If you own a business that has a dedicated IT department, then it's probably been a recent consideration to look at an outsourced solution in recent years - especially considering the economic climate of the last decade. Outsourcing is becoming a more frequent aspect to many US businesses with the human resources, marketing, accounting and information technology departments being the ones most commonly outsourced. It's not possible to outsource everything in order to run your company, but with careful planning it could help you to cut costs and overheads.
The main advantage to outsourcing aspects to your business is of course the money factor. But… it's not just about costs. Here are my top six reasons to outsource, beginning with the cost control factor that most people are already aware of.
#1 Improves Control in Operating Costs
When it comes to outsourcing, you will be able to remove the costs involved in hiring an employee such as employment taxes, health insurance, retirement plans, training, management oversight etc. Therefore, it greatly reduces operation costs of a company and this will result in more profit to be gained providing the correct investments are made.
#2 Improving Company Focus
Other than the fact that outsourcing is practical, it can also help in improving the focus of the company. It lets the company focus on the core competencies since they will have less problems financially and less business departments to have to focus on.
#3 Gain Access to Expert Capabilities
When you outsource part of your business, for example the IT department, then you can benefit from the expert experience of a group of qualified IT professionals. Not only has that, but the nature of outsourcing means you can sometimes search a far wider area. In the example of IT, if you need a remote IT solution, it's possible to employ a company who are geographically nowhere near you - meaning you are not restricted to using staff who are in your area, who might not necessarily have the required skill sets or expertise levels.
#4 Concentrate Your Staff Efforts
A familiar scenario in any business is where office employees get involved with tasks that take up too much of their time, and sometimes on a task you are not paying them to do. How often have you seen a marketing specialist being asked to fix the printer, or the sales guy having to install software on a colleagues PC? Outsourcing lets you farm those tasks out to specialists, letting your own in-house staff concentrate on the tasks you are paying them to do. As a result you should get better productivity and improved results.
#5 More Funds Available
Outsourcing should save you money, as you are only paying for the time that you actually need. This should free up more capital to invest in product development, new services, and other business critical factors in order to move the company forward.
#6 Reduce the Risks
When you own a business, employing in-house staff comes with its risks. For example, if you employ somebody who ends up not being suitable for you, then the process of removing them from the company can be fraught with legal difficulties as well as being time-consuming. With an outsourced company it should be easier to terminate any contractual agreements due to non-performance.
T0 c0nclude, more and more companies are taking the outsourced approach. My advice would be to first try outsourcing with a small sample size of your staff. Then if you find it works for you, roll it out across other departments. Don’t enter into any long-term contracts with outsourcing suppliers until you have worked with them for at least six months.
Article researched, written, and supplied by the IT Support London HQ Team, experts in IT outsourcing in the London area (United Kingdom).
