Top 3 Benefits of Outsourcing & Stunning Success Stories
Get to know the basics of outsourcing and popular brands who made it big with this business strategy.
Before taking a deep dive into outsourcing and its significance, consider a hypothetical scenario.
Assume that you’ve just bought a new house. It’s at an easily accessible, ideal location. The house is spacious, well-lit, breezy, and has just the right set of things - just as you had envisioned.
With all these priorities in place, it comes down to the next step - the interior design and décor. Yes, it’s an unfurnished house with just the basics in place.
For designing the interiors, what would be your choice out of the following?
(a) Involve all the family members to plan and execute it.
(b) Hire an interior designer or a firm that takes up interior décor projects.
You're most likely opting for the second choice.
And why is that? Let's break it down –
- Expertise
- Experience
- Efficiency
- Ease
Other major advantages include the transfer of ownership, effort and risks involved.
On the other hand, choosing the first option can lead to multiple drawbacks. Here are some of the primary ones:
- Lack of knowledge.
- Questionable efficiency.
- Considerable uncertainty.
This hypothesis has conveyed the gist of where we’re headed. This very instance can be correlated with corporations.
But first, let’s start with basics, shall we?
As self-explanatory as it is, the word 'outsourcing' means handing over work to an outside (external) source.
Outsourcing as a concept dates back to the 1970s and 1980s.
Although its dynamics and functions have been ever-evolving, outsourcing isn't a new concept as such. In fact, it has been in existence since about the 1970s. Manufacturing processes and the like were outsourced to reduce costs, save time and gain other benefits.
Modern-day outsourcing examples would include activities like IT functions, customer support, human resources management, supply chain management etc., and services like web development, UI/UX design, content and copywriting, lead generation, marketing, social media management among others.
Without further ado, let’s get into the top 3 advantages of outsourcing services:
1. Specialization
Established expertise in the respective domain is a sure-shot benefit when it comes to outsourcing services. Having worked in a dedicated field with a special set of focused skills leads to efficient and dependable work.
In a nutshell, it’s job done vs. a job well done.
2. Increased Focus
Delegating a few processes outside leads to more focus towards the core activities. A SaaS product company for instance. For them, outsourcing marketing activities would easily help them concentrate on product development and other tech-related aspects.
3. High ROI
Outsourcing is an investment and not quite an expenditure. Not only does it save time by transferring ownership & accountability of work, but also helps to cut costs by not having to hire talent and look after their training and development.
Other advantages include:
- Smoother in-house processes.
- Additional time for core functions.
- Greater efficiency.
Here are some successful examples of prominent companies who outsourced certain key services–
WhatsApp, now one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, had outsourced core development operations to Russian app developers. Hiring offshore developers didn’t just help to save costs but also resulted in high-quality work and increased focus on other important functions.
Google, the tech giant that needs no introduction - outsourced a high volume of AdWords support jobs in 2011. Despite having one of the largest teams in the world, they outsource various processes to contractors till date. The idea is to reduce workload, get experts involved and consistently remain profitable.
Fun Fact: According to Bloomberg, in 2018, Google’s contract workers surpassed the number of their full-time employees.
Slack
Slack, one of the most sought after workplace communication platforms has a pretty interesting story. Contrary to most companies, Slack outsourced one of the most crucial functions - UI Design. Its logo, website, mobile app and web app design were completely outsourced to a Canada-based agency.
These companies, along with many more, have leveraged the potential power of outsourcing and made the most of it.
In this era of ever-increasing opportunities and cut-throat competition; it is rather strategic to delegate work to dependable sources.
Outsourcing is undoubtedly one of the best ways to power through processes and get quality work done. Thus saving costs, effort and most importantly, time.
Needless to say, if your business wants to not just survive, but thrive - Outsourcing is the way to go!
