As the End of Financial year approaches, the inevitable battle looms. How do we complete our regular work tasks on top of the added pressure from clients and the admin workload presented by tax time? While misconceptions may still be present that outsourcing is an undertaking exclusively for larger businesses, SBA begs to differ. Let us highlight some areas you may not have considered when evaluating your outsourcing options.

What Do You Struggle With?

Although we may struggle with it sometimes, one of the most effective ways to pinpoint areas for outsourcing is to look where your teams resources are being bottlenecked.

• Spending too much time formatting? Outsource it.

• Wasting your cost of service on your bookkeeping? outsource it.

• Don’t waste your time designing a Facebook banner; outsource it.

• Don’t waste your brainpower on writing an article… well you get the idea.

One of the brilliant perks of having a reliable outsourcing partner is that you gain access to wide network of skills that can be called upon when you need – allowing you to ramp up & down to help meet the spikes in demand EOFY presents.

Have You Considered Your Process Flows?

While you may think outsourcing is simply for completing work tasks, SBA can also partner with you to analyse your business, highlighting any possible areas for increasing efficiencies. Utilising SBA to work with you on these processes can result in;

• Gaining a fresh, professional perspective by having us review your current workflows and processes for increased efficiency;

• Allow us to document your work practices for quality control and increased security – vital for any business succession plan;

• Let us tell you about the tools that you can implement to better utilise technology in your business; and

• Meet with our IT professionals who can help your team better perform their duties, including assistance with any PC or online issues.

We see ourselves as business partners with our clients, regularly doing the work requested but also taking note of how you are processing certain work tasks and providing ongoing advice about how you can improve workflows to increase your output. Wouldn’t some extra time be a fantastic gift this time of year?

Need New Staff?

Although many businesses may have an increased need for staff during the EOFY, bringing on new staff may not always be a viable option. At SBA we like to refer to our staff as your “away team”, allowing you to help build working relationships long-term and integrate these staff into your business as you see fit. Instead of being your irregular provider, we become strategic business partners with our clients so that you and your team benefits from, our services on a more ongoing basis, allowing us to meet your needs and client demand flexibly.

Using Freelancers or Crowd-sourcing Work?

Be it good or bad, we know there are many platforms that facilitate a factory-like approach to outsourcing. Simply post the job you can’t do and/or don’t have time to do, and in comes a flurry of candidates keen to do the task for you.

Easy. Right?

Rarely. Because using a freelancer or resource on an ad-hoc basis can add to the time involved in delegating, training and upskilling an individual to suit the task at hand. While finding a quality freelancer who wants to commit to being your go-to, reliable worker is easier said than done.

We make no apologies to being nothing like these platforms.

Whilst we understand the above platforms are suitable for some businesses, we also know that our clients benefit from our very different approach. We’re all for using outsourcing to free up workload, in fact, it is one of our value propositions. But we can deliver so much more value if you view outsourcing as an opportunity to align with a team of professionals who can uncover many ways to grow your business.

Is Your Data Secure?

IT security is something most businesses probably wouldn’t be prioritising at this time of year, but with recent changes to legislation both within Australia & Internationally, protecting your customers data is more important than ever. With cyber-attacks on the rise and the fact that 80% of SMES that fall victim to cyber-attack go bankrupt within 12 months (GM Risk Group).

Is your business taking adequate measures to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks? While the financial costs of implementing these safeguards can be daunting, sometimes the main defence against an attack is to increase awareness & implement clear procedures when an attack is suspected. Get in contact with SBA for further details on how your business can help protect themselves against cyber-crime.

While we realise implementing something like outsourcing may be a stressful prospect at this time of year, SBA aim to provide our partners a smooth process when beginning deployment of services. Reach out today so we can discuss the multitude of ways outsourcing could help your business or organisation.

Brendan Hunt

General Manager

Strategic Business Alliance

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