By Riley Panko
Many small businesses gain significant advantages when outsourcing, including reduced costs, increased productivity, and expertise from people who specialize in specific business processes.
Small businesses most commonly outsource their accounting (37%), IT (37%), and digital marketing services (34%). All are roles that require in-depth training and experience to master, making it difficult for average employees to match the level of expertise needed to run a business at its optimal potential.
In this article, we demonstrate how you can benefit from outsourcing and provide tips for outsourcing your accounting, IT, and digital marketing services.
How Small Businesses Benefit from Outsourcing
Outsourcing specialized technical processes such as accounting, IT, and digital marketing cuts back on your team members’ workloads, allowing them to perform their jobs more efficiently.
Rather than multitasking a variety of responsibilities, company employees can focus on tasks that match their skills. Outsourcing helps team members produce higher-quality work, and can result in better products and services.
Hiring a freelance specialist or agency to take over a specific company role can also improve your quality of workflow. For example, a professional accountant is likely to get accounting work done quicker, uncover more tips for helping your company save money, and produce a more reliable system, thanks to their expertise.
Small businesses outsource tasks for several reasons, most commonly to:
- Increase efficiency (24%)
- Increase expertise (18%)
- Increase flexibility (16%)
For many small businesses, the ability to offload time-consuming tasks means their company can take on more projects without getting overwhelmed or burnt out.
Tips for Small Business Outsourcing
When it’s time to search for a freelancer or agency to take on specific tasks for your business, ask the following questions before hiring.
Is this person a good fit with your company culture?
Even though a freelancer or agency may not work with your team in-house, you still want to consider how well the person or agency will fit with your company’s culture.
Hiring people whose work ethic and mindset are similar to yours increases the chances that you’ll develop a long-term working relationship.
A person who’s a good fit with your culture is also more likely to deliver the type of quality work you have in mind.
How well do they respond to communications?
One essential aspect of outsourcing remote talent is understanding how efficiently a person or agency responds to your communications.
Not everyone can respond to emails or messages right away, but you do want to look for people that respond promptly and accurately.
Communications is an essential aspect of any outsourcing relationship, so consider the response time and reliability of specialists as part of your decision.
Do they have verified online reviews and testimonials that you can access?
Thorough reviews on potential remote workers or agencies can help verify that your new hires are capable and reliable professionals.
Outsourcing Your IT Services
If your company doesn’t employ a person whose core competency revolves around IT skills, it may be time to outsource this role.
Hiring an expert IT professional can help ensure that your systems are fully optimized for the processes your team performs regularly.
There are three essential skill sets in IT management:
- Designing
- Building
- Running
Outsourcing your IT tasks to a firm helps ensure that you have experts who can cover all of the skills needed at any time.
When searching for an IT specialist:
- Clearly define the services your company will need
- Look for someone with previous experience in a situation like yours
- Consider starting with small projects
Outsourcing your IT work can save you time and significantly improve the quality of your online processes. Research candidates thoroughly before hiring, though.
Outsourcing Your Accounting Services
Before launching a search for an accounting specialist, consider what tasks you will have them manage, such as:
- Accounts payable and receivable
- General bookkeeping
- Payroll
- Statements, reports, and tax preparations
Accounting firms can often provide specialists to meet all of your accounting needs. If you’re looking to fill a smaller role such as general bookkeeper, you might consider hiring a solo freelancer.
Outsourcing Your Digital Marketing Services
It can be a challenge to find a digital marketing professional because digital marketing covers many different specialties..
Hiring a digital marketing agency with a good reputation is a safe way to ensure that your marketing campaigns and strategy are in good hands, though.
Whether you hire a solo specialist or a marketing agency, consider the following:
- Do they have solid reviews or testimonials?
- What are your marketing goals?
- Do they have experience in marketing analytics, which is an essential aspect of all successful campaigns?
Outsourcing Technical Skills for Your Small Businesses
Outsourcing technical or complex responsibilities can save your business time, increase efficiency, and boost the quality of your products or services.
Although it requires an investment to outsource tasks, small businesses will discover that hiring specialists can raise overall profits and improve their ROI.
