Outsourcing has become a normality for most business in recent years, with the many benefits associated with it taking front stage, but if you’ve never considered it before it may seem like an abstract idea. So, what exactly is it?
It’s the task of assigning particular work activities to a third-party service provider for a certain time period, essentially when you don’t have the resources to complete a necessary task, you look to the horizon for a company who can do it for you at a reasonable cost.
Similarly to most areas of business, competition is rife. There are many outsourcing companies which exist in the market at the moment, so it’s important that you choose your provider wisely.
What types of outsourcing are there?
- In-house: This is when the external help is required to complete the task/service within the contracting company. Mi casa su casa.
- Off-site: The opposite of in-house, the work is carried out away from the contracting business’s premises.
- Off-shoring: Disclaimer; this is not the illegal money-laundering type. This is when you hire a third-party from a foreign country to complete the work because labor is less expensive.
- Co-sourcing: This is when you partner up with the provider and are both equally reliable for completing the project.
What can I outsource?
Don’t slow down your business by spending time on the wrong tasks, here’s what you could, and should be outsourcing.
- Admin tasks: scheduling, travel arrangements, data entry, you name it. All of these can usually be handled by a virtual assistant or admin service.
- Lead gen and customer service: Using a third-party to make initial cold calls can free up the time of your sales guru’s to do the closing. Also considering an external inbound team can make sure you can get on with your day without handling insurance claim calls.
- Marketing: an outside source can cast fresh eyes on your brand and offer a new perspective with way in which you can reach your target audience.
- IT: it’s no secret that tech is the biggest cost to running a business, so why not let someone with the latest tech at their disposal do your IT?
- Human Resources: outside firms tend to be more skilled at advertising, screening applicants, checking references, and hiring. Because it’s what they do, they’ll be up to date with employment laws to.
What are the reasons for outsourcing?
If you think you could benefit from delegating a task to a third party then as mentioned previously, the benefits of outsourcing make the concept an overwhelmingly no-brainer. Let’s take a look at some benefits;
- Reduce or control costs: You tend to only pay for work when you need it and it saves rinsing the hiring budget for full-time employees.
- Gain access to IT resources unavailable internally: Usually outsourcing companies will have the latest technology at their disposal. You can take advantage of using tech that you would struggle to implement into your business.
- Flexy-work: If you’re not satisfied with the work being completed, change it. No need to worry about the politics of being tied into a contract.
- Productivity: yes, I just dropped the keyword that’s going to get your business minds all fluttery. A third-party outsourcing provider will know the value of completing a task quickly and to a high standard. And with the project being completed by others, it frees up your time to focus on other things – like, cleaning up your inbox once and for all.
Other notable benefits:
- Free up internet resources
- Improve business or customer focus
- Accelerate company transformation
- Accelerate a project
- Gain access to management expertise unavailable internally
- Reduce time to market
Hopefully, outsourcing doesn’t quite look like scrambled eggs anymore and you’ve grasped the idea of ways in which outsourcing could benefit your business. Compliment it with a good internal ERP system provider, such as Holded and your business is on the path to great success.
