Thriving in today’s business environment has become more competitive and demanding than ever. If you run a small business, it is most likely that you do not have all the skill set as well as facilities required to grow your business and gain a larger share of your market niche.
Even big businesses also lack certain skill sets in certain areas of their business. One of the ways to overcome your skill limitations and grow your business is to take advantage of outsourcing. When you outsource some of your company’s operations, you are managing uncertainty and helping your business to gain ground in any environment.

What is Outsourcing?

This is a good place to kick off. It is not surprising that some people have not heard about outsourcing or do not really have a good grasp of what the term is all about… Simply put, outsourcing refers to a strategic use of external resources to carry out certain business functions that were traditionally managed in-house, or functions that are beyond the core competencies of the outsourced company. The benefits accruing from business outsourcing are numerous; to mention but a few – cost reduction, access to talent that may not be available in-house, liability sharing and enhanced expertise. Outsourcing can be off-shore or in-country.

What Do You Outsource?

Here are the commonly outsourced business functions;

Information Technology

Popularly known as IT, Information Technology is one of the most outsourced functions on any business or organization. This involves programming, networking, system security, internet and other computer-based business functions. In the 21st century, virtually every business function and operation is built on IT platform. You can decide to outsource all or part of your organization’s IT functions depending on your IT needs. It is also wise to choose an outsourcing contractor that specializes on IT and has proven history to deliver high quality result.

Web design/Development/Maintenance

Web design/development/maintenance is also a commonly outsourced function, especially in online marketing. You want to make sure that your business website is designed, developed and maintained by an expert in the field.

Human Resources/Payroll Benefits

Some companies may choose to outsource their human resource management for better result. There is need to keep the communication line open at all times in order to get feedbacks and send responses related to your organization’s human resource issues.

Other outsource-able business functions include order fulfillment, accounting/billing, sales/business development, marketing/advertising, customer service/relationship management and others. When you choose the right outsourcing company for any business function, numerous benefits would flow towards your company. More importantly, you are better-positioned to compete in the fierce business environment.

Outsourcing has increasingly become an important part of business operation, consider outsourcing some of your organization’s activities today.

Daven Michaels Author of the book Outsource This!