When you’re running a small business, outsourcing can feel incredibly tempting. Especially if you’re running your business solo or are managing a very small team – it’s easy to feel like an extra pair of hands could solve all your problems.
And, in many cases, they could!
Outsourcing is becoming an increasingly popular resource for small businesses, particularly where cutting costs is concerned. In fact, a recent Deloitte study found that 57% of businesses that outsource do so to keep costs down, closely followed by 49% of businesses that choose to outsource to give them access to different capabilities outside of their organisation.
But, as with most things in the business world, one size certainly does not fit all so it’s important to understand whether outsourcing would be the right move for your business specifically.
As outsourcing professionals, we’ve put together a list of what we feel are the most crucial outsourcing pros and cons so that you can make the best decision for your business.
The Pros of Outsourcing
As a small business owner, time is tight and the workload is heavy. Outsourcing gives you the opportunity to balance out that workload while affording yourself more time to focus on the core aspects of your business. Here’s why:
Outsourcing improves efficiency
While you might have to squeeze all of your admin into one Friday afternoon or spend your evenings creating marketing materials, an outsourced professional can dedicate all of the time allocated to your business to one singular task.
This means that turnaround times are a lot shorter than if those tasks were handled in-house, and the risk of falling behind or having to compromise on certain tasks is eliminated. In turn, you should start to see your business processes become more streamlined, making the running of your business far smoother overall.
Outsourcing cuts costs
Employing more in-house staff can be incredibly expensive, especially when you begin to consider extra costs like sick leave and holiday pay. It can become even more costly if there isn’t always adequate work for that new hire to complete.
Outsourcing means you only pay for the time worked. There aren’t any extra payments to consider, and you won’t have to continue spending money if the workload unexpectedly becomes lighter.
Now, that’s not to say outsourcing is cheap. It isn’t, and the price you pay will reflect the quality of the work completed. But if you’re a small or start-up business just looking for another pair of hands a couple of times per week, the cost would still be significantly lower than a full-time hire.
Outsourcing gives you access to talent
Outsourced professionals are usually experts in their area. For example, if you want to outsource your copy for your new website, there are thousands of copywriting experts out there who will be experienced in your niche and will have all the right skills and knowledge to do the best job possible.
Outsourcing gives you the freedom to work with experts from all over the world. You’re not restricted to location or limited by the cost of taking on a full-time expert. Instead, you can pick and choose who you’d like to work with depending on who is the best fit for your company.
Outsourcing improves work quality
As we mentioned above, outsourcing professionals are experts. When you delegate tasks within your existing team, you may find that some training or further education is required to ensure all team members can complete tasks to standard.
Take credit control, for example. If you’re running a floristry business, chances are you or your team may not have been exposed to that much credit control, meaning extra resources may be required to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Outsourcing to a credit control expert, however, would eliminate this issue.
The Cons of Outsourcing
While the pros outsourcing has to offer can make the choice feel like a no-brainer, it’s important to consider both sides of the story and gather all the information necessary to help you make an informed choice.
Outsourcing means handing over control
Your business is precious, and when you’ve been working on it by yourself or just with a small team for so long, it can be difficult to hand that control over to someone else. Choosing to outsource means letting go of the reigns a little and trusting someone else, which can feel incredibly daunting. While outsourcing professionals are absolute experts in what they do and will be able to reassure you that your tasks are safe in their hands, if you don’t feel ready to take that step yet, maybe put your outsourcing plans on the back burner for a while.
Outsource professionals don’t know your business
As amazing as outsourcing professionals are, it’s impossible for them to know your business as well as you do – especially in the first few weeks of outsourcing. While outsource professionals take the time to get to know your business and will make it their mission to develop a deep understanding of your mission and values, there may be a few bumps in the road when you embark on your outsourcing journey.
If you feel like you might not have the time to help an external party get to know your business well enough to do the best job possible, outsourcing may not be the right choice for your business at this moment in time.
Outsourcing isn’t always instant
Chances are, you won’t be your outsource professional’s only client. This means that if you need a task completed immediately, it might not be as simple as dropping your outsource professional an email and receiving the completed task a few hours later.
While most outsourcing professionals are incredibly accommodating and will do their best to work to tight turnaround times when they can, it isn’t always possible. To get the best out of outsourcing, you’ll need to plan ahead for tasks you need to complete and make sure you give your outsource professional plenty of notice so they can meet deadlines efficiently.
If you often need work completed last minute and your business works on more in-the-moment processes, outsourcing might not be for you.
While there are some cons to outsourcing, it’s important to note that a good outsourcing professional will be aware of these concerns and will go above and beyond to ensure they don’t impact the service they provide.
Ready to Start Outsourcing?
So, there you have it – outsourcing in all its glory. It’s clear to see that outsourcing to experts is an incredibly effective way to increase efficiency, productivity and quality within your business. It’s also great for cutting costs and keeping your in-house team small and dedicated to core aspects of your business.
Whether you’re considering outsourcing admin tasks like inbox management or paperwork, support work like credit control or creative aspects of your business, like copywriting or social media management, it really can make a huge difference to the smooth running of your business.
If you’d like to give outsourcing a go, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our brilliant team who will point you in the right direction.