The Guide & Analysis on when to outsource?

Knowing when to outsource in a business is key, that’s why you should undertake an analysis on areas that need outsourcing is a good practice. Both B2B and B2C companies require outsourcing services. Small, medium, and big-sized companies consider outsourcing services. This is so that they can get some essential activities and tasks done, as they focus on the core aspects of their business.

But, in all cases of outsourcing, you need to know the right services to outsource. This helps to make the right decisions. Sometimes you will need to have your dedicated development team for some activities. For example, to ensure the privacy of some important information. Knowing this will help you make the right progress in your business.

To utilize outsourcing services you need to know the right timing and have a valid reason. This article will discuss the factors to look at. This is to help a business know when to outsource.

Why Consider Outsourcing Services?

To know when to use outsourcing we first need to understand why a company or business should outsource. This depends on the business type. Furthermore, the specialization of the team players. Let’s look at the common reasons for outsourcing :

1. The first is to reduce the operation cost. You can’t have a company having all the tools and softwares it needs for its operation.
2. To improve the focus on what matters, by allocating some subsidiary roles to other agencies. For example, WordPress outsourcing for a fashion company.
3. To keep the internal time on track. This is by avoiding some tasks that are not related to their roles.
4. To get some short-term services that the skills needed are not available by your team.
5. To get some seasonal services, like website custom services and maintenance/ support services.
6. Increase efficiency by avoiding time-consuming tasks in a business.

The above are major reasons why companies consider outsourcing services. But there are times that the above cases are evident but the company considers internal staff. Instead, they create a job post for the role and hire talent for this. We will look at this in the section on when to outsource.

Which Services should a business Outsource

This is a common question that many agencies, companies, and organizations ask. Moreover, individual freelancers are not left out. The simple answer is any service that consumes more resources than it can when outsourcing. Another one is when the project is too big for an organization to handle.

Consequently, we can consider some common services that meet the above criteria. This will help us have a clear idea of the exact services. The following services are commonly allocated to external teams/ freelancers.

• When dealing with one-time jobs in an organization.
• Diagnostic services- This is especially on problems that can cause issues if an expert is not involved. For example, debugging codes.
• Comes with automated systems that might not need frequent servicing.
• Auditing services of the book of accounts, the network, and systems audits.
• Investigating serious legal cases that can suffer internal interference. Thus, introducing a third party.
• Training the team- When undertaking training, having to outsource is a better idea.

Projects that require the above services are better when done by an outsourced team. But, recurring, ongoing, and collaborative jobs are better suited for an internal team.

Determining when to outsource Services

A common idiom says “Knowledge is power”. This is evident in matters of outsourcing. The knowledge of whether to outsource is a vital skill. This will help you to get effective services. A business with a clear vision should know the areas it’s comfortable to work in regularly. Those that are in their domain of operation and those that are beyond.

In this section we will help to determine when it’s better to outsource:

Step 1: Understand the area of specialization

To determine the instances you need outsourcing you need to understand the core areas of your business. Take time to understand the core areas that your company will specialize in. For example, if you are a business dealing with marketing, the areas of focus should lead to word marketing. You should aim at prioritizing activities to attract customers who need marketing services.

In such a case you will focus on the basic areas of any company like customer service, then add the objectives of the business.

Step 2: Outline the key objectives and goals

The next thing is to know the objectives and goals. In the bold domains, a company can focus on a given niche. For example, a tech company may focus on websites or SEO alone. This can also be further broken down where an agency deals with only WordPress services under websites in the domain of technology. 

It’s a good deal to outline this. This is so that you can know the services to outsource that are outside this area. Moreover, you decide on the service that though will not contribute to the goals but are necessary for internal staffing e.g. Human Resource.

Step 3: Determine the important roles in the company and hire

Then from the outlined objective and goals proceed to hire the specific talents. You can use the basic process of hiring. You can check our article on how to build an effective dedicated team. This will ensure you achieve the objective. The company/ business needs to have a  team working on the core business areas at all times. 

The main aim of this step is to ensure the business is running daily. For this, outsourcing will not be possible.

Step 4: Consider additional tasks that the team can also do

Among the talents, the company will hire there are roles that they can still undertake. For example, a Front-end developer can also work as a UI/UX designer. Therefore the next step is to list these additional roles every member can undertake. 

This will help to avoid outsourcing a service that one of the team members can undertake. It will be better for the task to be done by a team member and give them some allowances. This is faster, cheaper, and more efficient for someone who understands the business.

Step 5: List essential services not related to the business

The next step is to list all the other essential services. You can use the list in the previous section on services that a business should outsource. This will help you to get the best services. A simple secret for this is to list the essential activities that can contribute to achieving the main goal. This is now a perfect state for when to outsource.

List all of them for future reference. With this, you will get some repeated services that need an internal staff. In such a case don’t hesitate to hire for the role. But ensure you consider all factors. For example, consider the cheaper one.

Step 6: Determine the Outsource service provider

The final step is to choose the service provider for the services. You can go for freelancers, agencies, or companies. This will depend on the budget and the size of the tasks. It’s not a must for you to choose the service providers prior. You can choose them when you need the service. For this, you should work closely with the Project managers on the projects and team leaders.

Conclusion

The above is the best way to know when to outsource. This will ensure you get optimal services for your business. There is no need for a business to use most of its resources on activities that are not core to the business. This is why your organization needs to consider outsourcing services. Our company deals with WordPress websites, plugins, and WooCommerce. You can outsource the services you need from us.