Outsourcing, Benefits, SME

SME's overlook outsourcing benefits

For many people, the word "outsourcing" typically conjures up a series of mostly negative images: Giant multinationals eliminating decades-old in-house jobs and replacing them with short-term temp agency contracts or even shipping them overseas.

All too often, however, the positive effects of outsourcing information technology (IT) and human resources (HR) administration are overlooked, argues an iconoclastic marketing professor at the Schulich School of Business at Toronto's York University. Moreover, he notes, small and medium-sized firms are getting into the act of hiring professionals to manage mundane tasks.

"Perhaps the biggest benefit outsourcing provides small and medium-sized companies is giving them the gift of time," says Ajay Sirsi, who has also written the textbook Marketing Led, Sales Driven.

"Entrepreneurs need to recognize that they simply do not have time to do the myriad tasks of running the business (such as payroll and taxes) and thinking about their customers and growth strategies."

Sirsi believes that nearly 70 per cent of new businesses fail within the first five years for two main reasons: The owners lack a solid business plan or their attention is divided among so many tasks that they suffer from "attention diffusion."

By Eli Schuster, Business Edge
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