Are you considering outsourcing some parts of your business operations?
In another of our series of guest posts, Jane Norris explains why and when you should outsource
If so, then you’re not alone, as Entrepreneur reports that the global outsourcing market is estimated to be worth around £73 billion.
Of course, there are many benefits from doing so, such as saving time and resources, and having access to specialists who can add real business value.
But if you’re still on the fence about outsourcing, here are a few compelling signs you should start:
You want to focus on core business activities
Maintaining a business is a long and arduous process, and if you have a particular task that takes up too much of your time and effort, that’s a sure sign you should outsource.
Even though learning how to do new tasks can be empowering, it’s better to spend your efforts on the things you do best by outsourcing tasks that are not in your area of expertise.
You want to help improve efficiency
Outsourcing allows you to have access to a pair of skilled hands. When you outsource key tasks, you are giving it to an expert who can give their 100% — freeing up your time to manage running the other aspects of the business.
You want to lower costs
Having a skilled contractor or firm do tasks generally works more efficiently and less expensively as opposed to hiring a full-time employee or team.
Moreover, outsourcing eliminates the costs of hiring, training, and maintaining employees, as you won’t have to pay benefits or invest in training programs — just fees.
You want to find opportunities for growth
Many businesses want to innovate their practices, but lack the expertise or capital to do so.
Fortunately, outsourcing innovative processes is cost-efficient and may lead to great results, as the person or team doing the task is in a better position to think outside the box. For instance, if you want to improve your software but have no expertise in doing so, you can outsource software development teams and let them do it for you.
From there, you can get a better idea on how best to expand or grow your company.
What tasks can you outsource then?
The idea of outsourcing can be pretty scary, so how will you know who to trust? What if they don’t do things well? While these are perfectly reasonable concerns, Dawn Lidwell points out that getting past the fear of delegating and trusting people with your tasks is crucial to reap the benefits of outsourcing, as it can affect how well you can focus on your own work. Once you let go of this fear, you can then consider what tasks you can outsource.
One key business aspect you can outsource is marketing. Digital marketing experts from Ayima detail how technical SEO problems are difficult for startups, as solving them requires expensive development resources — and this is just the tip of the marketing iceberg.
We’re now in an age where businesses live and die through their reputation, and if you’re not fully aware of how to maintain yours, then outsourcing is the solution.
A marketing firm can provide a different perspective on your brand that internal staff cannot, and they can let you focus on high-level tasks while they manage your brand for you.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurs who have difficulties keeping up with their finances can be saved by outsourcing tasks to financial firms, who can do a range of things like payroll, bookkeeping, and invoicing.
Having a financial firm do payroll alone can save you a lot of time, headaches, and even money. But not only do they help you out with your business’ financial records, but they can also ensure you are compliant with taxes and other necessities.
Last but not least would be administrative work. A lot of small tasks throughout the day, such as scheduling meetings or sending out emails, can slow you down from focusing on what really matters — and while these small tasks are crucial in the grand scheme of things, it can eat up a lot of your time.
Writers from Working From Home Insider recommend hiring virtual assistants to do administrative tasks so you can improve your productivity and save time.
Exclusively written for powertolivemore.com
By Jane Norris