Outsourcing vs Staffing

[kanvus]

Outsourcing is the new wave for fulfilling your resource requirements. Some people out there have a myth that Outsourcing is a heavy expensive for small-medium businesses which is not true - the point that is often missed is that at the end of the day you are paying for the actual product and not the human resource.

Say for example: A clothing store wants to publish its catalog online - they can either hire a software developer at $20 an hour for may be 200 hours to do the work for you , tomorrow if the developer comes back saying it will take another 100 hours - it becomes an interesting situation.

or, you can outsource the work to a software development company who will charge you a set amout for delivering the site to you - no delivery, no payment! And, Tomorrow, when it comes to maintaining the website, you don't have to take the big headache of staffing, pay rises, sick leaves, holidays, etc - just outsource the maintenance of your site to the same company and you'll probably get a special deal for outsourcing both the contracts to the same company!

So, everyone out there - whats your opinion ?

cheers

Saurabh
Kanvus Solutions NZ

[Kirk]

I have a friend that "owns" a pool company. He sells in ground pools of any size and shape. He has a staff ... of sales people. 100% of the construction of the pool is done by contractors that he trusts to deliver on time. He handles sales and general contracting on his own. He outsources payroll (commissions), book keeping, etc. Outsourcing occurs at all levels, and allows someone to specialize. It's good business!
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[CBR]

Outsourcing can be a cost effective way of growing your business. I am for outsourcing payroll and other employee administrative tasks. Things like these are non-revenue generating. Give these responsibilities to someone else and get back to growing your business and focus on revenue generating tasks.
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[profitxchange]

I would always recommend a business to consider outsourcing alongside all the other options. In many cases there are people or other businesses that are more expert at that element of your business, book-keeping, logistics, fulfillment and even delivery of your service. +

In the uk it is now a normal dimension of most small businees.

I reckon outsourcing is here to stay and will grow - particularly for small busineses

[hexemaus]

I agree that outsourcing can benefit business, especially small businesses and sole proprietorships. And the tasks that can be outsourced are forever expanding. There's not much you can't oursource to another company these days, other than actual in-person customer service, pos sales, and that sort of thing. If you don't have to have the actual product in hand or have the customer standing in front of you, then there's probably a provider you can outsource to.

Who would have thought 20 years ago that you could outsource your secretarial tasks? But that's what my business is based on, outsourcing administrative tasks for small business.

Who would have thought you could outsource inventory management to another company 20 or 30 years ago? But there are businesses built soley for that purpose. They'll warehouse, inventory, and control all your merchandise including shipping, returns, etc.

The construction industry has done it for years via subcontractors. You want to build houses but hate working on plumbing? You hire another company to do the plumbing so you can do the framing, electrical, or other parts of construction that you DO enjoy and are good at. It only surprises me how long it's taken other industries to see the benefit of outsourcing.

If you ask me, outsourcing is a wonderful option for small business. It lets you turn unpleasant or time-consuming aspects of your business over to someone with more experience, more knowledge, and/or more interest in that particular specialty. That frees you up to do what you love about your particular business. You put your best people in your best spots & you'll have an advantage in that you're only handling the aspects you love and not being distracted or burdened with the aspects you don't like, don't have experience with, or just plain can't be bothered with.

But, that's just my .02. And I'll admit, I'm kind of biased since my business is based on outsourcing.

[CBR]

Hexemus, I couldnt agree more. It loos like you and I are the fame industry. I get mroe satisfaction out of my day knowing that my career and work is based on helping businesses. There is no better feeling of having a business owner tell you mow much he appreciates the services that you provide.
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Fear is the darkroom in which negatives are developed.