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In business, outsourcing is the process of turning over certain tasks to another company to handle, as opposed to keeping these tasks in-house. Outsourcing has its pros: it’s cheaper than hiring full-time employees to do the job and you get more specialization. There are also cons to outsourcing: you lose some control over the functions you outsource and there could be communication issues.
Keeping certain tasks in-house has its benefits too: you have 100% creative control and you always know exactly what’s going on in that particular area. However, hiring an individual to perform certain tasks has downsides, such as spending more money on hiring another employee. So what should you outsource and what should you keep in-house or hire an individual for?
Outsource: Administrative Tasks
The majority of businesses choose to outsource their most menial and tedious tasks, and administrative tasks fall under this category. Replying to emails and scheduling appointments can take up a lot of your time, so this part of your business can be outsourced to a company that handles administrative tasks such as these. A lot of companies use virtual assistants who work from home to handle their administrative tasks. Either way, you’ll be spending less time on these tasks and you’ll have more time to focus on other business matters.
In-House: Accounting and Financial Services
If you’re not a financial expert, you shouldn’t handle things like accounting and taxes, but it’s also not always necessary to outsource this entire department to another business. Instead, you can hire a professional accountant to take care of things like bookkeeping, payroll, and taxes— as long as they’re certified to perform all of these financial tasks. Keeping financial services in-house may cost you more money, but at least you’ll have more peace of mind because you’ll still be able to have some control over this area, plus communication between you and your accountant won’t be as difficult.
Outsource: Human Resources
Also known as HR, human resources relates to anything that has to do with hiring employees, and is one of the most outsourced areas of business. You can find an HR company that hires, onboards, trains, and even terminates employees, if necessary. They also deal with certain aspects of pay, such bonuses and raises.
It’s also helpful to consult the expertise of a recruitment agency. These agencies specialize in recruiting the best talent for specific jobs. Once they’ve found the most qualified individuals, HR then goes forward with the interviewing and possibly hiring process. Using a recruitment agency along with HR services (or finding a company that specializes in both) can make interviewing, hiring, and training employees much easier.
In-House: Marketing Specialist
Marketing is extremely important for any business— it’s how people become aware that your business exists and lets them know what your business can do for them. In today’s digital world, many first-time business owners are pretty savvy when it comes to social media marketing, since billions of people use social media every single day. However, social media marketing isn’t the only form of marketing, and hiring a marketing specialist for your business can help you take advantage of all of the other types of digital marketing. Other types of digital marketing include:
- Affiliate marketing
- Content marketing
- Email marketing
- Native Advertising
- Online PR
- Search engine optimization
Choose a marketing specialist that has extensive knowledge of and expertise in different forms of digital marketing. You should be able to use both your social media platforms and your business website to your advantage when it comes to digital marketing.
Outsource: Managed Services
Because you’ll be hiring a lot of individuals to perform specialized business tasks, you’re probably going to be utilizing a lot of different types of business software. Because of this, you’ll need the help of a company that can help you optimize all of your different business operations so that you can continue focusing on your other tasks. Managed services from getgsi.com can help organize your software and prevent issues from occurring. Your business software is the lifeline of your company , so it’s important that everything runs smoothly.
All businesses are different, so it may make more sense to outsource some tasks listed as “in-house” and vice versa. The bottom line is that you should do whatever is best for your business, and as the owner, you know what’s best for your business. You can always try outsourcing and switch back to in-house if you find it doesn’t work out for you.
