Why outsourcing may be indispensable for small businesses on the path of growth

Why Outsourcing May Be Indispensable for Small Businesses on the Path of Growth

Though small businesses hesitate to use outsourced solutions, these may be valuable for them when it comes to growth.

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Small businesses are usually hesitant to utilize outsourced solutions. Their chief concern is whether they will lose control and autonomy. However, not considering outsourcing could stall their growth especially when it comes to expanding to new markets. Small businesses hoping to achieve a global reach should understand that it is a complex and dynamic process. It is important to devote resources to understanding the targeted markets, current local market trends, the competition, and the various requirements to successfully launch the business and drive growth. In such a scenario, businesses can operate more efficiently and quickly via an effective outsourcing arrangement.

Outsourcing to Be a Significant Trend Outsourcing and remote workers are expected to be one of the most significant trends of 2017. Today many small and medium businesses are outsourcing data entry and other requirements to third party providers to benefit from a smooth workflow. According to the Freelancer’s Union, by 2020 40% of the workforce will be outsourced freelancers.

This trend is driven by the objectives to cut costs especially in the healthcare industry, solve problems quicker and create a collaborative, diversified team approach.

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IT continues to be one of the stronger outsourcing areas. This is because hiring full-time IT people can be very expensive and there could be a lot of downtime involved. In addition, it would be difficult for small businesses to stay apace with the rapidly advancing technology.

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Virtual assistants comprise another outsourced solution. You can entrust virtual assistants with many of the daily operations that consume the productivity time of small business owners and their staff.

By outsourcing to a third party service, small and medium businesses can enjoy the following benefits among others.

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IT-based solutions: Almost all business processes have an outsourced solution that perfectly suits the organization’s requirements. IT based solutions are the most prominent ones, and small business organizations can streamline their business processes with the help of software and pre-built solutions. Cloudbased solutions are another popular trend. Businesses can operate entirely in the cloud with offerings such as Gsuite (Google for Business) and software from Microsoft. The immense potential of IT-based solutions will further drive the trends of remote working, and smaller, more productive offices along with streamlined business operations.

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Improved efficiency: Strategic outsourcing helps small businesses to improve efficiency and productivity. Since the competition among businesses is very

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high, businesses have to look out for new methods that are cost-effective to gain a competitive edge and stay ahead of competitors.

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Gain access to excellent resources and personnel: Outsourcing to a reliable third party allows businesses to gain access to resources and personnel without having to invest a huge amount of money.

When outsourcing to

professional service providers, small businesses need not waste large sums of money

on

hardware

or

new

equipment

or

go

through

complicated

implementation steps. Integrating the solutions with existing company operations is an effective way to improve productivity.

The Need for IT Outsourcing A Gartner Inc survey showed that the biggest barrier to achieving digital objectives is an IT skills gap. Since there is a lack of talent operating in data analytics, there is high competition and people with the desired skill-set are expensive to hire. This is a huge challenge for small businesses operating on a smaller budget, which makes outsourcing a more feasible solution. Customers of small businesses also expect digital services, and if this is not provided businesses may lose vital sales and revenue. G2 Crowd, the enterprise software review site surveyed 301 small businesses with 250 or fewer employees and found that there was vigorous investment in IT among companies with ambitious growth plans. Their study highlighted how cloud services as well as managed IT outsourcing can indirectly help small businesses to grow by freeing up resources.

These resources can be redirected to initiatives and technologies that impact a small business’s ability to capture customer data, make better data-driven decisions, and ensure better business outcomes.

The G2 Crowd study also highlighted how small businesses are deploying IT systems to address work-associated challenges. The top eight IT systems being deployed in the next 12 to 18 months are: •

Marketing automation

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Accounting

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Payroll

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HR, recruiting and talent management

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Customer services and support

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Sales contact management

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Social media management

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Business intelligence and analytics

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47% of small businesses with 26 to 50 employees rely on outsourcing IT management.

For small businesses with 100 to 250 employees, it is 58%. Most of these technologies may be obtained from a cloud services provider, and this focus on IT systems that can help with work coordination and execution is probably related to the need to maximize the potential of limited resources. Small businesses have also started outsourcing business processes in addition to software requirements.

Outsourcing for Freelancers alongside Remote Employees Outsourced solutions will increase in demand in the next few years, as all these studies show. The main objective is to free up resources to focus on the growth of the business, and this holds true for both small and big organizations on the path of digital transformation. That time is not distant when full-time permanent employees will be working side by side with freelancers, says Dan Schawel in his write-up in Forbes.

Providing remote work opportunities may give some organizations a competitive advantage in finding and keeping good employees. Outsourcing for freelancers alongside remote working by full-time employees are two significant trends that small businesses will increasingly adopt in 2017 to ensure long-term survival.

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