Finding a balance between your budget, current business needs, and time is crucial for any business to flourish. And if you have an established business, there are times when you can’t manage everything in-house and are bound to outsource certain services. Outsourcing helps you hire experts to finish off the basic operations in less time while also saving money on extending the in-house team. Big companies outsource most of their services so that they can better focus on their core business objectives.
In this article, we’ve shared nine services that every scaling business should and must outsource to improve overall business efficiency.
Services Every Scaling Businesses Should Outsource
1. Social Media Management
Although many companies take social media as an easier channel that any marketer can handle, they’re mistaken. Considering the widespread use of social media marketing in today’s business world, it is crucial to hire experts who can bring in substantial results for your business. When you outsource social marketing, you can easily hire the right people to handle everyday marketing needs, such as graphic design, copywriting, promotions, etc.
Outsourcing a social media team can suggest competitive strategies to generate leads and drive traffic to your website. This, in turn, increases your brand awareness, builds customer loyalty, and improves your site’s rankings. In a nutshell, you get skilled professionals who allow your business to respond quickly to market changes without going through the process of recruiting and hiring full-time staff.
2. Web Development
Hiring a third party for your web development needs is a cost-effective measure that many businesses take. It will help you avoid the need for hiring in-house developers; rather, invest that money in outsourcing a skilled and experienced team. A 2019 research reported that 55% of businesses outsource the creation of web applications.
Even if you wish to take the custom software development route, you can hire backend developers with years of expertise and professional experience in the industry. These professionals ensure to maintain the security, accuracy, and performance of your backend with the use of the latest tech stacks and updated industry information. When choosing a third party, avoid making hasty decisions and get a clear understanding of your web development requirements and then study your options accordingly.
3. Customer Service
Outsourcing a customer service team is a great option for businesses that deal with customers mainly over the phone or online. Here are a few benefits of hiring a third party to manage the customer service department of a company:
- Round-the-clock customer support service.
- Multilingual support.
- No more staffing problems.
- Access to advanced technological tools, including data warehousing, VPNs, chatbot setups, server programs, networking hardware, etc.
When you provide your customers with 24/7 customer support and address their queries timely, they are more likely to promote your business via word of mouth. This will eventually give you recurring customers, helping you scale up your revenue.
4. IT Team
It is important to have the right IT process in place for your customer’s safety and seamless operations within the organization. Since IT management involves a wealth of knowledge of integration, troubleshooting, and security, it is vital to have a team of skilled IT professionals. Instead of putting all the pressure on your in-house team, it is better to outsource an IT team who will manage all the main IT-related operations. These people have access to cutting-edge technological tools, which ensures that your company’s IT needs are up to date.
5. Marketing
Since marketing is another important aspect of growing a business, it is better to have a big team, including in-house and third-party sources, who can take care of your marketing needs. This is because many companies struggle to find the right resources for developing and executing a marketing strategy.
But when you collaborate with a third party marketing firm that offers growth hacking solutions, you get exposed to many benefits, including reduced overhead expenses, access to the latest tools and industry expertise, and quick results. This is especially effective when it comes to specific marketing projects that require special attention, time, resources, and expertise – such as a rebranding initiative, website redesign, or media relations program.
6. Accounting
Payroll teams are key contributors to a positive and reliable work environment. 60% of small businesses still prefer to handle this aspect in-house, while big companies commonly outsource payroll. Handling the task of managing the employee finances off to the experts or any helpful payroll software is known to reduce costs and increase compliance.
In fact, data shows that companies who outsource payroll save more than 18% more than those who handle it in-house. In addition, the IRS indicates that 40% of small businesses pay over $845 every year for penalties for incorrect filings and payments. It also eliminates the task of manually managing sales tax compliance which most small-scale businesses do at the cost of nearly $22,000 annually.
7. Virtual Assistant
In today’s growing digital world, advances in technology and cloud computing have allowed businesses to outsource a wide range of projects to virtual assistants. Virtual assistants are independent contractors who have years of experience in administrative tasks and operate outside the client’s office. Companies prefer outsourcing simple or redundant tasks to these assistants to free up their time and invest that time in handling higher-level tasks.
Nowadays, businesses are offering opportunities to VAs in the field of social media, content management, graphic designing, and digital marketing. And since the trend of remote working has become widely accepted by both workers and employers, the demand for virtual assistants has increased all over the industry.
8. Sales
Businesses often outsource their sales operations in order to grow and expand their scale. Building an in-house team can be costly with hiring, training, salary, and bonuses, and that’s often a risky investment since sales development representative, or SDR turnover can be pretty high. On the contrary, if you hire a third-party sales team, it allows you to manage your overhead costs.
Speaking of the sales perspective, outsourcing can help you target underserved market areas, support new products, and help you make decisions within a specific industry focus. Besides, these experts can help you break out silos in your organization and create better omnichannel and best data analytics practices.
9. Logistics
Outsourcing a logistics team helps you get done with fulfillment, warehousing, and delivery activities, which not only reduces your overall costs but also ensures improved customer service. Besides, it gives companies the time to focus on selling and merchandising. This is especially important for scaling businesses that face an increase in the demand for their products. Instead of using their existing resources to fulfill the logistics demand, they can just hire a skilled team who have years of expertise in handling these tasks. A third-party logistics provider generally has access to inventory management technology, larger fleets, better-located warehouses, etc.
The Bottom Line
As you scale your business throughout the years, it becomes imperative to differentiate as to which projects can be completed in-house and which need to be outsourced. For example, a business should not take any risk with web development and ensure to hire experts for the job. Simply put, carefully analyze your business operations and see which projects can be outsourced to save your time and money. When you rely on a third-party source to handle your everyday operations, you can focus on the core objectives that will help you scale your business.
