We have already talked here about how outsourcing activities can add value to your business. Today, we’re going to go into more detail on the subject, bringing information that can help scale your venture.
That is, after gaining visibility by outsourcing some stages of work and having more time to focus on what really matters, the trend is for your business volume to increase.
To handle the growing demand, you can hire more employees. Or, another very viable and assertive alternative is to bet on outsourcing and technology, to streamline internal processes and customer service.
Thus, you can serve a larger number of people, with the staff you already have, maintaining – and probably increasing – your company’s profitability.
Follow the tips we share below.
1. Outsource support activities
Maybe you’ve already passed this stage, but it’s still worth remembering what the support activities are and how outsourcing them benefits finances.
Supporting activities are those that are indispensable for the operation of your business, but that are not directly associated with the product or service you sell. Therefore, it is a great option to outsource these activities, since, as a rule, they will not interfere with the quality of your delivery.
The main support activities most conducive to outsourcing are general services and reception.
Regarding the first, you can hire a company that specializes in this type of service and thus avoid a series of legal obligations related to hiring an employee, leaving the bureaucracy to the outsourced company.
In the second case, the person performing this function needs to be qualified for this activity and does not necessarily demand specific knowledge in their area of expertise. Understanding in detail the product or service that your company makes available to the market is not essential, at least not in the beginning.
There are other half activities that are good options to outsource. We already talked about them here in this post.
2. Specific activities to outsource
As well as support activities, which are more generic, it is possible to outsource activities that are a little more specific, but still without direct relation to your product or service.
Let’s assume that your company sells clothing to a specific niche. Your audience is different and you and your team are responsible for all stages of production, from designing the models to selling the pieces.
Wouldn’t it be a waste of time for you or one of your collaborators, who are qualified to develop garments for your target audience, to spend hours calculating taxes, making reports of input and output notes, or reviewing timesheets to check the compliance with the workload of other employees?
Without a doubt, the answer is yes. Diverting an employee from the function for which he is qualified, to do an activity that he does not master, is, to say the least, a waste of time. And, if time is money, this reallocation can be considered a loss for the company.
Therefore, enterprises that, due to their size or volume of transactions, do not require an employee to exclusively take care of accounting, can use outsourcing for this activity.
Accounting offices have qualified professionals for the function and can deliver much more effective results than an employee from their staff ‘deviated’ to respond to financial and accounting issues.
This logic also applies to the human resources sector, people management and recruitment and selection. The offer of companies able to outsource these services is quite large, first, because every company needs them, and second, because not every company needs an employee just for that.
When the number of employees is small, there is no reason to keep a monthly employee who will only have activities in certain periods. Therefore, it is another good option to outsource and ensure that you and your team invest your time in strategic tasks, aimed at scaling the business.
Use of technology to outsource functions
Finally, after talking about support activities and specialized activities that can be outsourced to allow your team to focus on delivering products or services to customers, let’s talk a little about technology and how it is useful when it comes to outsource functions.
The most valuable asset of any company is its people, including the internal public, who need a pleasant environment to carry out their functions and, mainly, the external public, that is, the customers.
In a scenario where competition is increasingly a challenge for entrepreneurs, since it is difficult to have exclusivity in offering a product or service, the differential ends up being due to customer service and the relationship that the brand establishes with them.
That’s right. Quality is basic. It cannot be considered a differential. Price is not always what defines the purchase. It may be that the most expensive item is closer or offers better payment terms and then the customer chooses what is easier and not the cheapest.
So, what remains to stand out in the market boils down to service and relationship.
Then you think that in order to be able to serve well, with agility and efficiency, you will require more professionals on your team. It may even be that at some point, due to the growth of the business, it will be necessary to hire.
But if the idea (or need) is to ensure quality service and a close relationship with the customer, using technology can be quite efficient to outsource functions.
Due to social networks and the various forms of contact available, it may seem complicated to meet all the demands that come through these channels. Website, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook… How to manage all these contacts?
Simple! Using technology.
Systems like ¡Hola! Suite, developed by IXC Soft, integrate the main service channels on a single platform, offering numerous functions to manage the queue of contacts and forward each customer to the sector that will solve the doubt or solve the problem.
Also, these integration platforms allow you to send files such as contracts, bills, invoices and other documents, quickly meeting the main day-to-day demands.
Thus, with the help of technology to outsource these service functions, and with the hiring of third-party companies for specific functions, you will see your business increase in sales volume and gain more visibility in the market, without overloading your team.
To learn more about ¡Hola! Suite, our access site or contact by e-mail.
