Improve business performance with outsourcing

In our second blog post on the subject of outsourcing (the first being why people choose to outsource), we’re sharing 8 examples of how outsourcing can improve business performance; the most common advantages are all here.

1. Helps companies focus on business critical tasks and improve employee output.

Outsourcing improves business focus and allows management to direct staff energies strategically. It reduces “fire-fighting” behaviour and employees can be more efficient when they are not bogged down in day-to-day processing and administration. Their skills, role and function are not watered down.

All too often undesirable processing tasks fall on PAs, HR managers, procurement individuals etc. These tasks may not require a full time position but two things tend to happen: the employee’s efficiency in their primary role suffers and they are stretched too thin (especially if the tasks sit outside of their professional skill set) so they become demotivated. Inefficient and unhappy is not a winning combination for employees when it comes to business performance. Outsourcing to a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) specialist avoids both.

2. Streamlines business operations.

Outsourcing gives businesses access to resources and/or advanced technologies that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them to make processes run smoothly and therefore improve business efficiency.

3. Improves quality and reliability of services.

Outsourcing typically comes with two things which can greatly improve services: an account manager and a specialist task force.

An account manager is a single point of contact for the outsourced tasks. As well as managing service delivery, they liaise with you to establish, measure and review KPIs and ensure business strategies are being met. This simple communication channel limits errors and dilution of company goals.

Having expert knowledge and a cluster of unique skill sets in your arsenal without the costly headcount makes outsourcing very popular with corporates but now SME outsourcing is picking up serious momentum as they leverage the exact same advantages as the blue chips.

4. Saves headcount.

Who doesn’t need a bit more of that?!

5. Supports growth strategies.

As businesses grow, new challenges present themselves and they often need to manage an employee skill gap. The scalable nature of outsourcing makes it a practical fit for injecting specialist skills into your workforce when you need them.

6. Avoids the “can you just” mentality.

A circumstance can arise which brings to mind camels, straws and backs. It starts innocently enough: a capable, organised employee gets asked “Can you just do [insert small task here]?” Something like, "Can you just do the employee driving licence checks?" Sure, simple enough, right? Almost without fail, in our experience, that single once a year job will have parallel tasks and responsibilities which get loaded onto that individual because it’s now deemed “their remit”. This keeps happening until they find themselves doing more of that “little” job than their original role and they make a plea for help (or, even worse, snap). It’s not good for them, their primary projects/tasks or the extras. Everything and everyone suffers in the long term.

By outsourcing tasks and projects that are process-heavy, employees can be focused on gaining/increasing long-term competitive advantage, like improving customer service and advancing technical competence.

7. Frees up funds for core business activities.

When an outsourcing business specialises in exactly the task you need, it’s highly likely that they will get the job done cheaper, quicker and better.

The outsourcing solution itself almost always costs less than employing in-house staff for the same function. Recently we were asked by a client to compare the costs of our fleet management services to an in-house fleet manager completing the same tasks: we were ⅔ of the price of the in-house headcount yet offered our client a better service through contractual KPIs and well-established supplier relationships. (What is more impressive is this calculation was only based on a fleet manager's salary, not including overheads or recruitment fees!)

The icing on the cake is that outsourcing doesn’t require any internal resource either; there is no requirement to provide equipment, IT, HR, training etc. All HR and development energies can be focused on your core personnel while still getting the “other” work done to a high standard.

8. Ensures predictable costs.

Outsourcing can be for single projects or for ongoing management. Either way, you only pay for what you need.

If an outsourcing partner is worth their salt, monthly and quarterly budgeting is super-simple too because everything is transparent and consistent. Finance departments have more visibility to control, scale and measure business output and success against spend.

In addition, having those outsourced experts on-side means they can help reduce - or even avoid – nasty invoice surprises. In fleet management, maintenance costs are the obvious example of this which is why we offer fixed-cost monthly packages which include all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

If you're looking for ways to streamline and improve your business, fleet management outsourcing could be the perfect start. Find out more about our fixed-cost fleet packages today.