If you have been running an online business for any length of time, you probably are aware of the benefits of outsourcing some of your work at some point in time. But, if you are just starting out with your business, you will learn later just how much you’ll rely on outsourcing when your business grows to a level when managing all your day-to-day activities yourself becomes virtually impossible.

But here’s the problem…

How do you monitor outsourced work that is done for you remotely by people you don’t know, possibly at different geographic locations (half-way around the world)?

The solution…

HiveDesk Provides Automated Tool Tracking Services

What they can do for you

HiveDesk provides a service that uses an automated tool to help you keep track of any person or company you have assigned to do the work.  Essentially, HiveDesk provides you with a web solution to manage quite effortlessly all outsourcing tasks using state of the art software.

All you have to do is sign up for a free account with HiveDesk and then create your project, which is the work you want to get outsourced. After you log-in to the application and the dashboard, you add your members’ email IDs, which are the the email addresses of the person/s who will be doing your outsourcing work for the project.

How they track your workers

Let’s call the person doing your work your “worker” for the sake of this post, and your worker installs and logs into to the desktop application software called ‘HiveDesk Tracker.’ When your worker is ready to start work on your project, he/she will select your project that you have created. Once the ‘check-in’ takes place, the time tracking on the work starts, and screenshots will be sent and updated every 10 minutes into his/her work assignment. When all the work has been completed, your worker simply clicks “check out.” It really is that simple.

My Thoughts on HiveDesk

Let me just say that I was under no obligation to write this post about HiveDesk. I was not compensated in any way, and any link contained in this post is not an affiliate link, and I will not earn a commission if you sign up and pay for HiveDesk’s services.

Cory, the creator of HiveDesk, asked me if I would be willing to do a write-up for his new application as they just recently launched. So, I wrote this post as a goodwill gesture without expecting anything in return from him. This is my way of giving back and doing something nice for my fellow businessman. Just wanted to make that clear. Thanks!

Okay, so here’s my take on HiveDesk.

  1. The whole process is pretty simple, and it should appeal to people who have been putting off outsourcing work because they were unable to monitor the work in progress of the people designated for the job. Let’s face it, getting a good price and seeing the end result isn’t always enough. Knowing what goes on in between is where the heart of the matter lies.
  2. You know exactly how much time your workers take to complete the job, so you can be rest assured that you won’t end up overpaying anyone for the outsourced work, provided of course the hourly rate agreed upon is also reasonable.  HiveDesk is able to identify and record any idle time which will be deducted from the chargeable time spent on the project. It’s good to note that this system has a feature to let you set the allowable ‘idle time’ that you consider reasonable. Very cool.
  3. You’ll get screenshots to keep updated with the work every 10 minutes, or whatever time frequency you prefer to set.This puts you in complete control of your projects. I don’t think I need to tell you what can go wrong if you lose control of the outsourced work, and I don’t mean just the cost of the project, either. The adverse implications could be a lot worse if, for example, your work involves a big project like joint ventures, as any delay in the project may have serious consequences.
  4. The system helps increase the trust between you and the person working on your project, and this is important given that some of the work may require you to release some confidential information before work can be completed.
  5. HiveDesk seems to be a great automation tool to consider using for your outsourcing needs. However, only you can determine if the new monitoring tool will really help you. It depends on the type of outsourcing work that you currently engage others to do. If it’s something simple as writing articles or other simple work, you may not see any real benefits or justification.  I’m guessing this is why HiveDesk provides a free account for those that only need one project with one worker with a total of 15 hours.
  6. In my opinion, this automation tool will work better for completely new workers who have never done any of your past outsourcing work. Otherwise, the trust that you may have already built with familiar workers may suffer if you have them do your work through HiveDesk’s  monitoring system.

Overall, I think HiveDesk has many, many benefits for those looking to outsource some of their online business work and want to make sure they’re getting what they pay for.

Also, HiveDesk can also be used to find outsourcing work for those that want to offer their freelance services.

You might think that HiveDesk is very similar in nature to the oDesk Team software, and you’d be right. However, with HiveDesk, there’s no 10% fee to worry about which can really add up. You pay a flat monthly fee to manage your workers.

If you do decide to give HiveDesk a try, tell Cory I sent you.

Tagged with: • • • • •

Filed under: online business • Resources • Useful Websites

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!