We all hope that 2022 is the year that the world comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The post-pandemic world, however, is not as before. Many changes have happened. We have shipping disruptions, supply chain, and manufacturing shortfalls. Mass resignations have happened. We have workforce movements that have disrupted entire industries. War in Ukraine has not helped either. Entire countries are feeling the impact.
There are signs though that we are bottoming out and things will get better. However, running operations is still challenging, and the hyper-changing world as we call it is very unpredictable. So, how can an organization gain a competitive advantage in the age of global economic competition? Outsourcing can be a successful strategic advantage.
Outsourcing for success
One proven solution available today is outsourcing. Outsourcing gives an organization many key advantages. Among those are:
- Focus on core tasks or competencies
- Lower overall operational and delivery costs
- Promote growth
- Enable better efficiencies and expertise
- Offer staffing flexibility
- Provide continuity and risk management
- Enables organizational agility and flexibility
Growth, daily operations, and ensuring quality or performance is a challenging balancing act. Many operations and tasks are non-core and actually drain energy and effort from the core business. This is where outsourcing business becomes a smart tactical and strategic choice.
We can look at the chart below on the value proposition that many Business Process Outsourcing companies provide. Outsourced tasks may be occasional, such as recruitment and sourcing or they are parts of regular business operations, such as warranty support, customer service, or finance.
Focus on Core Activities
BPOs provide experts and a large pool of skilled resources that are able to take on many supporting operational activities. This gives you a more significant focus for the in-house resources on the activities that are your core products and services.
A retail organization for example may encounter challenges hiring and retaining staff at various outlets around the region. By outsourcing the staffing to an HR BPO for example, there is no longer the worry about ensuring adequate staffing at the outlets. The BPO is better able to manage overall recruitment and hiring as they are able to maximize economies of scale.
Cost Efficiency
Sometimes the expense of expanding operational hours or a new location for regional business operations can require a large investment. In this kind of situation, it may be more cost-effective to outsource than to expand operations internally.
If the growth of your business results in an increased need for office space, try outsourcing simple operations such as telemarketing or data entry rather than moving to a new location. It might cost far less than the price of expanding, and it is both more efficient and less expensive than relocating.
Some other functions that BPOs can help reduce overall costs and expenses are hiring, onboarding, and payroll. At Brandt, sourcing and hiring are regular activities and our clients know that they can get a pool of shortlisted quality candidates quickly.
Agility & Flexibility
BPOs also allow an organization to grow and pivot quicker. Just like the example above where a business growth necessitates additional real estate costs, a BPO also allows the business to expand temporarily or overflow roles and functions where it does not have capacity much quicker than internally growing.
Customer service and support is another area where BPOs can ramp quicker but also already have achieved operational stability and maturity that may take an organization years to achieve in terms of capability and scalability.
Expanding your business into new areas can be profitable and BPOs provide a lower risk and lower cost to expansion than traditionally using a lot of internal people and financial resources. Brandt is able to help our clients adjust their staffing according to their needs — upwards or downwards.
Provide Continuity and Risk Management
One lesson that the pandemic has taught many organizations is to ensure business continuity. BPOs can offer a secondary location or alternate workforce that can back up your primary location and staff. Alternatively, if you prefer to outsource everything, consider having two service providers to ensure that your risk is sufficiently managed.
BPOs themselves have also developed further business continuity and disaster management processes and these can further complement your organization’s ability to remain operational and deliver continuous service to your clients despite business and other uncertainties.
How to Get the Most From Outsourcing
The immediate benefit most people expect with outsourcing is cost. However, in many cases, the cost savings may not be very significant unless you’re going from a high-cost location to a lower-cost location. There are many benefits beyond cost. Outsourcing can help an organization grow faster or pivot around a new strategy for example. Most importantly, work with your outsourcing partner and move the engagement from a tactical setup to a strategic partnership. Avoid limiting the scope purely from a cost perspective of internal against outsourcing. When you move up the maturity model, focus instead on the value and expertise of the BPO service provider and add to your company beyond purely a role, function, or cost-saving. Many BPOs can value-add through their in-depth expertise and experience which can help your organization innovate, grow, and win against the competition.
As you can see above, there are many areas a BPO can support your business. At Brandt, we are able to support our customers from the basic level up to being your strategic partner. We have clients that have continually stayed with us for over 10 years and we are continually able to value-add the business services, consultancy, and business transformation.
Key Takeaways
Outsourcing can be a strategic, and tactical advantage for all organizations today by providing leverage in the following areas:
- Focus on core business execution and strategy
- Reduce operational costs and/or improve efficiencies
- Promote growth and business agility
- Rapid growth and attain operational capabilities and excellence
- Offer staffing flexibility and career growth
- Provide continuity and risk management
Brandt Business Services is a Malaysian-owned and based organization providing end-to-end talent and customer management solutions – from simple recruitment to full outsourced HR services, Customer Experience consulting to a complete CX by Design operation focused on delivering the branded customer experience. Contact us for a quote or to discover how we can grow your business faster! Companies like Shopee, Maxis, Petronas and Shangri-La can’t be wrong.
