Outsourcing can provide a competitive advantage, reduce costs, and allow you access to talented specialists. In this complete guide, you can learn more about which specific business functions can be outsourced, whether you’re a start-up or SMB.
Here’s an interesting statistic: as of 2022, 37 percent of small businesses outsource at least one business process. Even companies with tight budgets are outsourcing. This is encouraging, as it means any business can do it.
As a business owner, you might be scratching your head a little bit and wondering, ‘Which specific business functions should I outsource?’. This is completely understandable, as there are lots to choose from.
To support you, this guide has compiled together a list of the main business functions that can be outsourced.
Table of Contents
Outsourceable Business Functions
SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has quickly become one of the biggest marketing tools around.
The reason for this is that it enables businesses to gain more exposure and boost their search engine rankings. For example, through proper SEO practices, a business can skyrocket itself up on Google search page results.
However, SEO is a specialist job. To save time and money, most businesses don’t hire in-house SEO specialists. Instead, they outsource SEO to a marketing agency.
Currently, around 30 percent of small businesses outsource SEO. Moving into the future, the number of businesses doing this is only going to increase as SEO grows in value and effectiveness.
Accounting
Outsourcing your accounting and bookkeeping is incredibly cost-effective. Not to mention, it also allows you to follow the latest accounting and financial policies with ease.
If you don’t have any in-house accountants working for you, it’s highly recommended that you outsource your monthly accounting to an accounting agency or freelancer. Outsourcing to a professional will prevent any mistakes that might be made if you attempt the task yourself.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is an incredibly effective marketing tool. The only downside is that it requires consistent time and effort.
For example, a business can’t simply create some social media pages and expect results to magically appear out of thin air. Instead, consistent, high-quality content needs to be produced and posted – otherwise, nobody will engage with your social media pages.
As a starting point, you can outsource your Facebook and Twitter marketing to a specialist so that you can grow your pages and experience more exposure.
IT Support
In the age of cloud computing and cybersecurity, outsourcing IT support is highly recommended. This way, you don’t have to worry about the complexities that come with modern-day IT systems. Instead, you and your employees can sit back, relax, and have peace of mind knowing that everything is taken care of in the background. The benefits of outsourcing IT are endless, from reduced downtime to 24/7 support.
Customer Service
Lastly, there’s customer service.
Over the past decade, customer service has undergone a rapid transformation.
Now, it’s all about:
- Mobile customer service
- Social media customer service
- AI chatbots
Rather than having in-house employees working on traditional phones, it’s a much better solution to outsource your customer service.
