Outsourcing is a contracting practice that involves delegating tasks related to business processes, services, and functions to a third-party provider.
Most companies outsource to access specialized expertise and skills at a fraction of the cost compared to hiring and training staff in-house. In turn, in-house employees can focus on more pressing matters, enabling businesses to improve core competencies, productivity, and competitiveness.
You can offload non-core responsibilities and other tasks necessary to the company if you’re looking to cut costs or plan on scaling up. Read more below to know the different services that can be outsourced to a third-party provider.
Why Should You Outsource?
Outsourcing is an excellent strategy to expedite several aspects of your business, but there are a few other reasons why you should outsource tasks.
Cost reduction
As your company grows, the workload will inevitably increase, requiring you to hire new team members. However, new employees come with a hefty price tag—onboarding, training, and providing government-mandated benefits. Outsourced workers can help you accomplish the same work without having to provide the same level of benefits and other allowances as regular employees have.
Flexibility
Flexibility means boosting or cutting your staff and their capacity depending on the season. Outsourcing allows you to beef up your workforce during hectic times of the year. Conversely, you can reduce it for non-peak periods without facing labor issues.
Gain access to top talent
Outsourcing is an effective hiring tool to secure high-quality talents otherwise inaccessible through conventional means. Normal and executive search firms have a vast network of connections. As such, they can act as intermediaries and find the prospect carrying the capabilities you need for a project.
Which Services Can Be Outsourced?
Many companies outsource various functions to focus on core business activities and achieve better results—and you can do the same. The following are some services that can be outsourced to third-party providers.
1. Accounting
Most accounting functions require high skill and accuracy since the data can directly impact your business’s finances. Accounting can be more challenging if you don’t have a dedicated team to do it for you.
With outsourcing, you can enlist a team of accounting experts well-versed in different areas like tax preparation, bookkeeping, and compliance. This way, you can ensure you’re reporting the correct information.
2. Administrative Tasks
Answering calls, scheduling meetings, and filing documents are repetitive functions that don’t commonly require high expertise. While not crucial to business development, they are still necessary. Outsourcing these tasks to a virtual assistant can help you focus on more vital tasks that directly impact company success.
3. Content Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Unlike administrative tasks, content marketing and SEO functions are vital to organizational success in today’s digital market. They ensure you’re in touch with your customer base and business peers.
However, the specialized tools and skillset acquisition required for these may not make sense for most businesses. It’s best to outsource them to those with experience for a faster and better outcome than doing these tasks in-house.
4. Customer Service
Investing in your in-house call center is expensive. Apart from the equipment, maintenance, and workforce, you’ll likely have to lease new office space to accommodate this operation.
Outsourcing can help you maintain good customer relations at low costs. It allows you to set up an efficient customer service department without leasing new space or maintaining a workforce. All you need is to provide clear instructions and give an initial demonstration of your process; your outsourced team can handle the rest.
5. Graphic Design
Whether you only need custom graphics occasionally or require a revamp of your website’s design, outsourcing to a graphic designer instead of hiring in-house may be the less expensive option.
6. Headhunting and Recruitment
HR-related tasks usually fall on your shoulders as a business owner or manager, especially if you have a small company. However, sifting through resumes and scheduling interviews can be time-consuming. Outsourcing these HR functions makes your hiring process faster and frees up significant time for yourself.
7. IT
IT services are crucial to any successful modern company. But, not all organizations can hire full-time experts to handle software support and IT infrastructure solutions. With outsourcing, you can enlist the help of IT professionals to manage your databases, systems, and applications.
8. Lead Generation
Without leads, a company cannot scale up or survive. Digital marketing agencies can help you with lead generation. They can assist you more efficiently through organic or paid methods without the hefty costs.
9. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM requires high technical expertise, industry knowledge, and continuous optimization. These requirements make it a job you should strongly consider outsourcing. SEM professionals have the knowledge and tools to manage your paid search campaigns, optimize landing pages, and track performance metrics efficiently and effectively.
10. Web, Application, and Software Development
In this day and age, companies need a functional website to do business, increase credibility, and reach audiences. Some even need custom software that can be used internally to facilitate workflows or to offer their customers.
Developing these projects in-house requires significant investments from your company in hiring, training, and acquiring equipment while managing ongoing development efforts.
As a result, the development process may be slower. The resulting product may also not achieve the quality you strive for, as your team may not have the institutional knowledge and experience to guide them when solving problems.
Hence, it would make more sense to outsource your development efforts to web, application, and software development teams with the skills and tools to develop your project.
Opportunities with Outsourcing
Outsourcing has become a crucial business strategy for many successful organizations. Some may prefer to delegate only big-scale projects to third-party providers. However, outsourcing even your basic tasks can significantly improve productivity, saving you time and resources.
Consider finding outsourced and offshore employees to help your business operations. Manila Recruitment is a top recruitment firm in the Philippines, commended for finding high-quality talents for job roles in the country.
Reach out today to learn more.
