Outsourcing has been around for a while now. But because of the enormous strides in information and communication technologies, outsourcing has been evolving in a direction that makes it even more viable compared to, say, a decade ago. For this reason, businesses left and right have been outsourcing various operations and processes. If you own or manage a business, and are wondering whether outsourcing is for you, this article can help you decide.
Here are the top three benefits of outsourcing today.
Cost-Effectiveness
Cost is always the first benefit mentioned whenever outsourcing comes up — and for a good reason. If you’re hiring people from outside the U.S., particularly in developing nations like India and the Philippines, you’ll be positively surprised by how much you save. Labor costs in these countries are significantly lower than those of the U.S. It’s also worth noting that the people you’re hiring are educated and qualified as well. You’re essentially getting the same quality and amount of work, just with a cheaper price tag.
If you’re outsourcing to someone from the U.S., you can still enjoy some cost-savings. That is because they will require virtually no overhead. You don’t need to provide infrastructure, equipment, or technology. These costs stack up and can end up eating a big chunk of your budget.
Plus, most of the time, outsourcing is cheaper for the employee, too. That is especially true when they have the option to work from their home. It eliminates commute and food costs.
Efficiency
Another benefit typically associated with outsourcing is increased efficiency. Delegating tasks to people outside your company gives you the time and the leeway to focus on the core of your business. That means you and your in-house employees can do more work that’s critical to the growth and success of your particular enterprise.
For this reason, businesses usually outsource administrative tasks like bookkeeping, timekeeping, and even office cleaning. More specialized tasks are also good candidates for outsourcing. You can outsource SEO services, accounting, and I.T. The idea is to outsource anything that requires more time and resources than you currently can spare.
This process improves efficiency in two ways. 1) You can get more work done that’s central to your business. 2) the people doing outsourced work are professionals, ensuring the quality of their tasks.
Growth
This benefit has been alluded to in the last two entries. Outsourcing provides businesses more opportunities to grow. Because you can outsource specific tasks and focus on the core parts of the business, you can eventually take on more clients and more business.
Outsourcing can also help you grow in a faster and arguably safer way. When you get more business than you can handle, you can outsource some of it, because one of the advantages of this system is that you can shrink or grow your outsourced staff depending on the changing demands of your operations. That is especially true if you’re working with a Business Process Outsourcing company or BPO.
Outsourcing has been enabling businesses of all sizes to grow and succeed in ways that may be difficult through traditional, in-house work. It has been especially advantageous for micro- to medium-sized businesses that have fewer people employed. And thanks to more tech innovations, outsourcing will only continue to grow from here.
