and measuring it, makes that less likely.
Split a task instead of keeping all of it
Many tasks that fail the score have a part that passes it. Hand off that part and keep the judgement.
| Task | The team does | Your team keeps |
|---|---|---|
| Support tickets | Tags, sorts and drafts replies | Approves refunds and sends sensitive replies |
| Sales prospecting | Finds and checks companies and contacts | Decides who to contact and writes the pitch |
| Content | Formats, proofreads and checks facts against sources | Chooses topics and signs off |
| AI features | Scores model answers against your rubric | Sets the rubric and decides what ships |
What to put in the brief
- A sample of the input, exactly as the team will receive it.
- The output format: a template, columns, or a finished example.
- Around five good results and three mistakes, with a line on why each mistake is wrong.
- The rules, including the edge cases you already know about and who answers questions.
- Volume and deadline: how many pieces, how often, and when you need them back.
- How you will judge quality, for example the share of pieces you had to fix.
If you are short on time, send the examples first. They show the team what good looks like faster than rules do.
Send only the data the task needs
Under the GDPR, personal data must be limited to what is necessary for the purpose (data minimisation, Article 5). Before you share a file, remove the columns the task doesn't use, and mask names or emails where the work doesn't need them.
If the team will see personal data at all, you also need a written contract with the team that handles it (a processor agreement under Article 28). Our cost and GDPR guide explains what to ask for, and our time-zone guide shows when your team and ours are both online.
Prove it with a small trial
- Pick the task with the best score and agree a price for a small batch before work starts.
- Check every piece of the first batch yourself.
- Count two things: the pieces you had to fix, and the minutes your review took.
- Update the brief with anything you corrected, then run a second batch.
- Scale up only when both numbers have dropped to a level you are happy with.
The UK government's own sourcing rules say the same: when a service is outsourced for the first time, run a pilot, and give every contract performance measures that fit its size.
That is how we start with every team: a free 20-minute call, a clear price for a trial batch, and every piece checked by us before it reaches you.
Questions
What should a small business outsource first?
One repetitive task with written rules and a result someone else can check, such as data checking, catalog updates or research lists. Start small and measure it before you add more.
What should never be outsourced?
Decisions that define your business: pricing, hiring, strategy and final approvals. A remote team can prepare the work, but your people should make those calls.
How big should a trial batch be?
Big enough to include the usual edge cases, small enough that you can check every piece yourself in one sitting. Agree the price before it starts.
How do I know the quality is good enough?
Decide the measure before the trial, for example the share of pieces you had to fix and the time your review took. Compare the first and second batches.
Can a remote team handle work with customer data?
Yes, with care: share only the fields the task needs, mask what you can, and put a processor agreement in place if personal data is involved.
Sources
- General Data Protection Regulation, Article 5: principles, including data minimisation EUR-Lex, European Union
- Principle (c): data minimisation Information Commissioner's Office (UK)
- Contracts between controllers and processors Information Commissioner's Office (UK)
- Global Outsourcing Survey 2024 Deloitte
- The Sourcing Playbook: pilots and performance measures GOV.UK, Cabinet Office