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Which Areas To Consider Outsourcing As A Business

09 October 2019, 14:36 CET

When markets are unpredictable and the unknown territory surrounding Brexit yet to be decided this can be worrying time for businesses and their future.

One way of feeling more secure and comfortable at a time like this is to evaluate your company's procedures and spending, and see whether there are any areas that could be made more efficient and less costly. the more streamline your business becomes should not only make it more profitable to allow it to weather a storm when government and trading policies change.

Outsourcing company needs is a great way to reduce costs and allow business owners to focus on core business goals and planning; staff will then be able to focus on your business's strengths and future strategies that may need to change. Outsourcing can not only reduce labour costs within the company but is a great way to access talented individuals across the globe. Distributing tasks over different time zones if your business operates with the international market can create a competitive advantage over your rivals which may be the deciding factor in success or failure. Let's take a look at some of the areas that could be outsourced for future gain:

Market Research Manager

A market research manager is responsible for producing market research reports to assist in evaluating product or service performance and assessing future trends. A key part of the role includes commissioning surveys and coordinating research projects, working closely with vendors or market research project directors to ensure the successful execution of the fieldwork. When research has been completed, a market research manager will review the collected data, author reports and make business-orientated recommendations to your company.

Outsourcing market research can be beneficial if you need an objective third party view of the research, obtaining unbiased information rather than leaning towards research you would rather hear. An independent market researcher will want to deliver the best business insights to you, which means the information will credible whether it's good news or bad. Designing, managing and analysing a market research project in-house takes up time, staff and resources that could be used elsewhere, so it is more efficient to outsource your project needs.

A market research manager will have studied statistics at a university level before honing-in their expertise in the field of market research. After a bachelor's degree has been obtained from an accredited institution, an online masters in statistics can be taken to further their education while continuing to work and receive an income in their desired field as they can learn skills such as data analysis of customer's spending habits and how best to target them.

Customer Support

Customer service has become one of the essential pillars that builds a business and having an excellent reputation is key to ensuring your customers stay loyal for longer. The digital age has certainly changed the landscape of customer service within the last decade or so and businesses are opting to outsource this area as a result. The advantages of doing so not only reduces costs and minimises the use of internal resources, but outsourcing to a multi-channel contact centre provider gives more inputs on customer behaviour and provides key data for decision making.

If a company does not opt to outsource their customer service all year round, it definitely makes sense to do so if seasonal spikes in volume are experienced. Retail and hospitality sectors experience a seasonal peak around the festive period when a large majority of their sales are made. It is vital to be prepared for this influx of interest and activity and outsourcing can be the most efficient way to deal with growing demand. While you could employ workers in-house on a temporary basis, you'll still have to deal with HR administration and training which takes time. This is something you may not be able to give when other areas of your business are also feeling the seasonal pressure. Outsourcing customer service means more personnel can be easily assigned to hand queries and orders without putting more pressure on the business.

Accounting

When your business initially started it's journey, it was probably a lot easier to manage every aspect that needs attention and you may even have completed the bookkeeping yourself. Booking keeping and accounting is not only necessary to be correct for legal reasons but it is vital for keeping businesses afloat. When a business grows, however, managing the accounts along with other responsibilities can become an impossible task and there will be more valuable areas to focus your attention on if you want the company to continue to grow. When the time comes, don't hesitate to delegate this responsibility and allow yourself more time to prioritise business strategies and other needs.

Outsourcing accounting saves you money by eliminating costly benefits packages to a full-time or part-time employee and allowing you to only pay for the actual accounting work that is completed. This saves in productivity costs as well as payroll costs. You'll also reduce the risk of fraud as outsourcing accounting will allow you to afford a CFO or controller who can look for fraud signs and implement proper fraud protection controls. Errors in your accounting can be extremely costly and detrimental to your business.

Logistics

If your business model involves the transportation of goods then logistics will be a huge part of the machine. Managing operations can be hugely time-consuming and complicated, especially when there are other pressing business matters knocking on your door. Hiring a third party logistics company will allow you to shift the responsibility of transportation, warehousing, delivery, and other related operations out of your office, but you will still need to keep a close eye on their performance.

Back office work will be significantly reduced when the necessary manpower and operating systems already in place elsewhere; productivity will no doubt increase as they will be experts in this field of work. If your aim is for business expansion and growth then outsourcing logistics can be vital when it comes to economies of scale, without using third party resources you can end up spending a huge amount of money trying to scale up your existing team and upgrading logistic services in-house. Independent logistic services can increase and decrease services efficiently and easily. The power and decision making will still remain with you, but the responsibility and hardship that comes with managing logistics will be delegated elsewhere.

Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of finding people who are likely to become your customers in the near or distance future and finding information about them that will you to initiate a business relationship with them. Outsourcing this area of expertise will enable you to access a sales team that is already equipped with the knowledge and software that they need to complete the task. When you work with outsourced sales specialists, you will be collaborating with a working system that can really focus on generating your sales. You'll not only be able to use sales people that are an expert in this field but will enable you to create better practices and metrics to evaluate your results.

The experience of the lead generation team that you hire will result in a higher quality and specifically targeted leads that would perhaps not be found by your internal team. Each lead will be held to a higher level of scrutiny because the agency you are employing depends on client satisfaction in order to succeed. This certainly a cost effective way of growing your business as recruiting and training an in-house lead generation team would have huge costs and allocated time attached to it. It also allows you to avoid other employee costs such as holiday pay, sickness, annual bonuses, and tax to name a few, resulting in a less busy balance sheet at the end of the year.

Outsourcing resources has become an increasingly growing trend within businesses and there are many reasons to see why it is a popular route to take. The economies of scale and financial rewards are hugely beneficial along with the flexibility and increased productivity that is promised. Make sure you decide to evaluate your business procedures at least once a year and look at the areas that could be outsourced, there is no point making life harder for yourself and trying to complete everything in-house may just be stunting your growth. As competition in every industry is always difficult to manage, it is important that you are giving your business every advantage you can possibly think of.

Don't forget freelancers and the services they can provide when you need minor projects and administration tasks to be completed in a timely and efficient way. They often work remotely on a self-employed basis so will be an inexpensive but proficient tool to use when required. Build contacts in this area and revisit freelancers that have collaborated successfully with you in the past, they will become an invaluable resource to have to hand. Look online on websites such as people per hour where freelancers showcase their talents and services that they can provide; you'll be sure to find the expertise you are looking for.

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