Back-office roles that should be outsourced

An effective way for small and medium businesses to increase productivity is through outsourcing back-office operations. Companies, especially during their early days, decide to perform all their tasks themselves in an attempt to save resources. Instead of helping them, this usually results in overworked and distracted employees, focus on non-core competencies, and subsequently halt in the company growth. One of the ways generally recommended for small companies to succeed is through outsourcing all the repetitive and time-consuming tasks that are not integral to their business. This way, they get time and space to plan their company’s growth strategy and help get more clients. So for a small company, it is in your best interest to outsource some or all back-office roles.
Are you wondering what roles and tasks you should outsource? Anything that is mundane and takes up a lot of your time or anything that you don’t have the expertise in should be considered for outsourcing. But to help you out, we have made a list of five back-office roles that should be outsourced to garner in profits and increase productivity. Let’s take a look at them.

1. Data Entry

   A company needs all its essential data safely stored and easily accessible. While it may sound easy, for data entry at its simplest is storing data in a computer system that was originally in another format, it can be quite complicated. It is why it’s advised to outsource data entry to experts and specialists in the field who know the job as well as the tools and software involved to perform the job. This time-consuming task demands attention to details for the data that needs to be processed should be transcribed and stored digitally accurately. By outsourcing data entry, you also get proper security measures in place safeguarding your data as opposed to in-house management where there are risks involved.

2. Bookkeeping (Accounting)

   One of the most common accounting roles that is outsourced by companies is bookkeeping. Your financial records need to be thoroughly organized and managed daily to get a sense of cash flow. But it is a rigorous task; you need to keep track of all the money that is coming in and going out, receipts and invoices, revenues and expenses, assets, and liabilities; every financial transaction needs to be recorded. Bookkeeping is how a company monitors its financial status, then accordingly making decisions. So it needs to be current and accurately managed. Recruiting help from outsourcing vendors ensures experts are handling your financial records.

3. Payroll Services

   Not only is payroll administration a time-consuming and detailed task, but if done incorrectly, it can lead to penalties and even risks of audits. Unless you are willing to spend big to hire experts who are familiar with federal, state, and local rules and regulations regarding wages, employees and businesses, it is best to outsource the company’s payroll to a trusted offshoring vendor. Along with being on top of all the legislation, you also need to keep track of all the employee hiring, terminations, benefits, attendance, and leaves. It is a work involving a lot of focus on details with no room for error. So, ensure accuracy and reliable payroll administration with outsourcing.

4. Recruitment

   Hiring the right employee for any job is essential for a company’s growth. Yet, it is not easy to find the right talent with the necessary qualifications in this highly competitive global market. Companies spend extensive time as well as capital to attract potential prospects and hire them, but it’s not always fruitful. Your company suffers immensely every time you hire a wrong candidate or leave a role vacant for a prolonged time. By outsourcing your company’s recruitment needs, you hire professionals to do all the nitty-gritty work of screening and short-listing best candidates according to the job profile. It is a cost-effective solution that efficiently fills up vacancies in your company while you focus on other essential tasks.

5. IT support

   Giving proper care and attention to your customers is just as important after the sale as it is before. But it can become difficult for a small company to have an in-house team that offers technical help and support to its customers. Instead, it is more efficient to outsource technical support for your products and services. By doing so, you get experts in the technical areas handling your customer’s queries and troubleshooting their issues, thus providing the needed support at all times. Customers need to be happy not just with your product but with your post-sale customer services as well, or you are liable to lose them.

The above five roles, while not central to a business, are highly essential for your business to function. So, by outsourcing all these jobs, you get more time to focus on your business. Companies have realized how beneficial it is for them to outsource these operations, and to maintain your competitive edge, you too need to outsource back-office services.