Common Outsourced Services for SMBs
Standard outsourced services can help you gain a little financial freedom across the business while retaining professional services. These are often reserved for complex tasks, but almost anything is outsourced these days, from accounting and legal to sales and marketing teams.
Image Credit: Amy Shamblen Creative
Recruitment and Employee Management
One of the most outsourced services is recruitment. This can be done using professional specialist services or as part of an HR service that also provides employee management. As a small business, these services are recommended to save time and money. It has been established that around 72% of companies still struggle with hiring challenges, including the interview stage. Professional hiring services can manage a campaign from start to finish.
Accounting and Legal Services
Perhaps the most outsourced professional teams are those from accounting and legal. These are very expensive to hire in-house because of the skills required and the general education and experience of these employees. If you aren’t a financial expert, then an accounts team makes sense to manage the books. Although, some online tools will help. However, you can’t exactly “wing it” when it comes to legal affairs, so a retained law firm is always the best action.
Common Outsourced Services Includes IT
Managed IT services are becoming more popular since the professional has become more expensive to operate overall. The threats to a business network alone means general IT expertise is no longer suitable, and cybersecurity experts are also needed to ensure protection:
13% of ransomware attacks in 2022 were directed towards small businesses.
46% of cyber attacks are directed at businesses with less than 1,000 staff.
Social media mistakes and exposure can make you a bigger target.
SMBs spend up to $650,000 trying to remedy the effects of a cyber attack.
There is an expected 15% increase in cyber attacks on SMBs by 2025.
Small businesses are just as susceptible to common cyber attacks as some of the larger companies. A robust system of protection is available from an outsourced IT service.
Image Credit: Shamblen Studios
Sales and Marketing Teams
No modern business can survive without a solid and reliable marketing strategy. Sales and marketing in the 21st century are more than print and TV ads. Today, you need professionals who can run a campaign that includes social media marketing, search engine marketing, and branding. The expertise required for these makes it an expense that is best outsourced. These typically include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), and data analysis.
Customer Services Professionals
As a small business at its birth, a couple of representatives can handle incoming calls. But as business picks up, call handling and customer service expenses will grow exponentially. This doesn’t only relate to incoming calls for complaints and queries. Modern customer services also extend to outbound sales and lead generation. Both are integral cogs in the modern business machine, and you will need experts with experience in handling these if you wish to compete.
Summary
Recruitment and employee management are common outsourced services for modern businesses. And, of course, managed networking and IT experts can handle your tech and cybersecurity. However, a modern business also relies on customer service and outbound sales.
