When running a business, there are many operational processes that you should keep in-house. That said, they shouldn’t all be kept in-house. There are plenty of operational processes that can be successfully outsourced as well.
Curious as to what areas of business should be outsourced? Then read on. We’re going to cover 7 of them below.
1. Accounting
Payroll is one of the most complicated (and time-consuming) parts of running a business. It doesn’t just require simple math but extensive knowledge of business tax information. Most small business owners don’t possess this knowledge and so generally have a tough go at it.
Sure, you could hire an accountant in-house, but salaried accountants are far from cheap. The better bet would be to find either a freelance accountant or an accountancy outsourcing company. This way, you’ll only pay for the time that you need (and without having to pay benefits, to boot!).
Plus, by hiring a professional, you’ll ensure that your payroll is done right. This will reduce the number of tax mistakes that are made, preventing you from incurring expensive fees (and audits!).
2. Marketing
Properly marketing a business takes a great deal of time, skill, and knowledge. It’s not as simple as buying TV or radio time and displaying a commercial. To succeed in this day and age, you need to know your stuff.
For this reason, it’s generally recommended that small businesses hand their marketing duties to someone else. There are all sorts of marketing agencies out there, many of which are geared toward helping small businesses, specifically. These agencies are versed not only in traditional marketing but in digital marketing as well and can help bring your business substantial amounts of traffic.
The alternative is to hire a full-time marketing team (one person can’t handle the entire load). This is undoubtedly going to cost you more than would outsourcing the responsibility.
3. IT
IF yours isn’t a tech business, you should almost certainly outsource your IT work. IT work is not only complex for the unlearned to understand but it’s also expensive, especially when hired at a full-time capacity.
Outsourcing IT is beneficial for several reasons. For one, it frees up time, providing your business with increased flexibility; for two, it saves you money, as it only requires you to pay for the time that you actually utilized services; for three, it keeps stress to a minimum, allowing you to get through your days in a healthy state of mind.
There are all sorts of IT managed service providers out there. Find one you like and hand off this extremely complex responsibility.
4. Writing
Almost every business needs written documents of some kind. Whether these documents be blog posts or white papers or case studies or otherwise, they can be time-consuming to create.
And while you could hire a full-time writer to assist in all your writing needs, you’ll likely find that you don’t really need a writer full-time. As such, the only reasonable option is to outsource the job.
There is an endless stream of freelancer writers in this world, all of whom are almost continuously looking for work. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding one that’s appropriate for your purposes.
5. Customer Support
Do you sell a product? If so, you likely need to provide customer support. Do you provide customer support in-office? If so, you might want to consider outsourcing it instead.
Customer support is a neverending job. There’s almost always going to be a new customer to speak with, and it can be difficult for a business owner to hire a full team dedicated to the task. Outsourcing enables the business owner to obtain adequate customer support but at a reasonable cost.
There are many different types of customer support services available. You could opt for a shared agent (which would be a little cheaper) or contract a dedicated one instead. Either way, you’ll be saving money, and passing the stress off to someone else.
6. Manufacturing
Let’s say you sell a product, in particular. At the present, you’re making every model of this product in-house. As such, to increase production, you have to hire more and more employees.
Do you know what would be easier and less costly? Outsourcing your manufacturing to an independent company.
This has numerous benefits. For one, it could end up saving you money. But perhaps the biggest benefit is that it enables you to scale your production seamlessly. If you need more of the product, just pay the outsourced company to produce more for you.
If you tried to scale on your own, you would need to not only hire more employees but build more infrastructure. This is a huge financial risk, not to mention time-consuming. Until you’re selling worldwide, there’s really no reason to even consider it.
7. Logistics
The last service your business should outsource is logistics. This includes everything from product storage to product shipment to product delivery.
The infrastructure needed for this is massive. There’s virtually no way that a small company could pay for it outright. As such, handing it off to another company is the only reasonable decision.
Professional logistics companies understand cost-efficiency on a whole other level. They’ll distribute your product in the most cost-effective manner possible, helping you to scale your business up.
Time to Hand These Areas of Business Of to Someone Else
And there they are, the 7 areas of business that you should outsource. By handing these off to someone else, you will not only improve your workflow but you will also save money, helping to maximize your profits over time.
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