There are plenty of reasons why companies or businesses might choose to outsource a job rather than find a full-time employee. These reasons could include money, time, efficiency, and resources. But how do you know if outsourcing is the right move for your business? Here are six reasons why you might want to outsource a task.
1. Lower cost
In general, outsourcing costs less than hiring a full-time employee to do something for you. You can choose to pay them a fixed price for a fixed amount of work or pay them only for the actual hours they’ve worked. You also get to save on training and office costs since most outsourced freelancers work remotely. It’s less money spent for you and sometimes even better results, depending on what you’re outsourcing and where.
2. It’s something that you can’t or don’t know how to do
You can’t always know or learn everything there is to know, especially if you’re a small business running with a small team of people. You might not have the right experience, qualifications, or time to learn and do certain tasks. Things like marketing and bookkeeping might not be one of your biggest skills if you’re a small business owner. That’s when you outsource tasks to experienced professionals.
For example, marketing is one of the jobs that are most commonly outsourced by companies. If you don’t have the resources to hire an internal marketing team for your business, you can hire a marketing strategist or an SEO company to handle everything for you. SEO and content marketing, especially, is a sound and low-cost strategy to help build brand awareness and an audience.
The good thing about this is that you can still get good and favorable results, sometimes even better, for only half the labor cost of hiring a full-time professional. Whenever you’re in doubt, find a professional who can not only do it for you but guide you through it as well so that you know what to do next time.
3. It’s for a short-term job
Sometimes you don’t need to hire someone on a long-term contract to do something that can be done quickly, or you’re only going to use short-term. For example, you need an ad design for a marketing campaign. Outsourcing graphic designers and freelance artists will serve you best if you only need one design. Take into consideration how long a job could take. If it only takes a few months, less than a year, or even a couple of weeks or days, then it’s best to outsource it.
4. Lack of resources
Whether it’s monetary, business, or human resources, if your company doesn’t have the capacity or the means to get something done, it’s only natural that you look to other avenues with the resources you need. These resources could be anything from the right professionals to software, hardware, and other programs. If you can’t or don’t want to invest in those particular resources just yet, investing instead in sources that can provide you with those services is a cost-effective option.
5. You want to work more efficiently
When you delegate certain tasks to other sources, you and the team have more time to focus on other, more important matters related to your business. No longer having that one task weighing you down can be freeing and can streamline your business operations immensely when you hand it over to a trusted professional.
You no longer have to worry about juggling too many tasks at once or turning in lower-quality work at a slower pace. It frees up your workload and schedule and offers peace of mind when you know that you’ve assigned the right person for the right task.
6. You want your business to grow
Some people see outsourcing as a trial period to see if it would benefit the company if they might be willing to invest in something in the long-term. Take, for example, marketing. An outsourced marketing expert might be able to tell you what your business lacks and help you to decide if investing in a full-time marketing team would be a good investment.
Building an ongoing relationship with an outsourced business or professional is another way to grow your business. Sure, they’re not a full-time employee, but if you continue to use their services and form a mutual business relationship on trust, then you’re still expanding your business to encompass more services.
There’s no shame in needing to outsource a business or service, especially if you’re a small company. Sometimes, it’s necessary to outsource, especially if you don’t have the manpower or the funds. Take note of the benefits that outsourcing can bring to the table and weigh your options wisely.