Should Small Businesses Choose Outsourcing?

Outsource is best or inhouse development

Outsourcing refers to getting work done by third parties enabling you to have more time to concentrate on your core business activities. Every business has a range of jobs to complete. When you get the work done in-house, you must have specialists to handle the task. Having different departments or specialists for various activities could be financially draining for a small business especially if it is just a startup with small number of customers.

When you have a salaried person at work, you want to get the maximum services out of him/her to counterbalance the salary that you pay to him/her. However, in the absence of a thriving business, the salaries of these specialists could pinch you. Instead, outsourcing such jobs to the third parties makes sense as they will be paid only for the services taken and nothing beyond.

Therefore, outsourcing has several benefits and it can be taken by small business owners. However, you must remember that outsourcing has its quota of risks and you must be aware of them and the methods to avoid these risks to get the actual benefits.

Here are some benefits of outsourcing that will make you think of taking the services for your small business:

Cost Benefits

cost benefit of outsourcing

The first and the foremost benefit of outsourcing is cost effectiveness. Small businesses do not have the resources to set up different departments or train employees to complete the required work like payroll processing or accounting. Outsourcing these jobs to the third parties or specialists is cost effective in the sense that you get the services of the experts and specialists without spending too much. The third parties have similar works from different small business owners. Therefore, they are able to meet their costs due to the numerous job requirements by varied business owners.

When you outsource certain important and essential tasks, you also save on investing on the infrastructure, furniture, office supplies and other essentials required for completing those tasks. Therefore, outsourcing is beneficial for small business owners.

Outsourcing brings Efficiency

efficiency in outsourcing

As a small business owner, you cannot have a large team of workers. You have to get all the jobs done by the limited workforce that you have. In this scenario, outsourcing some of the non-core jobs to the specialists helps you in getting the best out of your salaried employees. You can make them do more and important work rather than wasting time on small and menial tasks through the day.

Since all the menial yet important tasks are taken care of by the third parties, you have more time at hand to focus on your business. You can keep a check on your employees, dealers and customers in a more fruitful way. Any suggestions or feedback from these people can be immediately considered upon. Therefore, you have more time at hand to conduct the core activities of your business and this brings more efficiency in your business.

Work Done by Specialists

Outsourcing work done by specialists

One of the greatest advantages of outsourcing is that you get the work done by the experts and specialists without having to invest anything on making them so. Specialist tasks like accounting, tax preparation, payroll accounting, marketing and other similar tasks when handled by the third parties give you an edge over those business owners that are performing the tasks in-house.

In today’s competitive world where online marketing is the best thing to follow to be visible to the customers, using specialists for the task will definitely boost your business. Online marketing agencies will take care of your social media campaigns, marketing through search engine optimization and content creation, PPC campaigns, tracking analytics and SEM and other related tasks to market your brand. Similarly, the accounting firms will ensure that the payrolls are prepared on time and the tax forms are completed and paid timely. With specialists at work, you will not have to worry about anything.

Weigh Pros and Cons

Weighing the Pros and Cons of outsourcing
Source – blueocean.ca

As mentioned earlier, even outsourcing is not free of risks. As you are handling the menial but essential tasks to third parties, you must ensure that they meet your standards. You have to trust them with the data provided and that there is no breach of data. The required information and reports prepared by the third party company must be sent or delivered timely so that further action can be taken on them. You will not like to be penalized by the ITD for not filing the tax returns timely or face the ire of the employees in the absence of timely preparation of the payroll.

You must choose the third party firm after much deliberation and research. Choosing the first company that offers services at the lowest prices is not a good idea. You must take reviews and recommendations from those that have take these services before. Outsourcing your work to the right company is very essential or the entire process will be simply a waste of time, money and efforts.

Conclusion

You must create a balance between the activities of business that need to be outsourced and those that can be performed in-house. Only this way you will be able to make your business succeed. You will have to keep a track of the activities being performed at both ends so that you get the desired results.

The choice of the company to which you wish to outsource certain tasks of your business should be made after careful introspection and careful comparison between various companies. While cost of services will be a determining factor, you must not make it the most important one as you cannot compromise with the quality of work simply for getting cheaper services.

In the end, it can be rightly concluded that small businesses should outsource tasks. However, they must keep a check on the activities and results to ensure that nothing is going haywire.