Hiring a virtual staff cuts up to 70% of costs and gives you better profit margins through a varied talent pool, but outsourcing can bring more than just profit and reduced costs. Don’t lose out. Find out.

Many startups are focused on making the leap from ‘starting’ to ‘sustained growth. It’s natural. And to make this leap, small to medium business owners develop strategies involving SEO and customer engagement.

That’s where your virtual offshore staff comes in, accomplishing tasks that make these strategies effective, transforming engagement into sales, and sales into more engagement and sales.

One big benefit of having a team of skilled virtual assistants is that you don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. Your virtual staff takes care of the day-to-day so you’re not swimming (and sinking) in it. Instead of surviving on a daily or monthly basis, you create goals, long-term goals.

As you master the basics of outsourcing and what it can do for your business, these goals come up. Sustained growth becomes sustained value.

And outsourcing is right there, also an invaluable source of insight and innovation.

What tasks do companies outsource?

99% of companies from Fortune 500 outsource while small businesses are slowly increasing the numbers from 37%. More than cost-cutting, more and more businesses recognize the advantages of outsourcing in business growth.

The responsibilities they outsource vary from core to engine room tasks to extending their in-house teams.

The responsibilities they outsource vary from core to engine room tasks to extending their in-house teams.

• 72% of global outsourcing are IT services.
• 60% of businesses outsource finance and accounting.
• 60% of organizations outsource for application development.
• 25% of marketing professionals outsource content marketing.
• 70% of British B2B companies outsource core operations.
• 15% of small organizations with less than 2,500 employees fully outsource payroll services.

Specialized tasks like SEO, digital advertising, graphics design, and web development are also common tasks outsourced to service providers.

What else can outsourcing do for your business aside from cutting costs?

1. Outsourcing brings you global talent

This is an old value of outsourcing. Even long ago, silks and silk weaves were outsourced to other countries that knew their silks and silk weaving. In this age of the digital marketplace, the same thing applies.

An entrepreneur from Alabama can outsource graphic design to the Philippines, as good as or better than what could be sourced domestically.

Depending on your niche, you might have a shortage of interested or skilled workers who could expand on your products or services. Outsource it.

2. Outsourcing accesses ‘local’ market opportunities and innovation

If your business is in a slump, having an ‘in’ somewhere else could give you fresh ideas AND the first foot in the door for that idea. What’s promising or already booming in Asia might still be completely unknown in Europe. Like how Alibaba secured an international audience by outsourcing.

WhatsApp, Microsoft, and Amazon owe their success to service providers. Outsourcing is a business strategy. Grab it, outsource it, package it, and sell it. Be the pioneer. Beat your competitors.

3. Outsourcing builds partnerships, autonomous but supportive

Speaking of pioneering, outsourcing has disrupted traditional ‘standard’ business practices since the 2000s began. India and the Philippines are hubs of outsourced but independent ‘departments’ of bigger companies.

Acer and General Electric outsourced their manufacturing and R&D, to great results. Hasbro’s partnerships worldwide protected them from the lead paint crisis some years ago.

Research and development, manufacturing, customer support– you don’t have to own a huge incorporation to harness the benefits of outsourcing these. A virtual staff can accomplish a good chunk of that. You develop and nurture a team invested in your company as if you hired them in-house.

4. Outsourcing optimizes the overall brand experience

Increase efficiency in every part of your business. Humanize your social media accounts, optimize your website, and make sure that your customers only experience the best of your brand. Because happy customers spend more.

Google outsources to third-party partners for seamless operations. They partner with service providers for crucial IT functions, Google Ads management, customer support, and administrative services.

5. Outsourcing accelerates business growth

When your business wants to try something new, there’s the risk of maintaining quality. Get the tasks done by outsourcing to experienced specialists who know every valuable method to speed up operations on high standards.

You can outsource crucial functions. Slack outsourced everything from the ground up. And they succeeded, leveraging outsourcing for rapid growth within five years.

Freelancers love having a hand in the success of their clients’ businesses. Outsource with an eye toward sustained value, not just sustained growth.

Don’t rush into it. But once you’ve organized and rationalized your plan and processes, you’re ready to outsource, and the rewards will be great3