Outsourcing sometimes gets a bad rap, especially with customers. Many consumers will recall terrible past customer service experiences when they think of outsourcing. Today, outsourcing isn’t just a profitable way to outsource services to other providers—it also is often a way to increase quality and flexibility for a business simultaneously. And when done correctly, most consumers won’t even be able to tell a business process was outsourced.
What are Business Processes? (And How Can They Be Outsourced?)
A business process is any set of activities that a business undertakes to obtain a specific goal. The end result when using such procedures should be ease of replicability and consistency of results. Sometimes a company may find that it is unable to undertake all the processes that the business requires adequately. In such cases, outsourcing specific tasks may be a worthwhile solution. This practice is often called business process outsourcing or BPO. A business process management professional will be able to best help guide a firm looking to outsource specific procedures.
You Can Rely on The Expertise of Others
The number one reason why any outfit should consider outsourcing some of their business processes is being able to rely on the expertise of professionals. And working with the right pros can often save businesses money in the long run. For example, a good accountant will be able to lessen a firm’s tax burden, and the right technology solutions will prevent costly ransomware attacks. So while there may be an initial outlay for securing professional help with either service, there clearly are financial benefits to doing so.
Let’s take IT services as a further example of why partnering with professionals might make sense. Staffing an IT department can be challenging enough, even for those that are lucky enough to have tech-savvy people in hiring. Still, few stakeholders at most companies will be able to make a nuanced decision when it comes to common IT conundrums, such as how many servers a company needs or what to do about threats to network security.
And for multinational corporations, the factors have multiplied significantly recently. In addition, regulatory environments can vary greatly from one nation to the next. In these cases, outsourcing IT management may make the most sense.
A good IT management provider will be able to:
- Setup and Manage a Secure Network
- Provide Outsourced Technology Services
- Managed Cloud Services
- Host Servers
- Help Recover from Disasters
- Offer Spam Protection
- Protect Against Ransomware
- And more!
The best part? Besides offering a greater level of expertise than a company typically can retain, outsourcing can often save a firm substantially in the long term, thanks to its added financial flexibility.
It Frees You Up to Focus on More Important Tasks
Don’t underestimate the impact that outsourcing administrative tasks can provide. Just look at Stephen Colbert’s recent run for an example from the entertainment world.
Colbert’s late-night CBS talk show “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was struggling early on. This was with Colbert taking on much of the heavy lifting himself at the time—including much of the administration as an executive producer. Eventually, the star found that this situation was untenable. The network brought in a new executive producer to help Colbert run the day-to-day so that the funnyman could focus on being, well, funny.
The results? Only the number one rated show in late night for five years running!
So, what is the lesson your business can take from Stephen’s example? Mainly, don’t be afraid to outsource aspects of the business that you aren’t good at so that you can focus on parts that will help your business shine!
Increase Quality with Outsourced Professionals
A somewhat hidden monetary benefit of outsourcing is that it can increase the quality of your business’s services while reducing costs overall. How can this be true? Well, because outsourced work should go to qualified professionals who are able to do the job at a fraction of the cost. And this is without the company having to take on additional expenses such as benefits and salary.
Outsourcing Provides a Business with More Flexibility
Finally, one of the prime reasons why any company should consider BPO is the added flexibility that it can provide a firm. When outsourcing, a company can quickly scale up or down its IT team and services as warranted. This makes it easier to have what is needed technology-wise without paying for it when it’s superfluous.
Let’s think of a law office as one example. There could be a big class action lawsuit that the firm would love to get in on. One limiting factor may be the amount of bandwidth the firm’s technology department has. However, when using BPO, a law practice can easily ramp up its technology solutions to meet a client’s needs—meaning they will never have to turn down a potentially lucrative case. After all, remember that the literal ability to make money trumps everything. And this is where outsourcing can help.
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