Today’s economic climate has certainly given plenty of business owners reason to worry. The simple solution is to find ways to reduce your spending without compromising productivity. The question is though, where do you start with this goal? One of the more common avenues explored to achieve this is by outsourcing. In short, outsourcing is when you hire a third-party contractor to oversee a certain aspect of your business. If you’re considering outsourcing, here is everything that you need to know in order to decide what will be best for you to outsource.
Considerations before outsourcing
No two businesses are the same, which means that some will benefit more from outsourcing than others. So before taking the leap, you need to consider not only whether you need to outsource, but what you should outsource too. The best way to decide this is by answering the following questions:
- Will outsourcing this task/function save me money?
- Will outsourcing this task/function save me time?
- Would this task/function be better managed in-house?
Answering these questions can help you with your decision. Here are some of the more common tasks that you can outsource:
Tasks that you can outsource:
· Facilities Management:
FM providers can help you to keep your business safe and clean for both your customers and your employees. Instead of looking after your security and cleaning needs in-house, these companies can look after this for you – often for a fraction of the cost.
· Marketing:
Every business needs good marketing to survive, but they can often be constricted by their own budget or staff. Outsourcing can give you access to expertise and resources that you might not have access to, which can increase the effectiveness of your activity.
· Accounting:
Good bookkeeping and accounting are a must for every business. However, not every business needs someone to handle this full-time. Outsourcing allows you to cover all of your accounting needs as and when they arise. This helps you to save money on your accounting needs and ensure that these needs are handled by a trusted expert.
· Legal services/contracting:
Just like accounting, you may not need legal help every day of the year. Your needs may only rise when reviewing a contract, hiring new staff, launching a new product, or on other infrequent occasions. Outsourcing your legal needs is another great to save money on a necessary service.
· Recruiting:
Hiring isn’t easy. It’s often a time-consuming and costly process that gets even harder without the right resources. If you need to hire some new staff, especially in key roles, outsourcing this to a recruiter can be greatly beneficial. They will have access to a pool of quality candidates, along with other resources that can help you to find the best candidate for the role.
Wrapping Up
After reading this guide, you’ll be ready to start your outsourcing journey. Good luck!