The world of business has gone through some drastic changes over the years. The most recent changes are certainly thanks to the internet boom which has meant that nearly every single business in the world has some kind of online presence. The growth in popularity surrounding the internet has also led to something else; companies outsourcing.
Outsourcing is where a business takes a business process (such as payroll) and requests that an external service provider executes this business process on their behalf. There have been a huge range of advantages linked to outsourcing and here are 4 of the main ones for you to consider.
The Cost
The cost associated with outsourcing is often misinterpreted. A company sees an hourly rate from an outsourcer; let’s say £30 per hour. They then look at their payroll and see they are paying someone £20 per hour to do the same job. So why should they outsource? They have not taken into consideration the most important factor; productivity.
Most employees will have a range of tasks to complete each day. They won’t be experts in all of them, which means that a task that takes them 10 hours, could take an outsourcer just 1-2 hours; such as designing a website. So even though it looks like employment is the right way forward, generally it is not. Furthermore, an employee will not worry about how long this job takes them; an outsourcer will.
Company Capacity
The economy shifts considerably from month to month. One month you might be operating at 25% of your capacity. A month after, you might be wishing you had the staff to operate at 150% of your actual capacity.
This is where outsourcing can help. When you need external service providers to come in and help with daily business processes, you can organise that with them. If you are having a bad month, you can explain that their services are not needed. You can pick and choose when you use them; working on a pay-as-you-go basis. This is unlike your employees that will expect to be paid even if there is nothing to do!
The Quality
By using an outsourcing company you are able to get experts to complete every single job. When you need marketing help, you can contact a firm that has 10 years’ experience. When you need coding services, you can use expert programmers that do this day in and day out. Instead of having your employee, a jack of all trades and a master of none, you will get a high quality outsourcer that completes each task above and beyond your expectations. There is an outsourcing company out there for just about anything.
Connections
Using other companies is not just about paying out cash; it should be seen as networking. You are paying them for their services, so they want to speak to you. Try and form a bond, as it might be that some of their customers are actually interested in the services that you offer. If they work for you, they are going to recommend you rather than another company. If you are already outsourcing, you will know how powerful networking is as a marketing tool.