When you are starting a small business, there are many tasks that need to be carried out; some of which you may know how to do, others which may be less familiar. It can be tempting to cover all tasks in-house; however, if you try to do everything it may mean that things are done at a lower quality, you waste time learning new skills and it could distract you from your core business activity. Instead, you may look to outsourcing certain tasks to freelance professionals.
If there are essential tasks for running your business that no current employees are trained to do, it may be worth investing in outsourcing these tasks. Outsourcing can save you training costs and also save you the cost of employing new team members which cuts costs of salaries, taxes and overheads, cutting company costs by as much as 30 to 50%. Here are 5 key areas of your business where it might be worth outsourcing:
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Accounting
If you are not a professional accountant, it can take a great deal of time and effort to keep up with all the accounting processes required for starting a new business.
Not only that, but you may not be aware of all of the standards that you need to comply with. Outsourcing your accounting function could ensure that your company is adhering to all the necessary standards.
Outsourcing can be far more cost-effective, only paying for tasks or staff when you need them, sometimes paying them in instalments too. This can be more economic than employing staff full-time or using machinery or any other items, allowing you to rent them when you need them. Additionally, it can increase company efficiency and leave you time to focus on your core business activities.
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IT & cybersecurity
The majority of businesses now require IT functionality; however, these can be difficult to handle if you are not a qualified IT professional. Subsequently, it might be worth outsourcing some of your IT functions.
This can have multiple benefits – working with a freelance IT professional on an as-and-when basis can be a lot cheaper than employing an IT technician on a full-time basis. Additionally, outsourcing some of your IT functions can make your company work more flexibly and in a more agile way.
Outsourcing your cybersecurity and working with a specialised company can also help keep all your security watertight and let you focus on growing your business without the risk of being hacked.
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Customer services
Depending on the size of your business, it may not be possible to spend your resources on hiring qualified customer service personnel. As a result, this often means that existing staff are left to handle customer services.
This means that customer services are not being handled by professionals in their field; additionally, it means that your existing staff are wasting time on customer service which stops them carrying out their actual roles. Outsourcing your customer support can give your business a boost by taking care of your customers properly and it can also free up your existing staff’s time so that they can focus on their actual roles.
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Human resources
Human resources encompasses many different facets including payroll, staff training and onboarding, recruitment, performance reviews, bonuses and benefits. These are all hugely important to the successful running of a team but they are also incredibly time-consuming.
Luckily, human resource management can be easily outsourced. One of the great things about outsourcing human resource management is that the majority of HR functions are largely standardised. This makes it easy to find a third-party contractor who can handle your company’s human resources. You can also choose which functions to outsource.
For example, if you want to streamline processes but want to conduct performance reviews in-house for a more personalised approach, you may look to outsourcing to help you manage hiring, payroll and staff onboarding.
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Logistics
Logistics and day-to-day operations are crucial for a business but can be an ongoing headache if you are trying to manage this and other business activities. Outsourcing delivery functions, order fulfilment and warehousing can lower your company costs, free up resources and improve customer service. Experts in their field, these vendors are able to satisfy the needs of your clients and allow you to focus on growing your small business.
