With globalization becoming more popular, businesses are beginning to delegate more of their everyday functions to external agencies or contractors. Outsourcing can provide many advantages to business owners who already have too much on their plates by leveraging cutting-edge technology, innovative services, and cost-effective labor. There are many things, though, that businesses should keep in-house. We will discuss things your business should and shouldn’t outsource below.

What a Business Should Outsource

1. Hiring: your business can save time and money by hiring a third-party recruitment agency. These agencies can save you from the daunting task of recruiting high-caliber talent for your business. A recruitment agency knows up front who is qualified and available to work. Most of these agencies are paid on commission, too, so your business doesn’t pay until a qualified candidate is hired.
2. Payroll and bookkeeping: if your company is growing, you may not be able to keep your finances on track using an internal bookkeeper. By outsourcing, you will be freed up to focus on what your business does best. Payroll firms use the latest technologies to expedite your accounting and reduce errors, making them almost risk-free.
3. Social media: being active in social media consumes a large chunk of time for any business. Hiring a freelancer or agency to engage your followers will keep your business in front of existing and potential customers. By keeping your followers engaged, the online presence of your brand will be boosted.
4. Administrative tasks: it can be highly beneficial for a business to outsource administrative functions such as lead generating, encoding, and appointment setting to a contractor or remote assistant. This not only helps to streamline your daily operations but is very cost-efficient.

What a Business Should Not Outsource

1. Core functions: every business needs to better understand what their core competencies are. These are the things that your company does that adds a unique value to your niche. These functions should never be outsourced for the following reasons:
   1. Outsourcing these functions can cause you to miss an opportunity to develop and grow your expertise
   2. They can take away from your team’s morale. Studies show that employees are more productive when they have a sense of accomplishment, and they have a higher retention rate
   3. Your business can become isolated from not forging connections. Instead, your contractor will be building those connections
2. Customer service: more businesses seem to be turning towards outsourcing their customer service, but this can be a bad idea for your business. When someone has a bad experience with your outsourced customer service, it can cause you to have bad reviews and hurt your reputation. Instead of outsourcing your customer service, consider a service like chatbots. This service can handle your basic support tasks while giving you consistent customer service.
3. Creating content: though it can be rather cost-efficient to outsource content creation, it is typically better to keep this job in-house. You know your business better than anyone else, so you and your team will be more likely to use content that reflects your niche. Creating content in-house also gives you the opportunity to blog about personal experiences with your niche or showcase things your business is working on. Your brand is unique, and you want your audience to see that through your content.
4. Terminating employees: terminating an employee can be one of the hardest things for a business owner to do. That is why some employers choose to use a third-party agency to do this. Instead, it is best to meet face-to-face with the employee to deliver any news, whether good or bad. Delegating HR functions to another company may be a good idea, but terminations should be done respectfully in-house.

Conclusion

Businesses large and small can benefit from outsourcing. Doing so can help the business save time and money in the long run. When you outsource a job, you can focus on running the business while someone else takes care of tasks that would otherwise weigh you down. If you are looking to outsource parts of your business operation, keep the above points in consideration. As a managed service provider, RedWave Technology Group is here to help you with many of your outsourcing needs. Contact us today at (205) 917-5757.