4 Tasks You Should Outsource as a Small Business

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For small businesses looking to grow while keeping costs low, outsourcing is the perfect solution. According to research, 24% of small businesses choose to outsource to enhance efficiency. Additionally, as these workers are not permanent employees, it helps save significantly on hiring and training costs. For small business owners looking to outsource core business functionalities, this article RealOnlineCareer.com explores the various types of services they can look for. 

IT Support

Having an in-house IT expert can help solve day-to-day issues promptly. However, these experts often have an area of specialty beyond which you will need to seek other specialists to solve niche problems, leading to a loss of time and resources. 

Choosing to outsource your IT requirements provides your round-the-clock support for all your technology-related problems. IT companies can provide a range of services like:

• Remote PC Support: This involves solving issues relating to your laptops such as stuttering, access problems, malware attacks, and more
• Cybersecurity: To protect your valuable business data, experts will look for vulnerabilities in your system, install processes to safeguard your data, and consistently keep systems updated to provide the best protection.
• Data Backup: This includes creating a reliable backup of your data that protects your businesses from damages due to unforeseen circumstances such as natural disasters, data damage, or deletion.
• Remote Training: If you plan to hold workshops or conduct virtual training for full-time hires, your IT team can provide you with the expertise and infrastructure to conduct these without hassle. 

App Development

Hiring a full-time app development team can prove to be heavy on your pockets. A good alternative is to gather a team of talented freelancers who work directly under your control. These include:

• UI/UX Designer: These designers create user-friendly app interfaces and journeys which make it easy for customers to navigate and interact with your application. The typical freelance UI/UX designer hourly rate is around $49 an hour.
• Full Stack Developer: Through their expertise in front and back-end app development, developers bring your design to life. This involves developing servers, creating storage functionalities, integrating APIs, and coding based on your operating system preference (Android/iOS).
• Tester: A tester plays an integral role in evaluating the integrity of the application and providing insights to help it perform at the optimum level. They check for inconsistencies in UI, app build stability, test new features before pushing them live, and much more.

Digital Marketing

For any business to be successful, it needs to have a strong digital presence. However, simply having a social profile is not enough, there are various methods that businesses need to experiment with to build their presence evenly across the digital spectrum. This includes social media management, SEO, E-commerce promotions, email marketing, and much more.

Hiring and managing individuals to handle each of these responsibilities will be tedious and expensive. To give your digital marketing activities the time and attention it needs, consider outsourcing them to an agency that can undertake all your marketing responsibilities.

In addition to outsourcing services, look to automate as many tasks as possible to improve your operational efficiency. Common functionalities you should consider automating are:

Payroll: As reported by QuickBooks, using payroll software makes the process of calculating withholdings, determining taxes, and paying HM Revenue and Customs streamlined. Additionally, it will make handling accounts and making payments to third-party vendors easier.

Inventory: Investing in reliable inventory management software can help you be efficient with your inventory on a tight budget. Through automation, you will reduce the risk of overselling, avoid excess stock and gain in-depth insights into your turnover rate. 

Customer Management: Customer relationship management (CRM) software allows you to manage customer relationships to the best of your abilities. With a CRM, you can seamlessly share data among all teams leading to better sales strategies, improving marketing messaging, achieving faster reverts on queries, and increasing business efficiency.


Consider Overseas Workers

When weighing your options for outsourcing, don’t overlook the benefits of hiring overseas workers. By restricting yourself to US workers only, you limit the talent pool. And globally, there are plenty of workers with the skills you need. For example, Virtual Employee notes that countries like China, India and the Philippines are home to freelancers with just as much talent as their western peers, and often for more affordable rates. 

If you’re uncertain about hiring overseas freelancers, simply stick to smaller projects that don’t cost as much. Just be sure to avoid choosing a freelancer based on their rate. Regardless of where a worker lives, you want to have confidence that they can provide you with the skills you’re looking for. Payments don’t have to be an obstacle either. Many overseas freelancers are happier with the option for wire transfer payments over bank transfers. Sites like Remitly offer easy and secure transactions to countries like India, where the recipient can often count on a better exchange rate, and receive their payment through their preferred provider. 

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When it comes to outsourcing core business tasks, you have a wealth of choices when it comes to finding the right workers. In addition to connecting you with experts in various fields, outsourcing the above tasks will allow you to scale your business while keeping the books balanced. 

​Guest post by: http://economymom.com