A startup is a developing commercial project based on an idea that has great growth potential. For the development and integration of this idea or product to the market are needed financing and new technologies. Launching a startup always requires serious investments in technology and infrastructure, office, employees, and many other things that form the core of a business.
At the initial stage, entrepreneurs and their small team tend to take on many roles and functions that are not profile for them, so as not to hire a large staff and reduce costs. This leads to unmanageable workflows, mistakes, a decrease in the quality of work, and a lack of concentration on the main points of growth: generating ideas and scaling the business.
More than 80% of startups go out of business in less than one year because entrepreneurs incorrectly build business process management.
To properly scale and maintain the upward trajectory, the founders of a startup need to make decisions about which functions and processes they can outsource. Outsourcing non-core activities will not only save money but also build the right business processes, distribute the load and focus on the development of your product.
So, what areas can startups outsource?
Human resources and recruitment
Competent recruitment and management of a growing team are very important for the proper scaling of a startup. Many entrepreneurs prefer to take these functions on themselves and hire in-house employees, spending a lot of time on this and distracting themselves from the main business processes. In addition, they will have to delve into the subtleties of legislation, drawing up contracts, issuing insurance, spending time on interviews, testing, and much more.
Outsourcing of human resources will help free up time for the main processes in the company, competently scale and manage a growing team.
There are several outsourcing solutions for all the needs of a startup in human resources, these can be business applications, one specific employee or a recruitment agency that can take over the recruitment, employee file administration and management, compensation and benefits, and other clerical work.
Customer service and support
Effective communication with the customer is one of the main processes in the development and scaling of a startup. Modern platforms of customer support services will help to cover all communication channels (voice calls, emails, messengers, social media channels, etc.) and competently build communication with clients and deliver the value of the product. Outsourcing customer service will help avoid hiring a large customer service team for a startup, reduce costs and provide a first-class customer experience.
Technologies
Often entrepreneurs have a great idea, but there is no technical expertise to implement it.
The cost of full-time IT personnel greatly increases the total costs for a startup, thereby reducing the possibility of making a profit, so more and more entrepreneurs are inclined to IT-outsource.
One of the most popular processes is outsourcing data because it is cheaper than buying and maintaining your own soft- and hardware and data storage facilities. Such companies can also take on a variety of other IT processes from maintenance to hiring experienced engineers to create a prototype product.
The most common IT outsourcing services: web development, hosting, software and application development, website/application maintenance or management, technical support, database development and management, telecommunication, and infrastructure.
IT outsourcing will reduce costs, get access to the global talent pool, significantly reduce the cost of time resources so that the company can scale competently without interrupting the workflow.
Bookkeeping services
As a rule, at the initial stage, startups do not need their own financial department. In addition, maintaining accounting itself is a complex process that requires special knowledge and time, and the lack of expert experience can lead to irreversible mistakes. Therefore, the accounting functions can be transferred to a third party. For a startup, the transfer of such functions is cost-effective and will help to be flexible and easily scale the number of functions according to the company’s development. Also, accounting outsourcing will allow you to spend every precious minute of your time on product development, and not be distracted by such operational processes as wages, taxes, insurance, and tracking bank accounts.
Digital marketing
Many entrepreneurs underestimate marketing in the early stages of product launch. They also do not have enough experience and risk merging the budget for targeted advertising on Facebook or Google.
Competent brand building and delivery of its value to the client includes a lot of serious work on creating content in the digital environment: web design and development, social media marketing, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and content moderation.
By outsourcing these processes to expert marketing agencies that specialize in working with startups, entrepreneurs will save a lot of time and increase the return on investment.
It is also important to find a marketing agency that meets your specific needs, whether it is launching a product to market, a brand creation campaign, reputation management, or exploring new marketing channels.
According to experts, outsourcing can save up to 60% of your costs, allow you to allocate resources more efficiently, and also give you a competitive advantage over larger market players.
Thus, outsourcing of non-core business processes will minimize critical errors, reduce order lead time, scale down lack of experience, reduce unmanageable workload, lessen the main costs of starting a business for equipment and technologies, administrative, sales, and marketing costs.
To understand which processes in the company to outsource, first of all, you need to clearly describe the various current business processes of your startup and analyze the experience of your key employees.
Then, prioritize the various areas and functions of your business that can be optimized. Focus on the goals and main activities that are important for your business. And find an outsourcing company that is relevant to your requirements.
Following the words of Peter Drucker “Do what you do best, and outsource the rest”.
