Start-Up 101: 4 Common Services To Outsource and Cut Costs in Your Business

If you are reading this post, it’s because you are a start-up entrepreneur with an idea for a business that is just getting started. The odds are good that your start-up costs have already exceeded your budget and the last thing on your mind right now is cutting back or outsourcing anything. 

However, if you want to be successful as an entrepreneur, there will come points when you need to cut some corners to save money. Start-ups have the same challenges as any other company. One of these often overlooked yet essential tasks is outsourcing. You can do outsourcing in many ways and for several reasons. Still, one way to cut costs and improve efficiency during the start-up phase is by outsourcing administrative activities like payroll processing or human resources management. 

Hiring an outside company to take care of these functions can free up valuable time and resources for other tasks. In addition, professional outsourcing can take a lot of the stress off start-ups as they go through their initial growth phase. This blog post will discuss four common services that many entrepreneurs outsource and why they do so.

Project Outsourcing

Outsourcing your project is a solid move that can cut costs in the long term. Not only will you be able to save money, but outsourcing projects will also help manage workloads and increase efficiency for specific tasks. You may think of outsourcing as an expense when it’s more like an investment. However, project outsourcing is a great way to save time and money.

IT Outsourcing

The IT industry is competitive nowadays. Modern businesses are looking for new ways to outsource their needs and cut costs to keep up with the competition. The first service you should investigate outsourcing or cutting costs on would be your company’s IT department. 

This business segment has grown exponentially over the past decade, but so has its price tag. As a result, it’s challenging to staff IT positions with qualified individuals and even more so when you try to keep up with the rapid changes in technology.

If your company is looking for a cost-effective way to outsource their needs, investigate a good Managed IT Services firm that can care for all your companies’ technical problems. It will allow your business to focus on its core competencies.

Manufacturing Outsourcing

Manufacturing outsourcing is a service that allows companies to outsource the manufacturing of their products or parts. Outsourcing production can help increase efficiency, as it frees up time in the company to focus on other aspects of business operations and tasks. 

There are many benefits for non-production-oriented roles within an organization when this process takes place, including: 

• Increased efficiency and focus on other aspects of the company
• Improved quality control over an outsourced manufacturer’s processes (e.g., import/export, customs) 
• Decreased lead time for manufacturing due to increased production capacity at another facility. It is beneficial when there are seasonal fluctuations in demand or if shortages impact production capacity
• Reduced capital investment in the manufacturing process. It can be helpful for start-ups who might not have enough resources to invest heavily in production facilities or equipment

Manufacturing outsourcing has multiple advantages, but there are a few drawbacks that you should consider before deciding which route is suitable for your company.

It can be expensive to outsource manufacturing once a company has already invested in the upfront production investments. For instance, if a company needs something manufactured urgently and doesn’t have any previous relationships with factories that could do the job quickly, it might not make sense to spend time researching which factory would work best. It is because they know that they will need to find another factory for the next production run.

Another disadvantage is that outsourcing some parts of an operation might not be possible in specific sectors, such as food and pharmaceutical companies required by law to do Professional Outsourcing.

Conclusion

Many entrepreneurs have a fear of outsourcing some or all their work. However, the thought that they might lose the “secret sauce” to their business is too much for them to handle, and they cling onto every bit. 

However, just as you can outsource parts of your marketing campaign (like Facebook ads), it is possible to outsource your business functions. The key is to find which tasks are not the most important for you and delegate them out to someone else who will do it more efficiently than you can. There’s no reason why a small entrepreneur should also handle every part of their company when they could hire someone with experience in that area to do it for them.