The business ecosystem is quickly changing. The need for a competitive edge, creativity and innovation and also highly talented and qualified personnel is an unavoidable part of business growth strategy. The SMEs are also feeling the need to keep up with the dynamics of their survival. SMEs owners need to understand better why they must move away from the traditional way of running a business to professional way of doing things. We are past the time when the sole owner of the company would single-handedly undertake business duties regardless of his/her expertise. Currently, productivity must be a top priority of any business regardless of size, age or nature. Small business must be handled as a serious investment with the expectation of better returns based on the strategies put in place.
Sustaining workforce that is required to deliver on business ever-changing environment and capacity is a challenge for many SMEs. Most of the business are forced to force the few existing staffs to overstretch to other duties they are disabled. Business owners find themselves strained that they can’t channel enough efforts towards business growth. It’s true that most small businesses remain stagnant over time due to many manageable factors. It’s upon a small business to examine itself based on strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities to maximise to its advantage. From this position, the firm can face competition, creativity/innovation, technological advancements, and market dynamics among other business elements in a better way. All this brings about the concept of outsourcing for small business. It hasn’t been fully considered by lots of small companies, but it’s a better option to go considering the current technological age and challenging operating environment. For the chunk of SMEs that haven’t thought outsourcing, this is what you need to know:
A chance to access the experts; it’s a dream for every business to incorporate highly qualified and talented personnel to drive business activities and agendas. Looking outside far away from geographical limitations, an SME owner has the chance to contract the best expert from multiple talents at disposal to fit in the specific business niche, i.e. digital marketing.
Reduced cost of business operation; One of the surest means to maximise profitability is to slice down costs. Through outsourcing, SMEs can curb down expenditures on rent, office space, equipment, employee benefits, and transport costs etc. which are necessary for physical employees. The savings from these costs can be easily be channelled towards the revenue-generating capital.
More time for focus; delegating some business duties to experts saves SME owner from multitasking which in most cases has been draining business productivity. Outsourcing will give the owner perfect time work on business growth strategies for the benefits business long-term survival. The move goes well in establishing business priorities that is customer-centred.
Reduced risks; Business risks are inevitable in any business environment which is always changing, from competition, technological advancement, market to government regulations. Through outsourcing, SMEs tends to avoid any of such associated risks as the contracted service providers manage the risks on your behalf and are better placed to prevent risks in their niche of expertise.
Accelerated efficiency; As a small business, being exempted from doing costly business mandates such as market research, marketing burden of which trickles down to customers is a reprieve for your business. From the economies of scale point of view, this gives a firm that little competitive advantage.
Increasing demand for remote working; the current entrepreneurial space is giving attention to the remote operation. Most experts and businesses are going the same direction. Many employees are also more comfortable with jobs that are flexible enough to allow remote working. It’s also upon the SMEs to embrace these changes get in touch with freelancers who are affordable, experienced and readily available to perform business duties without extra business burden on training as well as other overheads.
Having gotten some insights on why SMEs should consider outsourcing, some essential business functions that may feel easier to be handled by experts regardless of the stage of your business. It’s proving to be cost-effective and productive in the long run for startups or existing SMEs.
Bookkeeping; Multitasking hurts business productivity. Many SMEs struggle with this vital business element and end up with non updated financial records, no clear financial instruments making it even difficult to evaluate, analyse and control business performance. You can’t allow your business to continue committing such financial mistakes. It’s best to contract experienced team with the right technology to professionally handle your business financials at an affordable cost.
Payroll; Any mistake from bringing about tax audits which may be at the end costly to SME. The numerous regulations and tax laws for salaries require merely an expert with in-depth experience to curb the risks of making the costly mistakes, omissions and improper filing that may occur when the owner single-handedly run the show.
Virtual assistant; SME owner running the business solo may find him/herself strained by series of many smaller tasks that keep accumulating a lot of time. As the CEO of your business, the focus should be towards strategising for venture growth. It’s timely to higher an expert to help in administrative tasks to save time. The advantage here is that it’s less costly as the business have to pay only for hours duties were handled rather than spending more on full-time assistant which must be paid regardless of the job performed.
Digital marketing; Digital marketing is unavoidable for any business. Small business should seek the assistance of the experts on how better to go about this whole concept to achieve business productivity. Hiring digital marketing professional helps leverage digital medium that best fits the business needs within the budget standards. Some of the critical areas to check includes; social media management, content marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Email marketing and web analytics. Each of these areas has a unique contribution towards business growth when timely and adequately used.
Areas of business to outsource isn’t restricted to the few highlighted in this article. It’s upon every single company to outsource based on its weakness and goals. Comparing the cost of hiring full-time employee and outsourcing should as well be used as a guiding element towards any decision making.
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