HOW OUTSOURCING CAN WORK FOR YOUR BUSINESS
WITH THE RIGHT OUTSOURCE PARTNER, OUTSOURCING CAN GROW YOUR COMPANY IN KEY AREAS. IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CAPITALISE ON YOUR STRENGTHS AND TO FIND WAYS TO WORK MORE EFFICIENTLY. ALL SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS KNOW, THEIR TIME IS A SCARCE RESOURCE, AND IT CAN T BE OUTSOURCED. TO GROW A BUSINESS, THE ENTREPRENEUR NEEDS TO SPEND MORE TIME WORKING ON THE BUSINESS AND LESS TIME WORKING IN THE BUSINESS. HOW MANY HOURS A DAY ARE YOU SPENDING ON YOUR BUSINESS? MAYBE IT S TIME FOR SOME SMART OUTSOURCING? 1 What are the real benefits to you and your organisation? FREEING UP YOUR TIME. Time is our most precious resource and once lost can never be regained. What if you had an extra 5 hours a week? NO MORE DISTRACTIONS. Getting dragged into accounting, payroll and bookkeeping problems can be stressful and a drain on your energy. FOCUS ON DRIVING YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD. Working on ways to grow sales, improve your margins, better purchasing, build relationships with customers and suppliers and many more. EXPERTS ARE NOW TAKING CARE OF THIS PART OF YOUR BUSINESS. All these problems are someone else s who knows the most effective way of getting this work completed correctly, accurately and completely.
2 Know the true cost of an employee. A common inaccuracy business owners make is knowing the true cost of an employee. To calculate the cost of your employee, you need to look at more than just the basic salary. Employers PRSI is currently 10.75% and Holiday pay is approximately 8%. Then you have the cost of furniture and equipment, hardware and software that you need to supply your employee with. Payroll and insurance costs. Recruitment Advertising and recruiting costs can be costly in terms of time and money. Sick day costs. If an employee, goes out sick you may need to get someone else to do the work. Workload Are you paying a high level employee to do low level work? This can be expensive and the negative effect of demotivating that employee. Finally take into account of your time in managing this person and the potential cost of tidying up after this person leaves.
3 Mistakes companies make when outsourcing Being aware of the typical mistakes that have been made by others can help you avoid repeating them.to mention a few, here are some of the common mistakes made: No written agreement. Always ensure you have an agreement in writing that is complete and unambiguous. Poor communication. Having access to your outsource providers is key as all successful relationships are based upon good communication and trust between both parties. Lack of flexibility and scalability. Meeting a client s needs as there business grows and changes should form part of the agreement. Looking for the cheapest option. Instead, look for cost savings and added value.
4 Implementation Communication and collaboration are fundamental to the success of any relationship, and outsourcing is no exception. The implementation phase, to be successful will require understanding and agreement on the following areas. Timeframe be realistic about the length of time that it will take for the new system to bed in and iron out any issues that invariably arise. Cut off Agree when the new service will start, preferably at a month end. You don t want to start in the middle of your busiest month. Steps involved These should be clearly set out from the start so everyone know what is involved and different times of the month. Escalation mechanism if there is an issue at any point, who do you go to.this clarity will mean that issues are dealt with quickly and by the right person at the right time.
5 Carefully select your outsource partner. There are many factors to take into account when selecting an outsource partner. You ll want to take into account experience, location, flexibility, tax laws and language or cultural barriers. Invest the time in your decision making process, interview carefully, rule out the cheapest options and make sure they have the resources to do the job they are offering to do. It has become all the more important to find an outsourcer who has similar work ethics, values and ways of doing things.
i Final Thoughts The guidelines above summarise the key facts to take into account when looking at the outsource option for your business. At Solve we look at building a long term partnership with business owners and managers. Adding real value to your business is part of what we do. Helping you and your business be successful and achieve your ambitions forms part of our goals and our success.
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