As everyone knows, in business – time is money. This is especially relevant for smaller companies that rely on fine margins. Every business owner has an hourly rate for their services, and that rate is a good indicator for organizing their tasks. So, if you are doing odd jobs and repetitive work that takes you away from your money making activities, you are wasting your time – and money. And this is where outsourcing comes in very handy.
We’re going to take a look at five different ways that outsourcing can help you save time, and, in turn, save you money. If you want to give your bottom line a boost, then you might wish to look at these areas of your business sooner rather than later.
Business accounts
There are two ways that outsourcing to an external accountant can save you money. First of all, the nature of their work is to reduce your tax burden. They will understand exactly where and how you can save money, and advise you on expansion as and when you are ready. Secondly, they free up your time. If your business receives and gives out countless invoices, then it is going to take a day or two out of your month. Spread that across a whole tax year and that could be over a working month that you are missing out on money making opportunities.
Marketing
How much time does marketing eat into your working week? There’s a lot to think about, from updating your business blog to keeping in touch with your customers on social media. Now, marketing is necessary, of course. But the tasks themselves? They will eat into your time, and end up taking you away from the most significant aspects of your business. Hiring a good marketing firm can help ease your workload, and help you concentrate on arranging your strategy at the top level.
Customer service
Providing excellent customer service is essential for every business, but how well are you doing it? This is a major problem for sole traders, who will often be ‘on the job’ and unable to respond to inquiries right away. And that, ultimately, means a potential loss of trade. So, think about outsourcing to a call center, virtual assistant, or answering service. That way you will keep your customers happy and be able to screen calls in order of importance.
IT services
As you get bigger as a company, it’s going to put pressure on your IT services and the technology you use to provide a service. You have two options. One is to build an internal team to look after things, and the second is to outsource to an IT consulting firm. The first might be an option for larger businesses. However, a smaller company might find the lower costs and flexibility of outsourcing a much better method.
Human resources
Our last key service to consider outsourcing is your HR department. As you grow, you will need to hire staff, and that makes your legal responsibilities far more complex. You could hire a professional on a contract, but in truth, it’s better to outsource for the time being. It will give you the legal stability you need while costing you less. And, of course, it will also save you the time it takes to keep up to date with regulation changes.