Project Objective

Outsourcing certain business functions are catching up with a passage of time because it is supporting the business models with less time for experimentation and fewer resources to wait for the outcomes of the venture. The average lifespan of a business idea has come down many folds. This is why many companies are avoiding direct hires to accommodate in their talent pools. Most of these direct hires support the core teams of the organizations and help them in the supporting work. Many debates have been raised over this outsourcing and temporary hiring. Many experts believe that these practices are a boon for the future industries where data and machines will do the most difficult jobs. On the other hand, traditional HR schools debate that gradual evolution of an employee can enable him to become an asset for the company (Peck, 2017).

 When we check this process of outsourcing from the perspective of an advertisement agency then it becomes a tricky job. You cannot stay dependent on an outsourced team to take creative calls. Employees waiting at the lounge of outsourcing firm can run an existing setup; however, you cannot expect them to erect a setup.

An advertisement agency often hires two types of staffs; the first type of the staff belongs to the creative team or the think tank of the company. The second type of the staff handles lag works and other types of activities that are required to run a business institution, here we are talking about accounts department, HR function etc. In general, an outsourcing event can cut down the costs of operations and cut down the liabilities of a business owner quite considerably (Burgees, 2014).

In the current study, we are launching a research program in order to check the success of the outsourcing done by various advertisement agencies. This study will cover successful, partially successful and unsuccessful stories of change management. The main objective behind the launch of this study is connected with the feasibility levels of the change management in the case of an advertising agency.

In the case of an advertising agency, we are required to entertain the change management on two levels. The primary level is the internal level where various operations of the organization are at stake and secondary level is an external level where the organization as a whole interacts with the other parts of the industry. The current plan is an attempt to secure the minimum area of negative impact and ensure maximum gains from the operations that are going to be outsourced.

 On a conclusive note, we will also try to figure out the key result areas where a process outsourcing can bring an immediate impact. We also check certain mitigation plans that can be introduced; the current study that we are presenting right now can also be considered as an outsourcing plan for an advertisement as well.

The primary scope of this project is to check out the impact of the outsourcing over an advertising agency, based on the current structure of the agency. We will first identify the main processes that can be outsourced. We will draw a communication line where a core team employee can handle the outputs given by various outsourcing agencies. This project will also check the final impact of outsourcing over the profit ratio and performance of the company. This research will also try to ascertain certain metrics for this measurement and come up with a framework that will become a benchmark for this particular industry sector. Here we will go for a breakdown of the processes and match them with the layers of the organization that is the trade of advertising. The success of the process of outsourcing is majorly dependent on the synchronization of responsibility matrix and command lines (Click, 2004).

Project Scope

In general, all the sources that we consulted during the course of literature review talks about the gaps that a company has to fill during the course of the transfer of a business process. This is among the key factors that can increase the base cost of a business process outsourcing. During this transitional period, most of the companies end up in paying money to two-quarters simultaneously. They are paying handsome money to their employees and paying money to the outsourcing firm where the processes are heading in the search of a new destination. Many literature sources also advocated the hiring of a change management company as well. 

The success of any business process outsourcing is dependent on the success of the business model associated with the company. If the business model of the company is on an autopilot mode then with an intention to cut down the costs further they can always go for a business process outsourcing (Duening, 2007 ). However, this stability of a business model has become the luxury for most of the companies these days. Processes are becoming faster and markets are changing their face a little more frequently (Saxena, 2009).

After retaining the core team, can we outsource all the functions of an advertising agency to various outsourcing firms?

The list of secondary research questions

1. What are the functions that can be kept in the list of high priority operations?
2. Do we go for a flagship brand outsourcing company or we should rely more on small companies for small operations.
3. If we are hiring multiple sources to accomplish the business then what should be the consolidation point of the operations where the confluence of old and new will take place.
4. Can we consider outsourcing a plug and play option, if it is not then what are the procedures  that can be introduced for the same

The answer to these four questions can help us a great deal in chalking out the plan for a probable outsourcing of the adverting agency. The outcome of this study will give us a clarity related to the layout plan of change management in the organization. These questions came into existence based on the findings of the literature review that we did.  

In order to conduct this research, we studied two aspects of the problem. The first aspect was connected with happiness and performance levels of various advertising agencies and similar facilities after the process of outsourcing. The second aspect was connected with the technicalities associated with the process and the role of the change management.

In order to figure out the happiness levels of various companies, we identified some companies that went for outsourcing. We prepared a questionnaire where we presented a breakdown of the processes and surveyed some industry sources to measure the success or the failure of this change.  This quantitative part of the research is based on the satisfaction levels of these industry sources where they responded in accordance with a close-ended survey form.

Apart from it, the numbers associated with the performance also played a keen role in the process. The process of outsourcing can directly inflict a cost cutting in the process; however, this profit should be in synchronization with the profit margins gained by the company in the past. As an organization any establishment can practice a better control over the issue, the process of outsourcing can sometimes hamper this speed.

Personal random interviews of industry voices gave us an idea about the key result areas where we should conduct a research. The qualitative part of the research also makes sure that our research is heading in the right direction. An open-ended question answer can bring in some important keywords in the process and give us new tangents to address a new set of problem.

Literature Review

In the current research, we figured out that variable nature of business models is emerging as a big hurdle in the process of outsourcing. Industry voices also talked about the unseen hurdle of the command line that makes an entry because of the presence of supervisors from the side of the outsourcing company.

There are certain jobs that demand a consistent presence in the process, sometimes outsourcing agencies try to shuffle their creamy layer talent for new projects and this brings in an inconsistency in the functioning of an existing setup. 

During the course of literature review, we came across with many sources hailing from different industry sectors. Even after having a sizeable presence of data, our options were limited. The assembly line of an advertising agency acts on different lines where they move in small teams. It means that many small teams are taking care of various operations and synchronizing the results for an output that can be considered as a great performance output. 

This is a unique business model and encourages the process of limited outsourcing. Limited outsourcing often ends the basic crux of the process of outsourcing because it becomes another exercise where a company hires an expert or an expert team.

In spite of a big canvas, our research failed on this metric because the impact of such outsourcing cannot be measured in the terms of cost cutting and has no sustainability. This research also failed to answer the questions related to the hiring of creative talents, hiring a creative talent is also a kind of outsourcing. Our research fails miserably to answer this question that how we can hire a creative talent or go for the process of outsourcing in a cost-friendly and sustainable environment. 

We conducted this study during the course of four weeks. During the first week, we focused on problem identification, literature review, and generation of industry resources. The second week our focus remained more on the preparation of questionnaire and database management. While conducting a research in similar nature one has to take care of the sub-processes that one has to come across. For instance, the operations of an advertising agency can be broken down into three major segments. 

The first segment belongs to the back office of the advertising agency; this office follows the old clients and goes for the job of new client generation. The second department is the department and supplies their feedbacks to the creative teams.

The third layer is the layer that deals with the creative process, in most of the cases agencies like to hire and shuffle these talents to add a variety into their offerings. It is a consistent process of outsourcing that continues all the time (Mohan, 1989).

 Third week and fourth week were consumed in the preparation of the study of data that we accumulated during the course of the research. Here we bring all the elements related to the problem on a single platform and processed them for some meaningful results that are present in the form of this conclusion.

Task	Set of Tasks	Set of Tasks	Set of Tasks	Set of Tasks	Set of Tasks
Change Management team	Decision on taking external supports	Responsibility Matrix Design	Planning for the impact mitigation	Employee Seminars	Monitoring of the change under impact mitigating plan
Core Planning Team	Primary planning	Constitution of the team	Planning of the main act	Training to prepare trainers
Time	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Aftermath

Bro, please do the needful, I am poor at designing 

Conclusion

On a conclusive note, we can always say that large-scale outsourcing is partially applicable in the case of an advertising agency. The back office of an advertising agency works like any other regular organization where they contact clients, generate possible leads and hands it over to the next level or the team that takes part in the process of client handling.

Most of the advertising agencies function with a method where they generate clients for themselves. The secrecy of the information is a big issue because the stakes are high. This is why it is important to maintain a competent team. This confidentiality does not allow them to leave data for some loose ends and this is where a limiting factor comes in, this limiting factor discourages the process of outsourcing at this level completely.

The final level is the level where they hire creative consultants, this area is a black area for an advertising agency because after a point of time it becomes core strength for and campaign. This is the point of time where an agency can face of sabotage in the form of the migration of the teams.
Outsourcing is inevitable; however, strong contracts and confidentiality deeds should come in place. 

The process of outsourcing needs a different set of employees to nurture up in coming future where the average lifespan of a business model is decreasing considerably. In order to meet these demand patterns, many companies are searching for industry ready talents. The process of outsourcing supports this function because a person working in outsourcing firm is industry ready by many means. Still, a need for the more versatile workforce is always on the cards because an outsourcing firm deals with a different job nature every time.

The future of the industries belongs to the analytical brains; the success of the outsourcing process of for an advertising company is dependent on the presence and loyalty of these analytical brains. Certain functions can be outsourced on the merit of speedy disposition of the jobs and cost cutting.

References

Burgees, J. (2014). International Perspectives on Temporary Agency Work.

Click, R. L. (2004). Business Process Outsourcing: The Competitive Advantage.

Duening, T. N. (2007 ). Essentials of Business Process Outsourcing.

Mohan, M. (1989). Advertising Management: Concepts and Cases.

Peck, J. (2017). Offshore: Exploring the Worlds of Global Outsourcing.

Saxena. (2009). Business Process Outsourcing for Strategic Advantage.