As the proprietor of a small business, you might have considered outsourcing some aspect of your business. Since the benefits of outsourcing appears to be self-explanatory due to professional’s affirmation of its’ benefits of cutting costs for business functions ranging from human resources to information, marketing to accounting, and it even appears almost possible that one could operate a company without recruiting any staff.
But is there more to outsourcing than cutting cost? Are there other reasons why companies outsource? In this post, we will explore the reasons, risks, and rewards (3R) of outsourcing, with particular reference to information technology.
There are a lot of reasons why companies outsource their businesses. Below are some of the top reasons:
Improve Company Focus
Outsourcing allows you to concentrate on your core ability while other companies focus on their own because it is not practical to be a jack of all trades and achieve an excellent result.
Increase Access to Exceptional Capabilities
When you outsource IT to an outsourcing firm that is a professional in the areas of your need or business, the benefit you will get from the investment will be high. Why? Because you will benefit from the collective experience of a group of information technology experts rather than getting knowledge from a single person. As most IT outsourcing firms usually ensure that their IT employees have a proper training and certifications before allowing them to handle jobs.
Reduce Operating Cost
Outsourcing generally enables companies to lower the costs that come with hiring a staff. Examples of costs like training, health insurance, retirement plans among others.
The Risks
Giving out any aspect of your business responsibility temporarily or permanently to an outsourcing firm involves risk. Thus, so many questions like: did I hire the right outsourcing firm? Will they do the job excellently? And lots more will be running through your mind. Therefore, when considering outsourcing function, you need to put the following outsourcing risks below in mind.
Some IT Tasks Are Difficult to Outsource
Information technology connects almost the whole organization. Starting from the simple day-to-day activities of the employees to the most complex automated tasks. Therefore, always ensure the outsourcing firms are professional and are qualified to handle needs effectively before giving out the job to them.
Employee Morale may be Affected
When you lay off staffs to substitute their job responsibilities with an outsourcing firm. The other employees may begin to feel that they are not secure as well.
Most of these risks associated with outsourcing are avoidable if you know the right thing to look for in an outsourcing firm and ask the appropriate questions.
The Rewards
Are you still uncertain whether to outsource or not? You need not to because there are a lot of rewards you will have access to when you outsource the IT functions of your business.
Access to the Latest and Greatest in Technology
Software and hardware easily turn obsolete in the IT industry. Hence, it will not be possible for one employee to keep up-to-date with the rapidly changing industry. However, outsourcing avails you the advantage of possessing more than just a single IT expert. Also, they can give you quality advice on how to invest your IT money more productively since their core competency is in information technology.
Job Security and Lower Burnout for Regular Employee
Outsourcing your IT tasks removes the burden from your staffs who has taken on more than they were hired for, and you will have a better relationship with your staffs when you free them only what they were employed for.
