In the high inflationary world that we live in today, business owners are more driven than ever. They are searching for ways to reduce costs, without losing quality. Often the view is that recruiting permanent salaried staff to deliver change and develop new processes or solutions will result in a lower monthly cost as well as greater control. However, there is a value and productivity angle to this.  By partnering with outsourced consultancy services, especially where specialist capability is required, one can achieve greater productivity. You’ll also save money without sacrificing quality. You effectively get expert knowledge without having to employ several people or setting up your own internal departments with all the overheads that entails.

Outsourcing consultancy services is suitable for small businesses without the resource, knowledge, or expertise internally. Or, can be brought into larger firms that want to improve results.

We caught up with Suzi Olsen our marketing consultant and owner of marketing agency, Capella Synergy, who provides outsourced marketing services and specialist marketing consultancy in order to get her insight into the reasons why your business should consider outsourcing consultancy services:

1. You can utilise specialist knowledge

Partnering with outsourced consultancy services can free up time and resources, which will have a positive effect on your business. When you work on projects you are experienced in, you are more alert to the risks associated with the tasks at hand. This means you understand how to handle them and can take the necessary actions to avoid them. By outsourcing specialist projects to people who have the right skill set and level of expertise, you can more easily plan and mitigate these risks.

This all leads to improved growth and efficiency in all operations.

2. It helps to effectively manage staff costs

Creating a specific department and hiring the right personnel can be time consuming and expensive. Money spent on recruiting and then finding the right candidates, with the skillset required takes time. Not only that, but you’ll have to stay competitive on rising salaries to attract the right talent and also keep your best employees from moving jobs or going to competitors. This is especially true with inflation currently so high here in the UK. The cost of living is continuing to rise, especially with the cost of petrol and household energy bills at an all time high and set to increase further.

With this in-mind, recruitment is likely to be an ongoing cost and concern. But, by outsourcing you will avoid these costs. You’ll pay a fixed rate for your business consultancy needs, that on a monthly cost may be higher than the salary but you’ll avoid the recruitment and retention costs. You can secure service levels and availability by the way you define the provision of the services.

3. Helps fill resource gaps

Following the Covid lockdown, there has been a notable reduction in the available experienced workforce. People have been taking themselves out of industry, adding to the shortage of skills. An existing in-house team runs the risk of having an expertise gap if someone leaves the business or you require a different focus. The good news is by supplementing an existing team through outsourcing you will have a team of experts on hand, who are fully capable of delivering, while keeping up to date with all the latest industry changes and technology. These skilled resources can also pass on skills and knowledge to your existing team, further developing you capability, especially if you need access to professional skills such as project management, or change management not found in your company.

4. Provides competitive advantage

Whichever sector you operate in, it’s likely to be a competitive market. You’ll need to do everything you can to stand out versus your competitors. By outsourcing you access expertise, skills and knowledge that isn’t already in the business to deliver change and specialisms that strengthen your organisation but are not core to business activity. Doing so, also enables you to fully focus on your core business activities. Which is where build inhouse capacity and capability creates competitive advantage and is key to sustainable and long-term success.

For example, you may wish to improve the customer experience – that’s where outsourced consultancy services come in. There may be lots of ideas of what to do. But, which ones will work? What should the end-to-end process look like? What data is key to ensuring the desired customer experience is achieved? How can faults in the process be detected and corrected before there is a significant impact on you customers? These are the answers that experienced consultants can provide faster and with greater certainty. And, while doing so, you can focus on the day-to-day activity and ensuring current operations do not lag because of the improvement work.

5. Gives a new perspective

Another important benefit of outsourcing is that it allows you to gain a new, fresh perspective on your business. Sometimes, you need an outside perspective to drive your business forward. An outsourced consultancy could help you develop areas of your business that you’ve overlooked in the past. Or, currently do not have the time or resource to fulfil internally.

Outsourcing Consultancy Services – Stage of the Outsourcing Process

Here’s a quick overview of the outsourcing process. But, this may differ depending on the type of business and industry you operate in:

• Identify business need – what is the problem to be solved?
• Decide if outsourcing is right for your business – do you have the bandwidth and skill inhouse and if not do you need this for the long-term?
• Develop the scope of work – what requirements do you have and what does ‘good’ look like?
• Find an outsourcing business that can work as a partner
• Negotiate services, agree service, deliverables and process
• Sign contracts
• Onboard and delivery of work with ongoing evaluation to ensure the services are meeting your business need

Summary

Businesses often think about outsourcing purely in terms of saving money on high volume repetitive activity. But, it can do more than lower your costs. Utilising outsourced specialists and consultancy services can help you focus your inhouse resource and capacity on your core business activity and as you grow it can promote innovation, help you access knowledgeable experts with new skill sets and deliver what you need faster. You shouldn’t limit yourself to just looking at the cost of hiring. Instead focus on the value and expertise they can add to your business. Partnering with the right outsourced specialists can provide you with the opportunity to innovate, grow, and become an industry leading business.

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