The way we do business is constantly evolving and as technology develops, so do our business practices and for the past 40 years, outsourcing has become an integral component in commerce. Why go to all the trouble and expense of setting up a department when you can simply call in a 3rd party company to handle it? This empowers the small business owner to be able to compete with large established companies, plus it creates a lot of new servicing sectors, providing essential employment.
Outsourcing Business Processes
Whether looking for a payroll company in Malaysia or an accountant in Singapore, there are specialist providers where you can outsource your business processes, which streamlines your organisation. Digital marketing is a classic example; Rather than spend 3-4 years learning about SEO, you simply enlist the services of a leading SEO agency, who has the knowledge and ability to drive traffic to your platform. Indeed, many one man shows can only operate thanks to outsourcing and as technology develops, we can outsource more. Fifty years ago, a large company would have many departments, which requires a high volume of labour, yet today’s business runs with much less employees and many processes are outsourced to local providers. This created new sectors and small startups provided essential services and as the online shopping sector booms, so does the 3PL sector, which provides essential logistics.
Third-Party Logistics
There are probably millions of digital entrepreneurs that make use of third-party logistics (3PL) and this booking industry is set to grow as the entire world embraces online shopping, largely due to the pandemic. From the e-commerce business owner’s perspective, the 3PL provider does all the work; picking, packing and delivering products, while you simply forward the orders. All it takes is a delivery of all your products and packaging to the 3PL warehouse, then you never have to even see the product and you know it will be shipped professionally and in a timely manner. Click here for tips on how to manage an online business.
Outsourcing Office Work
Let’s look at a European company that opened a branch in Malaysia as an example, they would outsource all their bookkeeping, tax returns and accounting, while payroll is another service to be outsourced. Rather than having to directly employ local office staff, which is costly, the solution is to outsource to professional providers, who know what they are doing.
Professional Service
A company that offers a service would likely do nothing else and with all the right resources, their service is second to none and far better than you could have offered. A builder, for example, might have 5 or 6 trade teams on his books and when he gets a contract, he subcontracts to the bricklayer, electrician and plasterer on a job or day basis. Whatever it is that you are delegating, you want to be sure it is going to be done professionally and hiring third-party providers is the best all-round solution.
In-House Solutions
There are certain business environments where outsourcing is not the best solution; if your business is doing very well and you have the resources, you could expand your operation to include an essential service that you normally outsource. High quantities make in-house solutions viable and when you crunch the numbers, you can see which is the best approach; outsource or in-house.
Regardless of your chosen industry, there will be outsourcing involved, from digital marketing to logistics and this does empower the small business and enables them to compete in the marketplace.
