Outsourced Administrative services provide a great way to save time and cost, plus the added benefit of gaining access to specialist administrators. These skilled administrators work virtually and deliver quality service just like an executive in a conventional office would do, yet you only have to pay a fraction of the cost involved when you hire an executive in-house.
Most Businesses are Adopting Administrative Outsourcing Services
Most businesses are increasingly leveraging administrative outsourcing services as evidenced by the statistics extracted from Odesk. Odesk is one of the biggest online freelance job platforms and has been merged with E lance. According to the statistics, the job postings for virtual administrators rose from 2,500 in 2008 to 25,000 in 2012. And right now, the number has peaked significantly.
However, in order to use this outsourcing service successfully, you should know what tasks are best suited for the service. Here are the top 5 tasks recommended for outsourcing by experts;
1: Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping can be time-consuming, which is why it should be outsourced to a virtual administrator who is specialized in accounting. Subsequently, the virtual administrator will follow up on assigned book-keeping task such as unpaid bills or outstanding invoices.
Bear in mind that this will require handing over some control to the provider, which would include usernames and passwords to accounts. So, be careful and thorough about who you hire for this task.
2: Database Entries
Database entries are also suitable task for outsourced administrative services. These entries range from contacts generated at a seminar/conference, to updating of existing contacts. The key to success is to ensure your specific data entry needs are made clear to the service provider. And, ensure the provider is an expert in this area to help minimize error.
3: Online Research
Also, online virtual administrative assistants are good at carrying out online research. Some of the tasks involved in this case would include vetting prospective business contacts and employees, exploring new products, and sourcing for information on corporate web pages.
4: Email Management
Focus on the core tasks of your business and let the virtual administrators help you manage your emails. They will employ their special tech tools and apps to filter through your emails in order to identify the most important ones and respond to them as though you are the one responding to your clients.
5: Data Presentations
According to a Chief Marketing officer at a notable company in Mountain View, “transforming raw data to an-easy-to-grasp Power Point presentation can save huge time when getting ready for a major presentation. This is also the case with summarizing research findings using Microsoft Office Word, which is why I leverage outsourced administrative services virtually for data presentations.”
While there are other tasks you can virtually hand over to administrative outsourcing companies, you should start with these five.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
At some point in business, it will dawn on a smart-thinking business owner that a professional marketing help is needful. Laying your hands on the marketing processes that you are not an expert on (pay per click, social marketing or trade shows) may end up hurting your business instead of healing it. So, you need professional service such as outsourcing marketing services.
But, here’s the big question; can you really afford the marketing help that you desire?
Whether you’re looking for a strategist, graphic designer, web developer, PPC expert, or a content manager, you will incur substantial overhead cost when you hire these experts in-house.
The truth is, you need most of these marketing experts for the different marketing aspects. Of course, one marketing expert does not know it all. The least you will pay to get any of those marketing services is around $51,000 and about $336,000 for all the marketing positions mentioned above. Of course, you know that the risk of bad hire has not been added to the cost above. Obviously a small or medium-sized business can barely foot such bill considering its limited resources.
According to statistics, the failure of many companies and businesses has been largely attributed to haphazard marketing and sales functions/activities.
So, What’s the Solution?
Most companies and businesses are increasingly leveraging outsourcing marketing services for different marketing functions. You should employ rigorous process to find a suitable outsourcing marketing partner who has great insight into your type of business and the marketing functions that will help move your business forward.
The external marketing expert will also help bring the order that your business marketing needs to move to the next level. Marketing partners who operate from outside of the business premises usually work with team of professionals who combine their different areas of expertise to build a powerful marketing concept for your business.
Remember, it wouldn’t have been possible for you to afford such professionals in-house, especially if your business is at its start-up or mid-range level. In essence, you are financially incapacitated to afford such professionals on a full-time basis. But, through outsourcing, assessing such professionals without draining your purse has become so easy and practical. Indeed, the cost-saving can be very significant, and the outcome completely desirable.
Work Towards Getting the Best Result
But, you must be on top of the game, putting proper checks and balances in place, and making sure there is proper contract signed by both parties, so that you can legally lay claims in the event of breach of agreement. This is the best way to make most of outsourced marketing services.
So, don’t fold your hands and wait for a miracle to happen. You should bring the miracle you need for your business to your doorstep by saving cost and increasing profit through outsourcing.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
In addition to substantial cost savings, outsourcing also takes a lot of workload off businesses. Reduction in overhead can help a small business increase the budget for business expansion and growth, plus it frees up time to attend to the things that guarantee the continuous existence of a business. This is why small business outsourcing is a smart move. But, the question is, what functions or processes should you outsource as a small business?
According to business experts, a small business should consider outsourcing the following;
1: Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the best ways to promote any business. Through relevant and educative contents, you will reach out to your target audience and inform them about your new products, upcoming events, promotions, deals, and the solutions they are seeking in line with your business offer.
Of course, you will definitely not sound too ‘salesy’ or you will lose the attention of your target audience. Soft selling while educating your target audience is what works best. And, the best way to save cost, save time and gain access to professional writers is through outsourcing. A report published by LinkedIn has shown that nearly 80 percent of small business owners are outsourcing content.
2: Payroll
Also, when it comes to small business outsourcing, you should consider outsourcing your payroll. The intensity of this task can take your attention away from the core activities that promote the continuous growth and existence of your business. As you probably know, payroll goes beyond salary payouts, it also involves regulations, tax matters and more.
You should be aware that a seemingly minor error with payroll can result in tax audits at the detriment of your business. For instance, in 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a fine of over $2 billion fines and levies against small businesses, due to payroll related omissions, errors, and incorrect filings.
So, instead of hiring a professional in-house to manage your payroll, you should outsource the function and save huge cost.
3: Bookkeeping
Keeping accurate record of your business operation is critical and must not be done haphazardly. Just like payroll, bookkeeping needs to be handled conscientiously to avoid costly mistakes. So, you should outsource bookkeeping to an expert who specializes in this aspect. Avoid juggling between tasks as this can greatly reduce productivity and result in costly mistakes.
And of course, you will be better off outsourcing book-keeping in order to save overhead cost and pay far less remuneration compared to hiring the expert in-house.
Finally, when considering small business outsourcing, you should also outsource administrative tasks that tend to consume time and corner your attention away from the core aspects of the business and its continuous growth and existence.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
It appears that Philippine has taken over the call center outsourcing services, which is why a lot of people now refer to the country as the capital for call centers. It has overtaken India that was once very popular in this outsourcing niche. According to New York Times, nearly 400,000 Filipinos are workers in call centers, which is about 50,000 more people compared to India.
America Seems to Have Found a Better Call Center Capital – Philippine
More Americans are contacting the customer service lines in Manila (the capital of Philippine) for ticketing and tons of other services. In fact, even banks and phone companies now prefer to speak with a customer service expert in Philippine to the one in India.
Indeed, a huge revolution has taken place in the call center outsourcing business as Philippines rises to outshine its counterparts when it comes to call center outsourcing services in particular, and also other outsourcing niches.
It is no surprise that Americans are increasingly leveraging call centers in Philippines than India. Once the United States colony, the Philippines speaks ‘lightly accented English language’, especially the young people who dominate the population.
In the past couple of years, more people in the Philippines now take turns in form of night-shift duties, speaking to customers who are mostly Americans. According to the industry officials, “Well-known companies such as Expedia, JPMorgan Chase, and AT&T have either built their own call centers in Philippines or hired existing call centers.”
Most of the call center jobs handled by Filipinos in their country come from the United States, while some come from Europe. In fact, some Indian outsourcing call center service providers had to relocate to Philippine where their clients now chose to operate from.
The increased demand for Filipinos when it comes to call center outsourcing in particular can be partly traced to a preference for American English. At the beginning, this preference wasn’t a priority for companies since all that mattered was cost-cutting, as long as the offshore workers can understand and speak English, which is why America focused on India at the beginning.
However, companies in America are now pinpointing locations that are most suitable for certain outsourced tasks, which is why Philippines was identified as the most suitable offshore destination when it comes to call center outsourcing services. But, when it comes to software outsourcing and IT generally, India has maintained its position as the biggest destination.
Typically, call center agents in Philippine earn more compared to their Indian counterparts. Well, they deserve the extra earning since American customers find the Filipinos fluent with English language and understand their accent better than that of Indians. So, cost-saving is not necessarily why American companies are placing higher priority on Philippines, but improved efficiency.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
For many entrepreneurs, outsourcing – the act of using external services to handle a company’s tasks, is not a new concept. However, some small business owners still see outsourcing as a luxurious business solution for the big companies – this view is entirely out of place. Both small and big companies can hire outsourcing providers in order to achieve economic and other benefits.
Before You Outsource
While this business solution is ideal and beneficial to all, a small business needs to examine some processes first. For instance, you may have to look into the entire business to determine what should be outsourced and what shouldn’t. This is the best way to make outsourcing work to your benefit. As mentioned earlier, outsourcing comes with tons of benefits, especially cost savings. But you need to do it thoughtfully and carefully. In fact, outsourcing more than necessary can be a grave mistake as we saw in the early 90s during the outsourcing ‘mania’ period.
But, if you leverage an outsourcing provider wisely as a small business, you are bound to enjoy the following long-term benefits;
Greater Efficiency
If you decide to handle all the business processes in-house, you should expect higher expenses on research, product/service development, sales/marketing, as well as distribution. And, you will eventually pass all these costs to your customers, making your business less competitive to similar businesses that are leveraging outsourcing solutions to minimize costs. On the other hand, you will gain increased and valuable competitive advantage through an outsourcing company’s cost structure and economy of scale.
Controlled Capital Cost
As mentioned earlier, there are other reasons for outsourcing in addition to cost saving. However, cost-cutting is the major benefit and factor. Using this business solution, fixed costs are converted to variable costs. It also helps to make capital available for more business investments. It’s also a great way to by-pass huge expenditures at the early stage of a business. And, since you are able to release more funds into activities that produce revenue, your business may become more attractive to investors.
Ability to Begin Fresh Projects Faster
Usually, established outsourcing providers have resources to commence a project without delay. On the other hand, when you decide to handle such projects within, it may take months or weeks to hire the right persons, give them the necessary training and support. And, if there’s little or no resources at hand to accomplish these, the project will be placed on hold.
Reduced Labor Costs
The cost of employing and training in-house staff for a temporal project (e.g. new product marketing campaign) can be huge. You will be better off in terms of cost saving, time saving and increased efficiency by resorting to outsourcing providers for such projects.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
Businesses can get the best out of telemarketing outsourcing by cutting out related burdens that take its effectiveness away. To achieve this fit, business owners or the management should consider the benefits and shortcomings of setting up an in-house telemarketing department versus employing an intermediary for the service. Outsourcing telemarketing saves more time and other resources very often, compared to building expertise internally.
It is worth mentioning that telemarketing is a powerful tool in the hands of business marketers. As a result, choosing the most effective approach in making use of telemarketing all the way from planning to implementation is vital to the success of your business. Telemarketing widens alertness of a brand and jump starts the development of startup businesses in particular. On the other hand, it helps earn sales and carry out market surveys that aid businesses advance the experience of the customers.
Beginning a telemarketing service is no joke at all. It entails keeping updated with existing telemarketing news and laws, installing equipment, acquiring and training staff as well as investing time and money. For this reason, you can adopt telemarketing outsourcing from telemarketing companies; instead of spending time on areas that are not part of your business goals. They can deliver results and boast early ROI.
Telemarketing Outsourcing Accelerates Growth
Outsourcing Telemarketing can boost the development of businesses and the adoption of products by:
ROI Maximization: Businesses can maximize their return on investment with telemarketing outsourcing.
Scaling up or down according to demand: A lot of businesses witness an increase and decrease in product and sales demands. You can make use of telemarketing services, as a substitute for contracting and expanding in-house telemarketing staff to meet this change. Excess staff is assigned to other projects till required because the services cater to more than a customer.
Letting management focus on main issues: Many problems are attached to product launches that require the immediate attention of the management. Management can focus on resolving these problems without distractions, while outsourced telemarketing will take care of the telemarketing side.
Introducing products instantly: The marketing time is a significant phase in taking gain of up-and-coming market opportunities. Telemarketing services convey the message to the market without losing time in employing and training staff, whether it is a new business or product. Plummeting delays means more customers and sales for the business.
Providing hardware and expertise support: Telemarketing outsourcing companies are specialized organizations. They hire experienced personnel and make use of most up-to-date technology and equipment to achieve results for your business. Taking advantage of their resources is more economical compared to bearing the costs of training personnel and buying equipment on processes and telemarketing skills.
Letting management focus on main issues: Many problems are attached to product launches that require the immediate attention of the management. Management can focus on resolving these problems without distractions, while outsourced telemarketing will take care of the telemarketing side.
Telemarketing outsourcing clearly emerged the winner as far as telemarketing is concerned, even as in-house development or outsourcing is a risky option that confronts business people many times for many reasons like expansion, business development, cost cutting, etc.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
Outsourcing bookkeeping by small businesses increases accuracy as far as accounting is concerned and allows business owners to gain access to accurate and relevant information in just a little time and effort. On the other hand, deciding to subcontract can be perfect for businesses that find bookkeeping to be difficult, time-consuming and hard on the resources of the business or budget. Outsource bookkeeping services can offer export bookkeeping services for little amount than would cost a business to employ a full-time staff to perform similar operation,
The Reasons for Deciding to Outsource Bookkeeping
As a matter of fact, bookkeeping is a difficult and time consuming task that needs a professional to handle in an organization. As a result, not all employees are skilled and qualified enough to handle the bookkeeping needs of a business. Outsourcing bookkeeping services let a small business focus on the important aspects of the business, save time and money simultaneously.
On the other hand, outsourcing bookkeeping gives a small business access to the know-how of accounting professionals together with the accuracy that comes with years of experience in bookkeeping. Every now and then, small business owners will outsource the accounting aspects of their business to another company as it allows for reliable reconciliation, and it is helpful when it comes to fraud prevention.
How Can Bookkeeping Outsourcing Be Cost Effective?
Bookkeeping outsourcing can really be more cost efficient to a small company than hiring in-house staff to get the work done, despite the fact that it might be counter instinctive. No wonder business owners who decide to contract out their accounting face a reduction in their employer payroll taxes.
You don’t need to pay salary to a full-time bookkeeper or accountant and no training, screening interviews and classified ads is important to employ one. You don’t have to fund workers compensation insurance or retirement plans for a full-time bookkeeper, if you decide to outsource bookkeeping. Furthermore, there are no sick or vacation days to be considered for any employee to work as a bookkeeper.
Furthermore, you don’t have to crack your brain about office equipment, space and supervision that you will need to accommodate full-time employees to keep up with accounting for the business, thereby using the money saved from that to sponsor more urgent projects and purposes in the business.
Final Thoughts
As business development is dependent on the financial record, businesses need adequate care when handling this part of their business. This is an area that requires a professional to handle and must not be ignored or taken with levity hands. However, outsourcing bookkeeping will solve this problem once and for all because these outsourcing bookkeeping companies are team of qualified accountants of repute. They will handle this area of your business in a professional way and they won’t compromise quality.
Outsource bookkeeping today and enjoy the benefits!
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
If you are one of those who think that foreign outsourcing benefits can only be availed by multinational companies which have economies of scale alone, then you have missed it. Small scale businesses looking for ways to reduce their operation costs can also enjoy the privilege of outsource to foreign countries.
More than a few small companies are unable to provide and manage specific services, which can be rather expensive for small companies. These businesses can however use the possibility of outsourcing to foreign countries with lower cost economies and this will be much cheaper than providing such a service in-house. Different companies have now begun to discover how they can make use of foreign outsourcing to boost their businesses nowadays.
Quite a number of them even concluded that today outsourcing is a must if a particular organization wants to be competitive. All successful companies across the world understand the fact that a company must reduce costs, employ latest high-tech innovations, ensure good quality of products and services provided and remain creative and reliable, in order to be the best and remain on top. Foreign outsourcing is one of the best and easiest ways to achieve all these.
When we look at outsourcing to foreign countries system from the employees’ point of view, it is not profitable to them as they have to work for less or lose their jobs out-rightly as a result of the increased imports. In view of this fact, questions of equity and efficiency have to be addressed with care. There should be a way to reduce the harm associated with foreign outsourcing without having to sacrifice the benefits of this type of outsourcing.
Businessmen look out offshore partners for boosting the efficiency of their business, as politicians argue concerning the pros and cons of outsourcing to foreign countries. Consequently, every responsible executive must think about certain rules of the correct offshore outsourcing, prior to beginning to search for outsourcing firms.
However, there is need to consider the following:
Whether you want the foreign outsourcer located abroad or in your own country.
Quality of work differs from one outsourcing firm to another and why looking for the cheapest is not always the best choice.
Think about the possible language barriers or problems as well as time differences. While time differences in a particular country may be beneficial to your business while some may not.
Final Thoughts
Without doubt, foreign outsourcing is without blemish. However, make the choice of a particular country before making the final decision about outsourcing to a foreign partner. The list of countries with outsourcing centers is not large. Nevertheless, each country has its benefits and shortcomings for a certain business.
Hence, outsource to an Indian firm, where many of the employees speak English as their first language, if you are in need of the services of a call center among other factors you need to put into consideration.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
Back office outsourcing is essential for the success and smooth running of just any business. Outsourcing back office is a good choice through which you can get the back office work of your business done in a hassle free process. More businesses are being outsourced nowadays. This is due to the fact that outsourcing is an inexpensive method to get your work done. With this type of outsourcing, related queries and worries can be solved within the time limit.
Why Choose Back Office Outsourcing?
Convenient
Outsourced back office is much more convenient than employing in-house staff as you will have to pay them huge salaries and other allowances to get the job done. You will spend less when you outsource the back office of your business. It is not only profitable, but will also lead to productive results.
Saves Expenditure
Apart from being convenient, outsourcing back office also saves the expenditure of the company and the residual can be used to take care of some other productive things considered important to your business. Moreover, it saves the time of the experts as they are able to perform their functions more efficiently and fast.
Reduce Cost Drastically
All businesses these days are now outsourcing back office, whether the business is big or small. This is due to the fact that it reduces cost to a great extent. If the work is done with the help of the in-house personnel, you will spend a huge sum of money, while the same task can be completed at half the cost and time.
Eliminates the Burdens of Unnecessary Paperwork
This is the computer age and one should no longer rely on too much paper work. Business owners who don’t like the idea of doing unnecessary paperwork opt for outsourcing for their business. No wonder back office outsourcing is gaining popularity every day. Simple tasks involving making travel plans, imputing data for payroll, entering data on information concerning employee insurance and lots more can be addressed this procedure. As a result, you can share your workload burden with the third party, who will do the work in an orderly and effective manner.
Tips for Outsourcing Back Office Effectively
There are some important things you must understand before you can effectively outsource back office. These are:
Security Measures – The Company you choose must have adequate security to safeguard your business data.
Quality and Progress of Work – You should keep yourself updated about the quality and progress of work offered by outsourcing company. This will help you track the efficiency of the work done.
Technical Know-how – Always remember that back office outsourcing is the backbone of any business, and therefore need competent hand to handle it. Therefore, outsource your back office work to a specialized company with years of experience on the field.
Bottom Line
Back office outsourcing can only be one of the easiest functions to outsource, if only you know the tips and tricks. If are making up your mind to outsource your back end to a third party therefore, make sure you choose a specialized outsourcing firm that will offer you quality and perfect service.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
A lot of firms and companies outsource business services heavily nowadays. The reason is not far-fetched. First, they’ve discovered the astonishing cost savings that come with this business solution. Secondly, these firms, especially the small businesses are taking advantage of outsourcing to gain access to highly skilled labor that they wouldn’t have been able to afford if they want to employ these professionals in a conventional manner. One thing is sure, outsourcing is a very rewarding business tool.
But, how do you leverage outsourcing in a strategic manner?
Identify The Need to Outsource
While outsourcing is no doubts a rewarding solution for business, you need to identify its need in your business before embracing it. For instance, if you are a small business at the developing stage, and can manage the present undemanding tasks at this developing stage, you may not outsource your business function at the moment.
However, when growth kicks off, tasks start to increase, and you no longer pay adequate attention to the core competencies of your business, it may be time to consider outsourcing.
While you may think of hiring an employee instead, remember that you will save huge cost when you compare this decision with outsourcing. You will need to create an office space, buy office equipment s, and incur overhead costs if you decide to hire a full-time staff. On the other hand, you will bye-pass these huge costs by opting to outsource business services instead.
So, by identifying if there is need to outsource or not, you will end up with the right outcome. In essence, don’t outsource just because your competitors are doing the same. Do an inward search, analyze your business capacity and determine if you are better off without outsourcing at the moment.
Be Thorough When Hiring a Provider
Also, in order to achieve the desired goal with outsourcing, you need to be thorough in hiring a provider once you identify the need to outsource. The same standard for hiring a full-time employee is required when seeking to select the best outsourcing provider.
In essence, do the following;
Shop for providers with the skills and qualifications you are looking for. The internet is a helpful tool for this task.
Pick the best five after screening their profiles thoroughly
Narrow your choice to the very best using the best selection procedures and standards
Interview the potential provider extensively and request for references
Enter into a contractual relationship with the provider, so that the partnership would be a legal one. As a result, a defaulting party can be held liable.
Set up a monitoring procedure
Keep evaluating work in progress
Maintain adequate communication with the provider.
The overall outcome of being strategic when you want to outsource business services is excellent final outcome.
Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! Inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.
