“If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, you’re putting yourself out of business.”
Estimated reading time: 3 mins
Outsourcing, at its core, is simply contracting somebody else to perform an essential function for your business that, for whatever reason, you and your team don’t do on your own. Unfortunately, outsourcing has gotten a bad rap because it conjures up images of offshoring American jobs to laborers in third-world countries who work at discounted rates. While this is certainly one aspect of outsourcing, a much fuller picture includes the millions of freelancers in the United States who are hired by companies on a contract basis to perform essential functions.
Why should you consider outsourcing? In addition to obvious financial advantages, which are discussed below, there are other lesser-known benefits of outsourcing that could help you grow your business and make it more profitable.
1. Save Money
Perhaps the number one reason to outsource is to save money. Contracting freelance help allows you to benefit from expertise on your own terms without the cost and hassle of hiring personnel. This is especially true in today’s digital age, where freelances are just a click away.
When you outsource, you can hire experienced talent for a short period of them, then remove the cost when the work is completed. This allows you to access the experience you need but only for the time period in which you need it.
2. Boost Efficiency
When you hand off a task outside of your realm of expertise you free yourself up to spend more time on your business’ core activities. For example, if you are a graphic designer, you can outsource services like accounting, website operation, and IT, to name a few, allowing you to save time and energy performing mundane tasks.
3. Better Focus
Another benefit of outsourcing is that it allows you to focus on what you’re good at and leave the rest to the experts. You can avoid the distractions of learning new skills that don’t interest you, training new personnel, and other mundane activities. This increased focus not only enables you to accomplish more, but it enables you to earn more too since you’ll be able to increase your output.
Outsourcing also allows you to prioritize your tasks so that you can determine which ones will help you grow your business and which ones are necessary but not essential. Tasks that are necessary to your business but which you do not enjoy doing can become a priority if you put them off. Outsourcing can take away the stress of having to update your website, write new complicated proposals, or create graphics for a report.
4. Increase Competitiveness
If you run a small business, chances are you’re in competition with other, larger companies who have in-house staff to perform every aspect of their business. When you outsource, you essentially have the same staff at your disposal, but on terms that meet your fiscal and time needs.
You also have access to the infrastructure that larger companies enjoy. For instance, if you outsource your IT functions, you don’t need to worry about purchasing and maintaining the necessary computer equipment but your business will benefit from having access to them through your outsourcing partner.
5. Better Risk Management
Outsourcing certain aspects of your business may help you reduce your risk. For starters, you’re overall investment in acquiring outsourcing services is much lower than hiring comparable staff. Your outsourcing partner may shoulder the responsibility of work you’ve assigned to them, further reducing your risk.
6. Faster Product Development
Outsourcing allows you to develop new products faster because you can work with someone who has the necessary expertise and is already prepared to begin. This saves you the hassle of hiring the right staff, training them, and slogging through other personnel issues. It also affords you the time necessary to focus on your business without getting bogged down by peripheral issues.
7. Staff Development
Having someone learn a new skill on the job is not efficient. Whether it is a new piece of software or a new business skill (like planning new services), having an outside resource to help get the process started can speed the process and increase efficiency. A good outside resource should be helping your staff ‘learn to fish’ instead of feeding them fish.
How to get started:
Is your business achieving the goals and growth you need to stave off competition or capitalize on all of your opportunities? If you need outside help in developing your business whether it is a startup or $10m in revenue, call or email Brian Bamberger today. We have an expert team in place to help you on your path to your goals and to transfer skills to your staff. Our team includes talented writers, graphic designers, project managers and most importantly, experts in pharmaceutical industry to help you develop new services for pharmaceutical companies.