The pandemic’s economic and social impacts have made small to medium-sized enterprises rethink how they operate in a bid to remain competitive. The recent Omicron wave has only reinforced the need for a more flexible approach, with exploding case numbers bringing many industries from retail to hospitality to a grinding halt because of staff isolating or contracting COVID.

Outsourcing isn’t anything new, but with the challenges SMEs are facing through COVID, they can no longer ignore its benefits.

Some might include: –

flexible scaling

on the tap workforce

increased efficiency

variable capacity

access to more varied skills or resources

Reduce key person dependencies.

Key person dependency is when an internal knowledge base isn’t shared throughout an organisation. There’s often no documentation, and only a few staff can carry out specific tasks. Whilst it’s good to have a skilled and specialised team, a business without knowledge sharing can be crippled when a key employee leaves.

Outsourcing is an effective way to mitigate risks related to key person dependency. The outsourced team will have experts who can adopt the fundamental processes efficiently, providing ‘on-tap’ resourcing and reducing the stress placed on your critical staff. It also frees their time up to focus on what they do best.

Outsourcing can enhance in-house staff retention by focusing more on complex tasks.

You can establish a more efficient workplace through outsourcing – when your in-house team focuses on what they’re employed to do, they’re happier and more engaged. Your outsourced team can handle the process-driven or repetitive work. They’re usually more efficient and better equipped for it anyway! It’s a win-win. You get the tedious job done quicker and at a cheaper rate.

 Outsourcing can help in increasing sales.

Outsourcing is a way to eliminate inefficiencies and increase the speed of your sales with lead generation. You can also use outsourcing as an edge over competitors, which gives you more freedom from corporate constraints on how much marketing or production costs are allocated for these purposes.

Outsourcing can be a value-adding strategic and operational tool.

Outsourcing is tactical when driven by a desire to solve practical problems and align with short-term needs and long-term strategies.

It’s a fantastic asset for SMEs – It’s plain to see it goes way beyond a cost-cutting measure. With COVID, we’ve seen the outsourcing landscape grow into a valuable and sometimes essential part of many organisations.

SBA has been helping Australian businesses adopt our ethical outsourcing model for more than ten years. To join the conversation, speak with us today.

Sources

https://www.afr.com/technology/outsourcing-the-competitive-edge-smes-need-to-innovate-20210715-p589zn?utm_content=174208892&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-2271585

https://sballiance.net.au/how-to-reduce-key-person-dependencies-in-organisations/