In 2023, companies spent US $731 billion on outsourcing globally. The sheer amount of spending in the outsourcing industry highlights its importance in the international job market.
Companies of all sizes are outsourcing, with most large corporations turning to global talent for various services, including IT and customer care. Meanwhile, 32% of small businesses outsource at least one function beyond their borders.
Why is outsourcing so popular? It helps organisations save money, time, and effort while focusing on strategic growth and operations. The practice comes with many benefits for Australian businesses. Let’s take a look at what outsourcing is and the top benefits of outsourcing recruitment.
What Is Outsourcing?
Outsourcing refers to businesses delegating specific tasks or job functions to a third party outside of the company’s internal staff.
The services and their scope depend entirely on the needs of the company. Some popular outsourcing functions include IT, customer service operations, virtual assistant tasks, payroll, certain research and marketing activities, and many more. These are all examples of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) covering back-office and front-office services.
For example, a business might want to outsource a few minor IT functions like helpdesk and support to relieve pressure on their internal employees. Alternatively, it might outsource an entire IT project to a team of external professionals to quickly build a new app or service.
Outsourcing vs. Insourcing
While businesses typically outsource remote talent, remote hiring is slightly different. When a company hires someone remotely, it still brings this person onto the payroll. It’s responsible for things like visas, taxes, superannuation, and other hiring legalities.
Meanwhile, outsourcing usually involves going through a third party, like a BPO provider. This third party manages the outsourced staff and is responsible for all the legal procedures. The business simply engages the services of the outsourced talent.
10 Benefits of Outsourcing
There are numerous benefits of outsourcing. Here are some of the reasons Australian businesses should consider engaging talent beyond their borders.
1. Cost Savings
One of the major reasons to outsource is to save on overall costs. Austrian businesses, particularly, can benefit from lower wages and operational costs beyond the country’s borders.
For example, let’s look at the cost benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines. Australian companies can expect to save about 70% in expenses related to salaries. That’s because the minimum wage in the country’s capital, Manila, is around AU $17 per day, or 90% lower than the minimum wage in Australia.
2. Access to Global Talent
Despite the recent economic downturn, businesses worldwide continue to compete for the most in-demand talent profiles. Skills shortages persist in Australia, especially for many engineering, IT development, and other specialised roles.
Outsourcing is an excellent way for Australian companies to onboard the talent they need. Destinations like the Philippines, India, Mexico, and China are home to millions of skilled professionals who can contribute their skills and training to growing your business.
3. Focus on Core Business Activities
Want to stop worrying about the daily grind and focus on strategic growth? Outsourcing can help you do so.
Certain functions and tasks like payroll or customer care take up an incredible amount of time. Having your team spend valuable hours on these repetitive tasks can lead to burnout and shift their focus away from innovating and growing.
Services like accounting, bookkeeping, basic marketing and content creation, customer care, and other daily tasks can be easily outsourced to virtual assistants across the globe. Meanwhile, you can spend more time on your business objectives.
4. Improved Efficiency and Productivity
Outsourcing can also help you streamline business processes and enhance your team’s productivity.
For example, this can be one of the important benefits of outsourcing IT skills that you don’t have in-house. Instead of hiring specialised staff or training your existing team, you can simply outsource a project to experienced engineers and developers. They will quickly build the systems you need, so you can launch new services and ideas faster.
You can also benefit from having global coverage set up in different time zones, increasing productivity and ensuring 24/7 customer care.
5. Flexibility and Scalability
It can be challenging for businesses to maintain a large in-house team, especially as you are starting up. Outsourcing offers companies an opportunity to easily scale up or down whenever it’s necessary.
If you’ve got a big short-term project coming up, you can outsource some of the tasks to scale operations up quickly. But if there is a lull in projects, it’s also easy to scale down without navigating employment termination laws or affecting your team members.
6. Faster Time to Market
With an easily scalable team and access to the right skills, your business can quickly launch new products and services.
Not only do you benefit from having more hands on deck whenever your business needs, you can also enjoy the efficiency of specialised service providers. Many outsourced teams already have the skills and experience needed to reduce your time to market and allow for faster market entry.
7. Risk Management
Hiring, locally or remotely, comes with numerous legal repercussions. As an employer, you are responsible for managing contracts, navigating employment and termination laws, and ensuring the health and safety of your staff.
One of the crucial benefits of BPO outsourcing is that a third party manages all this for you. As such, outsourcing can help you mitigate operational and compliance risks while tapping into the skillsets your business requires.
8. Innovation
Sometimes, your team needs a fresh perspective. Outsourcing beyond your borders can help. You’ll be tapping into specialised talent globally, giving you a new outlook on your product, services, and market potential.
This unique way to drive business growth and innovation can give you an edge, bringing in new ways to think about your company’s development.
9. Enhanced Business Flexibility
Today’s markets are constantly changing. Businesses must be able to adapt swiftly and make changes on the go. Outsourcing benefits your organisation through increased agility compared to relying solely on in-house capabilities.
For example, if your business scales faster than expected, you can outsource tasks like customer service or IT support to take the burden off your team. You can also quickly pivot and upgrade your services with experienced IT and development teams.
10. Competitive Advantage
All of these benefits, like cost savings and flexible access to top-notch talent, will give your business an edge over the competition.
Outsourcing isn’t just a way to save a few bucks. It’s a business strategy that can make your company more competitive, helping you scale and grow through adaptability, flexibility, and on-demand expansion whenever your business needs it most.
Conclusion
Ready to tap into a global talent pool and outsource the skills your business needs? It’s important to go beyond simply offloading tasks and making outsourcing a part of your strategic business development. At RemoteHirely, we can help you build your outsourcing strategy and engage skillsets ranging from simple daily tasks to complex development projects. Contact us to learn more.