Many small business owners make the mistake of trying to do everything on their own, especially when first starting out. And while taking the DIY route with a range of business functions can feel like you’re saving money initially, over time it can actually lead to losing out financially since you simply don’t have the time to invest into business growth and expansion. There are many reasons to consider outsourcing a range of business functions including IT, customer support, marketing, accounting, human resources and more, particularly as your business grows and you find it more difficult to manage everything on your own.
What Are the Benefits of Outsourcing?
There are many potential reasons to consider outsourcing business functions, but some of the most beneficial include:
Allows you to spend more time on core business activities: Outsourcing frees up the time of business owners, managers, and employees so that they can invest this time into more income-generating tasks instead.
Boost growth opportunities: Opportunities for company growth and expansion, along with the desire to take them, often exist for many small businesses, but due to a lack of time and financial resources, it’s harder to improve growth.
Improve effectiveness and efficiency: Often, outsourcing will allow your business to access expert support and talent that you would otherwise be unable to afford. Outsourced service firms can offer a range of innovative approaches, creative, cutting-edge solutions and access to the latest technology.
Improve your bottom line: Contrary to popular belief, outsourcing certain business functions such as hiring a virtual assistant can often help your business save money while generating more income. Skilled companies can often perform work at a cheaper rate compared to a full-time employee and there’s no need to consider the cost of hiring and training employees.
So, which business functions are worth considering outsourcing?
IT Support
Today, keeping up with the latest technologies is vital for small businesses to be able to survive. But handling IT operations in-house can be very expensive. The average small to medium business will have a limited ability and knowledge to be able to manage all IT needs, and unless you’re actually running an IT company yourself, IT is a maintenance function rather than a core business activity.
There are enormous potential benefits of outsourcing IT to a professional service provider such as this IT company in London, Totality Services. If you’re looking for London IT support for your small to medium business, Totality Services offers a range of support services that you can use to ensure that your business is always ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and security. They are one of the most reputable IT companies in London offering IT support in London to businesses in all industries. This award-winning IT support company is a Microsoft Partner providing round-the-clock services for hundreds of clients.
Human Resources
HR and employee acquisition can quickly become a very expensive function for a small business to handle alone, particularly as the business expands and teams become bigger. Thankfully, HR can easily be provided by an outside, specialised agency. Professional human resources firms tend to be more skilled at advertising job vacancies, screening applicants, checking references and ensuring that the best staff are hired for the job. You can use automation tools like an employee absence tracker but you may also opt to outsource such tasks. Plus, it can also be a wise idea to use an HR or employment company to manage employee benefits and payroll, since an outside company is more likely to stay up to date on the latest in employment standards, regulations and laws.
Marketing
An effective overall marketing strategy will determine how both your brand and company reputation are perceived by your target audience. But doing all your marketing in-house can get very costly, while trying to save money by doing it yourself can often result in sub-par results if marketing is not your area of specialisation. Working with a marketing consultant or firm can often provide you with a different perspective on your business and the way that it is advertised in the market. There are several options for outsourcing marketing, such as outsourcing your content to professional freelance writers or content agencies who can often develop high-quality content that will boost your marketing efforts. Other aspects of marketing that are worth outsourcing include brand development, press releases, social media, blogging, web design, and SEO. One such option could be Freelance SEO Manchester, a service that specializes in SEO and could potentially enhance your online presence.
Lead Generation and Customer Relationships
Lead generation is often a matter of numbers; the more calls that are made, the better your potential for getting quality leads and closing the sale. However, lead generation can often be a lengthy and costly process to conduct in-house. Many small businesses have a lot of success with outsourcing lead generation to a separate company rather than hiring individual in-house agents. Once the lead has been generated, closing the deal can then be handled by internal salespeople. In addition, once a customer has been signed up, many companies find that it’s much more cost-effective to outsource customer relationships and support to an outside company who can often provide round-the-clock support at a much lower cost compared to providing this in-house.
Administrative Tasks
Administrative tasks can quickly add up and end up taking up a lot of your time that could be better spent focusing on core business functions and facilitating business growth. Tasks such as data entry, typing, travel arrangements, scheduling meetings and more can easily be handled by an outside administrative service or a virtual assistant. While these tasks are essential to ensure that your business is functioning correctly and running smoothly, they are not typically classed as core business activities and are usually better handled by an outside source that focuses solely on them.
Finances and Accounting
As a small business owner, trying to take charge of your own accounting duties can be tricky and risky. Small errors and mistakes made by a business owner who does not have a solid or expert understanding of the financial side of things can lead to serious trouble including expensive fines for non-compliance. Working with an accounting firm or individual to whom you will outsource these aspects of your business can make a lot of sense, both in terms of freeing up your time to focus more on core business activities while allowing you to enjoy further peace of mind regarding errors and mistakes. Outsourcing to an experienced accountant or financial firm can help with a wide range of financial services including accounts payable and receivable, invoicing, financial planning, reports, and analysis. Many financial contractors offer bundle options of various accounting tasks to help you make even greater savings.
Whether you are in the process of setting up a new business or have been running your own small business for a while, outsourcing is the best way to ensure that you have the time you need to focus on core business tasks and concentrate on business growth and expansion rather than menial tasks and duties that you might not be very experienced in. Outsourcing gives your business access to highly-trained, experienced professionals and experts at a much lower price than you would expect to pay for hiring an in-house team, allowing you to get the results that you need while consistently improving your bottom line. Anything that is not a core business function can be outsourced.
