Nowadays, almost any job can be outsourced to another company or professional. However, just because you can outsource a task, it doesn't mean you always should. Any functions directly associated with your core business area should be performed within your company, as outsourcing would suggest that you wouldn't be able to offer anything unique to your customers.
For example, a web design agency should refrain from using third-party providers for anything related to web design. However, the same company could easily outsource tasks such as inventory management or accounting to contractors.
The 3 types of tasks that are best-outsourced
1. Expert tasks and specialised knowledge
Highly skilled tasks that require expertise; like accounting, financial analysis or tax preparation are sometimes best outsourced. Financial analysts and accountants are examples of highly-skilled executives that can be hard to afford full-time for many businesses. If you are not able to pay a CFO's salary, but would still like to have professional financial analysis and surveillance in place, you can outsource it.
Similarly, it's not always financially viable option to hire specialists in-house. Although you may need IT support for your network, you may not be able to afford, nor need, a full-time IT employee. In this case, a contractor will be ideal. Other examples of specialised knowledge tasks which make sense to be contracted are web design, marketing and creative services.
2. Highly repetitive tasks
Accounts payable, data entry and shipping inventory all fall into this category. Data entry is a highly repetitive task that doesn't require specialist knowledge. You can use your in-house staff to do this. However, it may be a better idea to outsource it and employ the in-house staff for more useful work. Similarly, it often makes sense to contract administrative support and customer service.
3. Recruitment
You may understand your business best and undoubtedly know what your requirements are, but is the in-house hiring best use of your time? Can you make optimal hiring decisions?
Recruitment is a time-consuming task and requires expertise to find the best possible candidate to join your organisation. Partnering with a recruitment expert will transform your approach to talent acquisition. Recruiters are equipped with the experience and resources to fill the position efficiently and quickly. Not only it's a cost-effective hiring solution; recruitment outsourcing partners will increase your new hire and employee retention, mitigating significant costs of employee turnover.
When deciding what to outsource look at your core business functions and your team. Consider outsourcing areas where your team struggles due to the lack of expertise or time. Take into consideration the difference in costs between hiring an employee and outsourcing.