Outsourcing - The Powerful Business Tool (The Why, When, What, and How of Outsourcing)

Starting and running a business is hard work. For most business owners, there are not enough hours in a day to do everything on their ‘to-do list’ - Talk less of when you have a family, friends, community, and social life to think about. You may have the talent to do it all – but are you proud of the results? Even if you may be able to handle everything on your own, it can be hard to focus on the more essential elements of the business.

“The important thing about outsourcing or global sourcing is that it?becomes a very powerful tool to leverage talent, improve productivity?and reduce work cycles.” - Azim Premji

The key is to work smart – and it is possible to streamline your business if you outsource certain tasks to experts. This gives you the time to focus on your strengths and core areas of the business.?

When Should You Outsource?

It is simple to know when to outsource. Answering the following questions will put a lot of things into perspective.?

Do you know what you are good at?

?How do you feel when you carry out certain tasks??

Do you feel you execute these tasks well??

Do you believe the results are relative to the time and energy spent executing these tasks?

?How much is your time worth, and whats the cost of hiring a professional??

If you are not good at it, you don’t feel good doing it, the time spent doing it does not match the result, and you can get a professional to do it cheaper – you should outsource.

I hasten to add here that a small business can capitalize on the advantages of outsourcing from the very beginning whereas, a medium-sized business may not need to outsource daily tasks. They may consider this option only if they cannot handle new projects internally.?

What Should You Outsource?

At this point, I bet you already know where I am going with this – you need to start with the things you can’t do - stop doing anything that is not in your zone of genius and which you’re forcing yourself to do. This doesn't mean you can’t learn and take up new challenges or cut costs by doing certain things by yourself. The ultimate question is – does that produce the right results??

When identifying the tasks you have to outsource, the most important thing is to identify the core areas of your business. Any tasks directly associated with these areas must not be outsourced. If you outsource the core areas of your business, your clients will not experience the uniqueness of the services you provide – a mistake a small business cannot afford to make.

Some examples of the tasks you should be outsourcing are:?

Expert tasks: Digital advertising is one of such task which requires a high level of expertise and can easily be outsourced. Some small businesses may not have the resources to hire an expert full-time – however, you can get them on a contractual basis at very affordable costs.?

Specialized tasks: I do not believe most small businesses need 24/7 IT support. IT support is one of those services that you need, when you need it - if you catch my drift. You can always get an agency or individual who can provide this service for a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time employee.?

These are just a few examples of what you can outsource. As mentioned earlier, write down a "To-do" list and answer the relevant questions-then you will know exactly what to outsource.?Learn more