Outsourcing continues to rise: Your guide to capitalizing on it

Outsourcing has become an increasingly common practice since the 1990s, with countless companies taking advantage of it. The main reason for this are the various benefits it offers to companies that engage in it.

These are only seen if you go about it the right way, however. Taking a few particular steps is vital to this. You’ll need to make sure you choose the right third-party or freelancer to hire. Doing so could be quite difficult, but it doesn’t need to be.

By taking a few particular steps, it should go much smoother than you’d think. Once you know how to outsource, you’ll have no problem seeing multiple benefits.

What is outsourcing & why use it?

Outsourcing involves hiring an external freelancer or third-party to perform specific duties for your company. These are usually the time- and labour-intensive tasks that need to be done, but detract from more important ones. Some of the more notable areas you can outsource include:

• Web development
• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer service
• Human resources
• Accounting
• Legal services

The business strategy provides a wealth of benefits when properly taken advantage of. The most notable of these is reducing your labour costs. By outsourcing to someone else, you don’t need to have an in-house employee or team working on it.

The reduction in labour costs will be self-evident. At the same time, you shouldn’t need to worry about insurance, office space, and similar employee-related expenses. As such, it’s a much more affordable way of getting certain tasks done.

These will become increasingly obvious over time, but you may need to put down a larger upfront cost.

The cost reduction could be more than enough for you to consider outsourcing. To achieve this, you’ll need to know how to outsource the right way. Taking a few particular steps will help you make sure that’s the case.

How to outsource: Steps to take

1. Understand your motives

Before you start outsourcing, you’ll need to understand why you want to start. The benefits of the practice may seem like more than enough of a reason, but that may not be the entirety of it. One of the more notable benefits to freelance is that it gives you access to expertise.

Accessing that and improving your business output can be a more attractive motive. The more you understand your motives for outsourcing, the more carefully you can decide on who to outsource to. It’ll let you make a better choice, as you can pick a company that meets your motives.

Taking time on this will let you make a more informed decision long term.

2. Know your expectations

Once you know what you’ll be outsourcing, it’s time to figure out what your expectations are. Do you want the work done within a particular timeline? Are there any specifics related to your business that you’ll need to communicate to the company or freelancer you hire? What about communication?

Being able to answer these questions – as well as multiple others – lets you determine specifically what you want. If you don’t know this, you can’t expect third-parties or freelancers to know what you want. 

While this could take some time to figure out, it’ll save you from a lot of time and hassle once you do start outsourcing. It’ll be time well spent, so make sure you focus on it before contacting any potential hires.

3. Have a detailed job description

When you’re outsourcing, you’ll need to have a job description. This will help third-parties decide whether the job is the right one for them. When you’re putting this together, it’s worth making it as detailed as possible.

The more information a potential supplier has, the better able they are to give you a quote. You can get much more accurate prices based on this while drawing in the right candidates for you. 

The more detailed your job description is, the better quality of applicants you’ll get for it. You’ll also avoid an extensive amount of back and forth explaining things by getting this done from the start.

4. Find your talent

Before you can outsource to any third parties, you’ll need to find the right one for you. That doesn’t need to be as difficult as you’d think. You can even find a local dev team to help with your needs, if that’s what you’re looking for.

There are more than a few other ways you can look for outsourced talent, with multiple platforms being recommended for this. While you might need to spend time sorting through various freelancers and third-parties, it’ll be worth the effort.

Having various criteria to help you narrow these down – such as skillset, culture, price, and more – you can make this much easier for yourself.

5. Test candidates

Once you’ve narrowed down your options based on various criteria, you’ll need to make sure they’re skilled enough to perform the work you want them to do. Doing this can be relatively simple. Checking out their previous work – if possible – can be an effective way of doing so.

Sometimes, you’ll need to take a more hands-on approach to this. It’s worth interviewing them and testing their skills. You wouldn’t need to be overly formal by taking this approach. Instead, think of it as a way to address any doubts or concerns you might have.

Should you decide to test them, aim to keep it simple. Few third-parties are willing to go through exhaustive tests for a job, especially if it’s unpaid. Keep it to the bare minimum to evaluate their skills.

Top tips for outsourcing

As effective as each of the above steps are, you could want a few tips to make sure you can outsource various business tasks as effectively as possible. There are more than a few of these to choose from, with several standing out.

By following them as you start outsourcing, you can rest assured the process will be easy and stress-free. Some of the more notable of these include:

• Start small – If you’re new to outsourcing, then it’s worth starting small. Doing so lets you develop trust with the third-party you choose without risking too much money or handing over essential parts of your business. Over time, you can scale this up as much as you need.
• Don’t choose low-cost – With costs being one of the more notable benefits to outsourcing, it’s natural for you to focus primarily on this. That’s not the right approach to take, however. Instead, focus on how much value you’ll get from each potential choice. It can be worth going for a more expensive option, as they should provide better work.
• Make sure to evaluate – In the weeks and months after hiring the third-party, you should evaluate how they’re performing. By doing so, you’ll be better able to determine whether they’re providing the quality you want. You’d typically do the same thing for in-house employees. There’s no reason not to with the third-party you hire.

Combined with the steps outlined above, you shouldn’t have a problem outsourcing some of your core business duties with ease.

How to outsource: Wrapping up

Figuring out how to outsource the right way can seem like a complicated process. While it could be in several ways, it doesn’t need to be. Each of the above steps will make sure it goes quite smoothly.

Combined with the various tips you can use, you can rest assured that’ll be the case. With each of the benefits outsourcing can have for your company, there’s no reason not to use it.

25/07/2022