Outsourcing’s seriously big business.
Take a look at the numbers…
The global outsourcing market size more than doubled between the years 2000 and 2014. The figure dipped slightly after its peak of $104.6 billion in 2014. Nevertheless, it still added up to an impressive $88.9 billion in 2017.
Clearly, there are serious advantages to hiring third parties to take on certain business tasks. If there weren’t, there’s no way companies would be willing to spend so much doing it!
The question becomes, why?
Why are businesses around the world choosing to outsource their operations instead of doing it all in-house? We decided to find the answers.
Keep reading to discover 10 key reasons for outsourcing, plus the specific tasks you could be outsourcing now!
10 Reasons for Outsourcing Back Office Tasks
Let’s take a look at 10 of the main reasons you should consider outsourcing your back office business tasks.
1. You Can Focus on Core Tasks
The back office can be a distraction to your primary objectives.
Small businesses juggle a wide range of different tasks every day. And they do so without the luxury of the resources enjoyed by larger scale companies. All the work, with minimal support.
You may be able to cope with doing everything at the outset. But the list of required tasks grows as the business does. The core tasks that’ll develop the company can get forgotten in the process.
A key rule of business is to only do what only you can do. Outsourcing allows this to happen.
Hiring a third-party to deal with the time-consuming but essential ‘secondary’ jobs will free you up to focus on what’s important.
2. Internal Resources are Freed Up
Those time-consuming back-office tasks have a habit of tying up resources.
Outsourcing the jobs frees up your resources. You get to focus on your core goals and regain the resources to work on them.
Your staff can now do what they signed up for. Your time can be spent on what’s important for growth.
3. New Projects Can Begin Immediately
With newly freed resources comes the ability to start new projects.
It’s a double whammy though. With outsourced work and re-found resources, you can start new projects in-house. But you could also outsource the new projects too.
You no longer have to wait for current projects to finish before beginning new ones. Why not get started immediately by outsourcing it?
Business growth is ensured as both in-house and third-party projects can commence.
4. It Can Save You Money
Outsourcing saves you money in different ways.
This is one major reason companies decide to outsource their tasks. Take a look at the average hourly salary of Chinese versus US employees in the manufacturing industry.
You’d earn $1.36 per hour in China. Whereas you’d bring in $23.32 in America. Those are huge savings and a compelling reason business often decide to outsource.
But the savings don’t end there. For instance, outsourcing might mean you don’t have to upscale your office space to accommodate a growing workforce. You also save on payroll, hiring and training processes.
The bottom line’s that outsourcing has a big impact on reducing overheads.
5. It Enhances Operational Efficiency
Back-office tasks can be costly in terms of both time and money.
Your business may not have the resources to efficiently manage such demands. Remember, efficiency means doing something right.
Who better than an expert to help you ensure you’re doing such jobs correctly?
6. Business Risks Are Shared
All business carries risk.
From investing in technology, legislative changes, to financial commitments and so on, there’s consistent risk involved.
Outsourcing your back-office tasks diminishes this. The weight of responsibility gets shared with experts who are fully aware of their field.
7. You Work With Experts
Smaller businesses need employees with a wide range of skills to cover the array of work that needs doing.
It’s inch deep, mile wide stuff.
However, some projects will require expertise that’s inch-wide and mile deep. Outsourcing puts you in touch with experts of this ilk.
Remember, they’re responsible for being up to speed with the latest trends, processes, and technologies in their area. It’s their job to solve your problem, and they offer the requisite skills to do so.
8. It Saves You Training Time
Experts don’t require training.
You don’t have to suffer the time-consuming, expensive process of bringing a new employee up to speed. There are people out there who already have the skills required to solve your problems.
All you have to do is hire them! Say hello to immediate solutions and progress.
9. You Get to Punch Above Your Weight
Outsourcing has a way of leveling the playing field between businesses.
Working with experts allows you to move (and compete) with the big boys in your specific field. Essentially, you gain access to the same level of skill and expertise that major players may have in-house.
A small company would struggle to match such capabilities without outsourcing.
10. You Can Develop Employees’ Skillsets
Your current employees may lack the necessary knowledge to accomplish certain tasks.
Outsourcing these jobs to experts (who work onsite) can serve to upskill your employees. They see how certain jobs are done and learn how to do it themselves.
The need to outsource dwindles as the skillset of your staff grows.
Top Back Office Tasks to Outsource
We now know the reasons outsourcing can benefit your business. Now let’s turn to the specific tasks you could consider outsourcing.
Financial Matters
Financial concerns (such as bookkeeping, payroll, and tax) can all be outsourced.
This can be a sensible way to ensure these complex, nuanced processes are properly handled. It can also help your business meet its financial goals and keep an eagle eye on potential issues.
Here’s more about outsourced financial services.
Customer Support
The number of customer queries tends to grow along with your business.
Over time it may make sense to outsource this laborious process. Customer support is actually one of the first tasks companies decide to outsource. From emails to calls, you know your customer queries are being handled by trained professionals.
This is key for client-facing businesses. A swift and well-handled query can mean the difference between repeat custom and an unhappy customer.
Human Resources
From recruitment to performance management, there’s a lot to HR.
You can choose to outsource everything or just individual tasks. You swap the necessary training, hiring and ongoing support for a service that’s already established in the HR sector.
This can be a major help in reducing the costs of setting up and maintaining an in-house HR department.
Transcription
Hiring someone to transcribe recordings can be a major time-saver.
Maybe you’ve recorded a meeting and want the minutes distributed in written form. Maybe you run a podcast with a blog attached and want a written version of the conversation.
Whatever the need, hiring someone to handle this task can be favorable overspending your own resources.
Content Creation
Many companies rely on content, without having the skills and/or capacity to create it.
Instead, they work with the pros to do it for them.
Outsourcing videos, blog posts, audio recordings and so on, is a great option for anyone who recognizes the importance of content but lacks the means to put it together.
Administrative Duties
There’s nothing like administrative tasks to sap your time and energy.
Examples include data entry, emails, note-taking, and organizing schedules and meetings. All take time. Many people nowadays opt to hire a virtual assistant to perform such tasks.
The virtual assistant can work from anywhere. With the appropriate training, they will then do any work to send their way.
Marketing
Bootstrapped businesses often try and save money by doing their marketing themselves.
The irony is that it’s easy to spend more money this way. Without the necessary marketing expertise, you can easily misspend your marketing budget on unsuccessful campaigns.
Outsourcing this work to a marketer is an important way to ensure your campaigns are effective.
Time to Get Outsourcing
There you have it: 10 key reasons for outsourcing and the specific back-office tasks you could (and maybe should!) be outsourcing right now.
Billions of dollars are spent every year on outsourcing operations. And for good reason.
Outsourcing enables a company to focus on their core objectives, frees up internal resources and allows new projects to start straight away.
In the process, it saves money, increases operational efficiency, puts businesses in touch with experts, saves time on hiring, levels the playing field with bigger businesses, reduces risks and improves employee skill sets.
Those are some clear incentives for hiring third-party support!
Sound good? If so, there are certain tasks you could consider outsourcing straight away. Think about finance, HR and customer support; transcription services, content creation, administrative tasks, and marketing.
Outsourcing any of these tasks will be sure to benefit your business.
Have you found the information in this post helpful? We hope so! Be sure to check out our other business related pieces for more advice on making your business a success.