Outsourcing Services and Needs 

Do I Need to Outsource Services?

In today’s highly competitive business landscape, outsourcing has become a popular way for companies to cut costs, increase efficiency, and stay competitive. Many essential services are outsourced, including accounting, marketing, human resources, customer service, IT support, and manufacturing. Outsourcing these services allows businesses to focus on their core competencies and save time and money on non-core activities. Additionally, outsourcing provides access to specialized expertise, technology, and resources that might only be available in some places. As a result, outsourcing has become an attractive option for businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.  

Outsourcing services is a valuable strategy for fast-growing and savvy businesses. It is particularly helpful if you are a lean and mean team looking for access to a broader range of experience, especially financially savvy and trying to keep overhead costs down, or if your hair feels like it’s constantly on fire trying to keep up with seemingly overnight growth. Outsourcing is also a good way to verify employee performance or cover key employee absences in case of medical or maternity leave. Outsourcing may be a good option if your company lacks the expertise, resources, or time to handle specific tasks or projects in-house. Outsourcing provides access to specialized expertise and resources without the cost and commitment of hiring full-time staff. When considering outsourcing, it’s essential to evaluate potential providers carefully, set clear expectations and goals, and establish effective communication and collaboration processes to ensure success.

What Services Can Be Outsourced?  

These days you can probably find an outsourced solution for just about anything, but these are the most commonly outsourced areas.

1. Accounting and Finance – This is helpful when your team is overrun, you need to identify better/more efficient processes, or you are thinking about a large-scale process like an ERP implementation.
2. M&A Capital – Who has the cash to keep an investment broker on staff? No one! Bring in an outsourced team when you are thinking about acquiring or selling the business.
3. Sales and Marketing Strategies – Sales teams stagnate, and sometimes it takes an outside eye to get things moving again by creating metrics, visibility, and implementing some revenue-generating activities.
4. Content Creation – Most business owners lack both the time and inclination to document processes and build training, so this is a great area to outsource to a specialized third party. Your future self will thank you.
5. Software Development – Software teams get very expensive very fast if you plan to recruit the right experts to do the job properly (there are a lot of sub-par options out there, unfortunately). Unless you are a tech company, it’s probably best to outsource this instead.
6. Staffing and Recruiting – Most companies do have an in-house recruiting team, but staffing firms are great for high-level talent, specialty roles, and when recruiters are drowning under too many open positions.
7. Data & Automation – automation can make a huge difference in your company, but creating automation and system integration is often a full-time job for a few months to a year. An outsourced provider is much easier to fire after you finish the project than a full-time employee.
8. Tax Strategy – unless you have a CPA on staff, you have probably already outsourced this already. Most companies outsource this to avoid pesky rules like independence.
9. Legal Services – There are multiple phases in a business’s lifecycle where you will want a specialized legal expert. Outsource this service when you are considering big legal moves like applying for a patent, selling the company, or even going public.

Outsourcing is a cost-effective way to access specialized expertise and resources, particularly for small or medium-sized businesses that may not have the budget or need full-time staff in certain areas.

How Do I Know What I Need Outsourced? 

Start by taking stock of your employees. Which teams are overwhelmed? Where do you have upcoming absences? Next, look at underperforming areas of the business. Where do you lack visibility? Or where are you, as a leader, less confident? For example, if you are a former CTO running your own tech company, you might want an outsourced CRO to help you drive revenue or a lawyer to help you evaluate investor agreements.

C-Level Strategy plays a critical role in determining which services make sense to outsource for your businesses. They help businesses determine which services to outsource and which providers to use based on the company’s goals, budget, and overall strategy.