Growth and commercial success require considerable effort for small businesses, especially alongside the bigger players. Allocation of resources and the deployment of dedicated teams or departments require significant investment which can often exceed the anticipated cost. Our experience has shown many small businesses turn to outsourcing as a value-add solution which allows them to ‘act big’, contain costs, scale as needed, and compete with their larger competitors.
Outsourcing can include immediate access to capability which can often be cost prohibitive to small business. Several outsource providers offer 24 x 7 business support service delivery which means, as an example, your customer support and sales process can extend far beyond the traditional ‘open close’ business trading hours. With the right workflow and triage rules applied, this is a powerful addition to any customer service focused business.
Costs
Cost control with scalability is one of the many benefits for small businesses to outsource components of their operations. All businesses are dependent on various departments and operational outputs to deliver their services. Outsourcing helps to reduce inherent costs associated with infrastructure, maintenance, hiring and training. Cutting and controlling these costs allows allocation of funds to other parts of the business essential to success.
We have seen a shifting perception toward the outsourcing model where ‘the client’ is often introduced to the outsourcing partner by their provider. This integration of relationships provides access to ‘experts’ to deliver the optimum ‘end user’ customer experience. The collaboration includes the sharing of knowledge to maximise the delivery platform and allocated resources. You are in complete control and can still monitor the activities that are outsourced and evaluate success without jeopardising growth or your relationship with your customers.
The demand for onshore outsourcing is rapidly increasing, resulting in Australian outsource companies to become more competitive in their pricing. This doesn’t mean that the need for offshoring services is declining. The decision of which path to take would depend on the actual task required and the size of the scope. However, for some businesses, keeping their direct customer service onshore may be a requirement within their industry.
The Reality
For some businesses, where there is direct customer interaction, onshore outsourcing may be preferred as there are no language barriers or time zone challenges and the service providers understand the local market, regulations and legislation. The risks of security and damaged reputation are lowered as customers have a sense of security in knowing their work is taken care of domestically.
The reality is, it can be a lot cheaper to outsource, as it functions better than domestically hiring one full-time employee to do the same job. Similarly, the costs associated with managing multiple departments on your own could be at a much higher cost than if you were to outsource it. For more tips and service by Salesforce, you can check their website.
Summary
Outsourcing increases business process efficiency when partnered with the right outsourcing provider which leads to higher productivity and overall opportunity for growth. Outsourcing is also highly adaptable, as your business grows, or requirements change. Scale outsourced workload in line with demand to provide your business with the efficiency required to compete against the well-resourced larger companies and create a level playing field.
