You might have heard of outsourcing by now.
However, if you are still hesitant about trying it, you can read the following guide to look into how outsourcing works, what benefits you will gain from it, and how much it would cost you, among others:
Nowadays, you can outsource almost anything.
While it carries certain risks, it also comes with plenty of benefits:
Outsourcing DefinitionBusinesses often hire a data entry clerk to address the gaps within their databases. These information technology professionals will then gather the data from various documents, materials, or online databases. candidates off a shortlist and then arrange for an interview.
Special ConsiderationsOnce data is collected, it is then digitized. Data entry operators must thus be knowledgeable about using office equipment or tools to encode data online.
Ethics of OutsourcingA data entry clerk must check the data for discrepancies or inaccuracies. For instance, they must inspect for misspellings, erroneous information, or wrong formatting.
Key TakeawaysAside from encoding and verifying data, they may be required to regularly back up databases to ensure data security and safety.
With so many types of available, it’s best to evaluate what your business needs to determine the right approach.
Here are a few kinds to give you an idea:
As the name suggests, insourcing involves hiring an in-house employee to perform specific tasks.
Conversely, outsourcing is when you tap external resources to complete a job or task for you.
Both of these terms are often used interchangeably.
You can think of outsourcing as the umbrella term. After all, it’s simply the process of delegating functions to third parties.
Offshoring specifically refers to assigning responsibilities to a company outside your home country.
The business world can be pretty ruthless.
You need to constantly get ahead of the competition, and one way to do that is by contracting the help of experts outside your company.
Sometimes, you might end up having to recall the functions you outsourced in the first place.
Say, you need to hire in-house software engineers and other IT experts for product development instead. In this case, you would be repatriating or “backsourcing” such functions.
Thus, you must check what each staffing company has to offer and what their clients say about them before you make a decision.
At Remote Staff, for example, you can easily read testimonials from past clients on our home page.
So, what advantages do you get from outsourcing services to a staffing agency?
The most significant benefit is cost reduction.
Consider how much it would cost your business to hire an in-house employee. Remember, you must also furnish them with equipment, pay for extra office space, and provide them with training.
All these can quickly add up.
When you outsource, you can steer clear of all those expenses and avail of more affordable labor costs, especially when you’re outsourcing to a country with a lower cost of living, like the Philippines.
As an entrepreneur, you would want to grow your business as quickly as you can.
Outsourcing gives you this advantage over your competitors. The faster you can fill a skills gap in your company, the quicker you can scale up.
Internal recruitment can take weeks or even months. But when you partner with a staffing agency, you can hire a capable employee within days.
As previously mentioned, you save money with outsourcing, and you can then direct the savings to more crucial activities for growing your company.
Business owners might think offshoring is disadvantageous because of time differences. However, it’s an opportunity to extend your operating hours and perhaps even offer 24/7 customer service.
As previously mentioned, you save money with outsourcing, and you can then direct the savings to more crucial activities for growing your company.
It reduces your staff’s workload, allowing them to better concentrate on their core responsibilities to help your business grow.
Sometimes, you might not have immediate access to the talent you need within your locality.
Thus, outsourcing can help address this issue. Hiring the right people for the job – no matter where they’re from- can significantly improve productivity and efficiency.
Outsourcing is a great way to strengthen your back-office support.
Having a back office keeps things running smoothly -even if it doesn’t directly generate income.
Delegating critical business processes has risks.
But because these staffing companies are good at what they do, they will have risk mitigation plans in place for your peace of mind.
We have constantly talked about risks, but what are they specifically?
Here are a few – and how you can work around them.
One of the biggest concerns is the potential loss of control.
As a business owner, you have no control over the output quality or project delays, if any.
However, you can set deadlines and use KPIs to track the progress of your project.
When you outsource, communication issues due to time differences or language barriers are possible.
But when you outsource to a company like Remote Staff, their 100% Filipino remote talent are proficient in the English language and are also accustomed to working alongside Western clients.
Most companies outsource to reduce costs. However, you might encounter hidden charges from service providers, if you aren’t careful.
At Remote Staff, there’s a low chance of this happening because we will always discuss your budget and then lay out all the charges from the beginning.
Lastly, outsourcing usually comes with security risks. Thus, you must be more vigilant about whom you grant access to and your choice of security software.
At Remote Staff, we use a time-tracking program for transparency and peace of mind.
So, what business functions can you outsource to a service provider exactly?
To start, you can outsource specific tasks or even an entire sales department to an agency.
They can handle lead generation, market research, and calls (both inbound and outbound) on your behalf, to name a few.
Another service lots of companies outsource is IT management, where a third party develops software for a company or manages its database.
Of course, administrative tasks are one of the most popular duties to outsource.
They can range from answering phone calls and responding to emails to more complex ones like bookkeeping and processing payroll.
As a business owner, your daily schedule must be packed. This can often be hard to keep track of and can result in a few missed appointments.
However, you can hire someone to manage your schedules and book appointments with other entrepreneurs and clients for you.
Social media has become a vital part of any company’s marketing efforts.
But if you have trouble maneuvering through various online platforms, you can recruit someone more experienced.
Considering how everything is done online these days, the right social media marketing will help you reach your target audience, boosting your sales and brand recognition.
You can also outsource your voiced and non-voiced customer service functions, and given the difference in timezone, you can provide such even after the usual business hours.
Instead of having an internal research and development team, delegate these tasks to outsourced professionals.
Not only will you diminish your operating costs and training time, but you also gain access to experts beyond the local talent pool.
Human resource (HR) activities can also be delegated to a third-party organization.
Payroll management can be labor-intensive.
You might also have reservations about hiring a non-native professional. After all, tax laws vary from one place to another.
However, Remote Staff’s remote HR talents have years of experience and are knowledgeable about foreign payroll rules.
Creative outsourcing involves commissioning creatives to manage the marketing and advertising side of your business.
As the name implies, these professionals can develop your company’s branding and produce content, graphics, and other creative materials.
You can also outsource large volumes of data for processing.
Good data, after all, is the backbone of making smart business decisions, and instant access to it makes a huge difference.
Another one of the IT services you can outsource is computer programming, which involves software or app development.
Putting up a company website alone isn’t enough these days.
You should hire experts to maximize your website’s performance in search engines, for instance.
Doing so helps your site rank higher in searches, allowing people to find your business easily.
Web design is part of IT outsourcing. You can hire web designers to create a website that is intuitive and functional.
Web design is part of IT outsourcing.
You can hire web designers to create a website that is intuitive and functional.
While content is king, you can’t just post anything.
You must ensure your external staff provides quality content so it builds brand credibility and provides value for your target audience.
Digital marketing can increase brand awareness.
However, this involves a mix of different services, like copywriting, content writing, search engine optimization (SEO), social media management, and web design, which is impossible for one person to do.
So, outsourcing allows you to assemble an entire marketing team without breaking the bank.
Sometimes, you might want to include videos in your content.
Delegating this task to an outsourced staff can result in high-quality videos produced in less time, especially if your in-house staff are preoccupied with other duties.
Handling emails seems simple enough.
However, outsourcing your email management can save you time since you won’t have to deal with spam and other unwanted messages.
You can then use the extra time more strategically elsewhere.
Let your outsourced staff set your appointments and organize your calendar.
It may be daunting to allow a third-party vendor access to your company’s sensitive data.
But doing so enables you to overcome challenges that come with data storage, such as data growth, complexity,and diversification.
Inbound marketing is just one facet of digital marketing (think of it as the umbrella term for all sorts of marketing efforts).
You can outsource your inbound marketing functions to those that specialize in creating valuable content to attract customers.
Let professional writers manage your company’s newsletter and customize the content based on your intended audience.
Tapping a staffing solutions company to help with tax filing and preparation reduces your internal accounting department’s workload.
It can also result in faster turnaround time, especially during peak seasons.
It is also now possible to outsource legal services, which helps law firms optimize their business processes.
Best of all, these outsourced staff are likely knowledgeable about your country’s laws, especially if they offer legal support services.
You can actually entrust functions like medical billing, transcription, and medical record management to service providers.
This process results in smoother healthcare operations and better patient experience.
You can find bookkeeping and accounting professionals from anywhere in the world.
They are often already well-versed in using various accounting tools and can keep your books in order for you.
Offshoring IT services to keep your company’s data safe is an excellent way to lower costs. Timezones also guarantee 24/7 cybersecurity services.
A staffing agency can manage tasks like fulfillment, shipping, and customer service for your e-commerce business.
The outsourced staff can take care of the clerical side of your manufacturing and production needs.
As part of your e-commerce business, you can delegate the order fulfillment and logistics between your shipping company and customers to a third-party provider.
Outsourcing has countless benefits. One is the increased productivity of your in-house employees.
Here are other strategies you can employ to strengthen your current internal workforce:
Marketing events are a brilliant way to attract new customers and showcase your products or services.
Organizing these events, however, takes a lot of time and effort.
Instead of taking away time from critical tasks, you can outsource most of the planning. All you need to do is provide info and then show up to the event.
When you do not enjoy accomplishing a particular task, chances are you will probably do a poor job.
Instead, outsource it to the specialists.
Engineers do not necessarily have to work in the same space as you to offer their services.
Hiring outsourced engineers can help standardize your internal engineering processes and offer innovative solutions.
Of course, the expertise you need may not be available within your local area.
It could also be that huge corporations may have already taken hold of the top talent.
So, you can expand your talent acquisition to make the most out of outsourcing.
Companies need tons of data, and most of the time, huge volumes of such will have duplications and errors.
Fortunately, you can outsource the data clean-up to the experts.
Podcasts have become popular in recent years and are a great way to reach your audience.
However, recording one podcast episode (and the subsequent editing process) is time-consuming.
So, to save time, reach out to a third party who can produce your podcast episodes for you.
Having all the software you need for customer relationship management (CRM) functions makes validating data easier and improves customer experience.
Training, especially new hires or upskilling employees, will take up resources that might not be readily available to you as an SME owner.
So, tap consultants or training professionals who can provide these at a relatively low cost.
Here are some trends that may emerge:
One key advantage of outsourcing is flexibility. Companies can pick what services they want to contract. They can even choose to scale up or down depending on the season.
When the pandemic disrupted everything, remote work emerged as a viable solution. Offshoring ensures that your operations continue (even extending your usual business hours) despite such disruptions.
Be a leading hub for business process outsourcing (BPO). A large chunk of the population speaks English and is exceptionally suited for customer service roles.
But more than that, the Philippines remains an attractive destination for global companies to address their staffing needs while keeping up with the rise of AI.
At Remote Staff, rest assured that you won’t have to deal with hidden charges.
We will always lay out all the charges fright from the beginning.
Transitioning is always a daunting experience, but when done right, it can be rewarding.
Moving towards outsourcing requires careful planning. Define the scope of work, and set out all the KPIs and deadlines so you can establish expectations with your remote worker right off the bat.
While a staffing agency can speed up the hiring process, you still need to orient your remote contractor on internal processes and specific software your company uses.
Determine if your remote contractors will directly report to you or another supervisor.
Establish how often you and your distributed team will communicate and through what channels.
Doing so will ensure a smooth working relationship between you and your outsourced staff.
So, what happens next?
All you have to do is jump on a discovery call with one of our Client Relations Executives.
They will be more than happy to give you a quote on your outsourcing services needs and answer any further questions you may have.
We went ahead and gathered a handful of FAQs:
Outsourcing is less costly compared to hiring an in-house employee.
Remote Staff will always consider your budget when sourcing a candidate who fits your job specifications.
The most popular outsourced three roles are Accounting, Customer Service, and Data Entry.
However, we have a rich pool of candidates ready to be interviewed – and to start.
If you have more specific needs, let us know and we’ll surely find someone who fits the bill. Ready to start?
Schedule a callback with us and let’s discuss your outsourcing needs.