Feb. 14, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by Eide Bailly LLP.

A version of this article appeared on eidebailly.com.

Many companies have big dreams. To support the vision they want, companies often think they need cutting-edge technology, up-to-date financials to drive business growth, data that helps them move forward and quality security parameters that make them feel protected.

Although these are great goals to have, not many organizations can accomplish them using their internal staff alone. Each goal takes deep market expertise, industry knowledge and strategic foresight along with experience to make it happen. Rather than hiring internal employees or specialists, organizations often turn to outsourcing to complement the skill sets and knowledge of their team, grow their thinking and make their goals reality.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is simply the process of hiring an outside source to help with particular tasks. This could be an individual freelancer or a consultant company with expertise in a specific field. Outsourcing services can be found across a number of industries, including accounting, technology, cybersecurity, data, human resources and more. You essentially create your dream team through trusted advisers, consultants and resources on loan when and where you need them and for what you need them for.

Outsourcing can be helpful for organizations that want to get a better handle on their finances, create a budget, enter transaction conversations, conduct an internal audit or whose ultimate focus might be construction for remodeling or expansion, for example, but their finances are not aligned to that goal. Rapid growth calls for additional support, fast.

Outsourcing is not a replacement to core functions of a business, ones that are aligned with the organization’s mission and values. Rather, outsourcing helps support and serves as a resource for needed services, where having someone on staff does not make sense right now. Often, organizations outsource to bring in needed expertise or an extra set of hands where they cannot yet bring someone on full time to serve as a CFO, CIO, CSO, etc. Outsourcing is a way to supplement business needs and goals, and current staff resources.

Why outsourcing is good for business

Your reasons to outsource will depend on your mission and goals, but here some of the common situations where outsourcing can help fill a need:

• You don’t have the expertise in-house to accomplish your next strategic decision.
• You lack the time or resources to make sense of your business data in a useful, meaningful way.
• You don’t have the budget capacity to hire high-level accounting, payroll, technology or IT personnel.
• Your organization lacks policies, procedures and risk mitigation strategies to make you feel safe and secure.
• Your business is growing rapidly, and you need additional resources to help you move forward.
• You need help administering your technology solutions but lack the internal knowledge or resources to effectively govern and manage the systems.
• You have turnover in your IT department and need experienced eyes to monitor your network and security.
• You want to free yourself from running the day-to-day back-office operations of your company, allowing you to focus on driving your company’s mission, vision and growth initiatives.

Benefits of services outsourcing

Outsourcing talent is critical in business today, and the benefits often speak for themselves:

• Access to experienced resources with the skills you need to save time and money – for a monthly service fee.
• Hands-on knowledge without going through the hiring, onboarding and training process.
• Access to a larger talent pool of resources that know your industry and understand your needs.
• Flexibility.
• Remote services.
• Increased ability to better meet customer needs as employees are freed from more minimal or unrelated tasks.
• Leveraging the best tools and technology, specifically when you outsource IT, data or cybersecurity services.
• A future-focused approach where you can plan for long-term projects and get them done sooner.

 Things to consider when outsourcing

Now that all the benefits of outsourcing have been outlined, the task at hand is whether to outsource for your particular organization. And if so, now or in the future?

• Make a detailed list of common tasks. This exercise provides insight into how you or your employees are spending your days. Are there certain tasks that might be better off as an outsourced service so time is spent more wisely? Identifying inefficiencies will lead to options for streamlining performance.
• Take a hard look at company finances. Does outsourcing make financial sense? There is a cost-saving opportunity because you’re not hiring a full-time employee and paying for benefits or onboarding, but it’s wise to take a close look at expenses and profits before making this financial decision.
• Does outsourcing a particular task align with company values? It’s important to be thoughtful when outsourcing core company-value-linked tasks. If customer service is a value that your company prides itself on, then co-sourcing or engaging project thought leadership could help you focus on maintaining or elevating your standards, providing depth of resources and new insights.

The future of outsourcing

Recent global events have made companies hyperaware of remote working options and the need for advances in technology. It also solidified the beneficial relationship between service providers and companies. While companies will continue to invest more in developing in-house capabilities, research also shows that a majority of companies will continue to outsource tasks far into the future. Outsourcing has been normalized for companies of all sizes and is set to remain a smart and strategic business option.

To learn more about outsourcing for your organization, visit eidebailly.com.