About 300 000 positions are outsourced every year. Different businesses hire outsourcing companies for different reasons. Some want to find a good partner, some want to cut down on their expenses and some want to get rid of difficult and routine tasks.
There are several signs that can tell a business owner the time to hire an outsourcing partner has come.
When to Outsource?
1. 🚚 Your team can’t handle the load anymore
Peaks of customer communication and overload with tasks are especially seen in seasonal businesses such as e-commerce or within the hospitality industry. Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast predicted that during Christmas shopping in 2020 e-commerce would grow by anywhere between 25 and 35%. The pressure on customer support and service teams is undeniable.
Outsourcing can become a perfect tool to boost business performance. Especially when an in-house team has too many tasks and makes too many mistakes.
Has your team started to:
- Make a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes?
- Fail to provide your customers with timely and correct answers?
- Have a backlog of customer tickets?
- Receive customer complaints about their work?
This might indicate they have too many tasks and might require help from an outsourcing company.
The quicker you eliminate the overload with tasks, the faster your service comes back to standard. An outsourcing company will be more productive and flexible during peak times. As a result, customers will see no interruptions in service delivery and customer satisfaction will not sink.
2. 💼 You lack business expertise
To run efficiently any company needs an IT team with a lot of experience, preferably in the same field. One small issue, though — experienced teams cost a lot. Small and medium businesses can rarely afford them. That is why they turn to outsourcing. It is a fast and sure way to get outside expertise needed to grow and scale.
How to hire an outsourcing company corresponding to all your needs?
- Check whether an outsourcing vendor has already worked with businesses in the same field;
- Set realistic goals for future collaboration;
- Make sure an outsourcing company has the resources and knows how to scale the team fast with minimal resources wasted.
Take your time looking for a vendor that hits all the right notes. Make sure their business vision, communication style and flexibility fit you to a ‘t’. This way can the collaboration bring great results.
3. 💰 You want to reduce your business costs
67% of businesses fail within the first 10 years of operation. Poor financial decisions are one of the key contributors to this percentage. 59% of outsourcing companies cite their effort to save monetary resources as a reason behind their decision to seek IT service from a third party. This means they have a better chance of surviving their first decade than their in-house staying competition.
Outsourcing might cut several groups of expenses: salaries, idle and overtime payments, sick leaves, vacations, office running costs and so on.
It is important to note that a third-party support will not rid you of expenses entirely. After all, their services are not free. Outsourcing is just easier and cheaper than an in-house IT or customer support team.
Get cost-efficient customer support right now!
4. 💡 You are looking for fresh ideas
It might be tough to see exactly what your business needs while being on the inside. Especially for business owners. Their view might be biased and subjective. By hiring a third-party provider a fresh set of eyes comes into play.
Those looking at your business goals and processes from the outside will be a valuable resource of fresh ideas. Business owners in their turn need to do two things:
- Listen to their expertise;
- Take it into account when making decisions.
Taking full advantage of outside expertise will make sure you always have fresh ideas and never get stuck in a rut.
5. 🏢 Your team seeks more work-life balance
The issue of work-life balance became even more important with the COVID-19 pandemic. Professionals who started to work from home now report difficulty maintaining their work-life balance. This leads to fast burnouts and can result in a very high churn inside your company.
Outsourcing is one of the most efficient ways to provide the team with a perfect balance between work and personal life. It can help free up the resources and time for more creative tasks which will bring more colors into everyday workflow.
How to Find a Perfect Outsourcing Partner?
When the need and reasons for outsourcing is established, the time to choose the right partner comes.
How to make the right choice of an outsourcing partner?
- ✅ Establish outsourcing plan and goals…
… and make sure your vendor sticks by them. They may have their own opinions and ways of operation, but it is your business’ fate we are talking about. There is no swerving away from it.
Make up a plan and a list of short- and long term goals outsourcing must help you reach. Only after that the picture will become absolutely clear to you.
- ✅ Take your time but do not linger
Do not rush into anything. Analyze all offers you get and make an informed decision. But do not take too much time either. Often outsourcing companies can onboard only a couple of new clients simultaneously. This will force you to wait more which would only form a bigger backlog.
- ✅ Look for flexibility and adaptability
Businesses seek outsourcing if they cannot adapt to their strained workflow or if they need to scale their team fast. They can also see changes in policies and customer base preferences, so the vendor must be able to adapt to the new requirements fast.
To put a long story short — there is no need to hire an outsourcing vendor that would not be flexible or adaptable enough.
- ✅ Listen to the expert opinion
Once again — if you pay for an outside expertise, listen to it. It will make getting inspiration and making unusual decisions simpler. Build a trusting relationship and encourage open communication with your outsourcing business.
Outsource your team to real professionals who care about your customers. SupportYourApp will be a great addition to your business structure. We will scale upon your request and provide you with all the necessary expertise. Your customers will always get the best support and service. We do what we love, and love what we do.
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Anna started out in financial markets, diving into daily research on bonds and stocks. A passionate reader with a love for historical literature and international cuisine, she’s now all about mastering customer communication. She writes in-depth about customer support, backed by extensive research, and has become an expert on the topic.
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