What are the advantages of hiring outside companies which perform services necessary to run a business? Which business fields can be outsourced?
Using services of outside suppliers is called outsourcing. The main advantage is that individual professional providers perform tasks or services in which they have a lot of experience. The entrepreneur can thus devote more time and energy to the core business. Let us have an example. A carpenter hires a company which does accounting. If the entrepreneur wanted to do their own accounts, they would have to learn how to do it properly, which would require a lot of time and energy. It is also necessary to stay up to date with new legislation related to the business. There would not be much time left for the core business.
Which business functions are well-suited for outsourcing?
For the above-mentioned reason, the entrepreneurs make use of outside companies offering specialized services. Besides book-keeping, the most common outsourced services are legal services, health and safety at work, tax consultancy, etc. They include mostly services the entrepreneurs do not need to deal with on a regular basis.
However, there are also some regular activities which are worth outsourcing. A partner company conducts all necessary activities and takes over the responsibility.
Another commonly outsourced activity is IT management. To manage all the tech issues is part of business which takes a lot of time and effort. That is why it is reasonable to take advantage of on-demand external expertise. All computers and servers are thus supervised by an organisation in charge. If you are not satisfied with the service, it is much easier to find another organisation to do the task than to terminate an employee.
Extremely popular is a car fleet outsourcing. The owner of the car is a leasing company which rents cars and takes on responsibility for numerous services, such as maintenance, repair, insurance, fuel cards, etc. Everything is included is a regular monthly invoice.
Hiring offices, stock rooms or premises is also considered outsourcing. If the entrepreneur runs the business in their own premises, it is necessary to spend money on maintenance. If they rent the premises, then the property owner takes on the responsibility, which means the entrepreneur can spend more time and energy on the core activity.
Which business functions can be outsourced?
The list of functions which can be outsourced may seem to be endless. You can find a suitable partner for almost any business activity. The less common one is for example renting printers and copy machines. There are outside companies which offer this kind of service. They choose the right device, manage the repair and maintenance, provide the toner and paper supplies and send an invoice to the company.
Coffee machines or water dispensers can be rented too. Coffee lovers in your company will enjoy their daily dose of caffeine and you do not need to do anything for it. Just find an outside company, which will manage everything for you.
You can also rent a partner for office supplies. The purchased items can be divided into two invoices. One contains items which include tax expenses, whereas the other one consists of items which are non- tax-deductible.
Outsourced company can also solve problems with non-payers. The company communicates with the debtor, follows the problem claims and can provide the entrepreneur with the appropriate contractual protection in the case of business partners who have inability to pay.
If you use various printing materials and you are not sure which printing machine is the best for your material, you can use services of a specialized printing company which provide print according to your requirements.
Even the company management can be outsourced. The outside company manages all the duties and activities related to the responsibilities of an executive director of the company. The advantage for the owners is that their company is run by an experienced person who can uplift the company.
Saving time or money?
To take the advantage of outsourcing, you need to be sure of its positives. For example, it is necessary to get rid of worries about ending up with a pig in a poke. You must trust the outside company with good references. There is a large number of successful businesses which approve of the idea of outsourcing.
Finances may seem to be a negative side of outsourcing. This is a service which costs some money. Hiring specialized outside suppliers reduces time spent on some tasks and costs. A skilled bookkeeper needs much less time to do monthly accounts than you do. You pay for the service, but on the other hand, you save time and energy for the core business.
