5 ways outsourcing companies can help your business grow

Do you know how outsourcing companies can benefit you? Before you decide to outsource work to a third party, it’s important to understand how this will benefit your business. This blog will tell you everything you need to know about outsourcing. Keep reading to find out more!

What are outsourcing companies?

Outsourcing companies are third-party providers that handle work, processes or services for your business. There are different types of outsourcing companies out there, offering a range of different services.

For example, here at Hudson Outsourcing, we help our clients through the tendering process. From sourcing the tenders to producing and submitting the bid on your behalf, we’ll take care of the entire process.

What can outsourcing companies do for you?

Outsourcing companies offer many advantages to your business. To help you decide whether or not outsourcing is right for you, let’s look at some of the benefits:

1. It’s cost-effective

For many businesses, outsourcing is the most cost-effective option, especially for SMEs. To handle your business needs in-house, you might be required to upskill your team. This often leads to high training costs. Not to mention that it takes time away from their core responsibilities.

Another option is to hire new employees to take over the processes for you. For many companies, this seems like the obvious answer. However, the costs associated with hiring new staff are often overlooked. For example, you’ll need to cover the costs of advertising the role, the recruitment process and hiring the new employee(s).

Many businesses, especially start-ups and SMEs, are unable to cover these costs. However, that’s where outsourcing companies can help. With outsourcing, you’ll have access to experts and specialists at a fraction of the cost. This is because you only need to pay for the services you receive. So, you can invest these savings back into your business.

2. Outsourcing increases efficiency

Outsourcing your business needs to an outsourcing company will increase efficiency. This is because outsourcing companies are experts in that specific process and, sometimes, have years of experience in that field.

Take our Bid Writing Team, for example. They know exactly how to appeal to each buyer, changing their processes to suit the different sectors we work with. This is because they’ve had years of experience learning about the tendering process.

If you were to handle your needs in-house, you’d have to spend time learning new skills. This could impact how much time you have to run your business. As a business owner, that’s the last thing you want or need! There’s also a good chance that it will take you longer to perform the task than it would a professional. They do it for a living, after all. Relying on outsourcing companies to take care of your needs will increase efficiency, leaving you to focus on your business.

3. Focus on core areas of your business

Another advantage of working with outsourcing companies is that you can focus on the core areas of your business. Often, the services and processes that businesses outsource are lengthy and time-consuming. As a business owner, you might not have time to spare, especially if the tasks aren’t crucial to your business. If you do focus your attention on these processes, you might be neglecting more value-added tasks.

By using outsourcing companies, you can focus your time and attention on the most important processes.

4. Reduce overhead costs

When you outsource tasks and processes to an outsourcing company, you’ll benefit from reduced overhead costs. This is because outsourcing to a third-party will reduce the office space needed to complete the tasks.

For example, hiring an in-house employee or team would require office space, desks, chairs and equipment. Depending on the size of the team, you might be required to move to a bigger (and more expensive) space.

On the other hand, outsourcing companies will take care of your business needs outside of the office. This will lead to a massive reduction in overhead costs. As a result, you can spend the money you save on other areas of your business.

5. Access to experience, resources and knowledge

Employees at outsourcing companies are experts in their specific field. They’ll be well versed in industry trends, changes and techniques. They will constantly develop their skills to stay ahead of the curve, ensuring they can deliver a high-quality service.

When you rely on an outsourcing company for your business needs, you’ll have access to this experience, knowledge and expertise. You won’t be required to upskill your team or hire new talent. The outsourcing company can take care of it all for you.

What’s involved in the outsourcing process?

Now you know the benefits of working with outsourcing companies. However, do you know what’s involved in the outsourcing process? To work effectively with an outsourcing company, it’s important that you know the stages of outsourcing work.

So, what’s involved in the outsourcing process?

1. Identify a business need

Before you begin to search for outsourcing companies, you need to actually identify a business need. This can be to improve an existing process, reduce costs or create a new product.

2. Is it right for you?

The next stage of the outsourcing process is to decide if it’s right for you. The most effective way to do this is to compare time and cost. How long will it take you to complete a task versus a professional?

For example, if you’re not a bid writing professional, you might not know much about the tendering process. After all, it takes a lot of skill and experience to produce a winning bid.

In comparison, a professional Bid Writer knows how to produce a compelling, persuasive bid in a fraction of the time. Therefore, outsourcing the work will give you more time to focus on other aspects of your business. As we’ve already established, this is a major benefit of working with outsourcing companies!

3. Develop the scope of work

The next stage of the process is important, as it will help determine which outsourcing companies you can work with. You need to develop the scope of the work being outsourced. For example, are you going to outsource a portion of the work, such as proofreading? Or does the work require more in-depth support, such as producing a tender on your behalf?

4. Find outsourcing companies

Now it’s time to find an outsourcing company for your business. This stage of the process is crucial – you need to find the right outsourcing business for you.

To help you make a decision, look through client testimonials and customer reviews. What do other businesses have to say about them? How would they describe their experience with the outsourcing company? Would they use their services again?

It’s also important to look for success rates and consider this in your decision-making process. If a business offers services to clients and customers, they should be able to tell you a success rate. For example, our success rate at Hudson Outsourcing is 87%.

5. Agreements

So, you’ve sifted through outsourcing companies and found the right one for you. Now it’s time to agree on the services, requirements and terms of the contract. At this stage of the contract, you’ll agree on the scope of work, pricing and timeframes.

In some cases, the final contract will include the following documents:

• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
• Master Services Agreement (MSA)
• Service Level Agreement (SLA).

6. Delivery of the work

The final stage of the outsourcing process is for the outsourcing company to deliver the work for your business. It’s important that you continue to monitor their progress, especially at the beginning. That way, you can ensure that the outsourcing business is meeting your requirements. If they’re not, this gives you an opportunity to intervene and make changes, as and when required.

At the end of the day, outsourcing companies are there to support your business. Whether you need to improve an existing process, reduce costs or create a new product or service.

In summary

Now you know how outsourcing companies can help your business grow. Outsourcing your business needs to a third-party provider is often the most cost-effective option. You’ll receive professional, specialist services at a fraction of the cost. It also increases efficiency and gives you time to focus on your core business processes. Finally, you’ll have access to experience, resources and knowledge that might not be available to your business otherwise.

Once you’ve identified how outsourcing companies will benefit you, it’s time to learn about the outsourcing process. It’s important that you identify a business need, decide if it’s right for you and develop the scope of work. Then you can move onto the next stage – searching for potential outsourcing businesses. Once you’ve chosen an outsourcing business that suits your needs, it’s time for agreements and contract signing. Then finally, the most important part of the outsourcing process – the delivery of the work!

Need help searching for tenders?

You may be wondering where you can find public sector contracts for your business. There’s no shortage of websites offering multi-sector tendering opportunities and leads. Ideally, you should be searching for a sector-specific site that posts all unique, public and private sector opportunities.

At Hudson Discover, we house 11 sector-specific tendering portals.  One centralised and easy-to-navigate portal can help you save time, streamlining the process.

These consist of:

• Creative Tenders
• Healthcare Tenders
• Facilities Tenders
• Construction Tenders
• Technology Tenders
• Logistics Tenders
• Research Tenders
• Consultancy Tenders
• HR Tenders
• Finance Tenders
• Hospitality Tenders

Once signed up, you’ll have access to your own dedicated Account Manager. They’ll be able to answer any questions you may have about public sector contracts. You’ll also get an email alert when new and relevant tenders are uploaded to your sector.

A subscription to one of our industry-specific portals will include:

• Unlimited portal access. You can browse your industry’s portal to your heart’s content. See the hundreds of opportunities that are available, intuitively categorised and easily accessible.
• A daily email bulletin. When you sign up to a portal, you can choose the specific areas in which you’d like to tender. Then, a daily bulletin is created for you. It includes all the relevant opportunities that have been posted to the portal that day, straight to your inbox.
• A dedicated Account Manager. They’ll handle any questions or queries you may have about the portal.
• A free 20-minutes phone consultation with a Bid Writer. Our expert bid consultants will chat with you for 20-minutes about anything tender related.

What opportunities can I expect from a tender search on one of the above portals?

We host all kinds of tenders in both the public and private sectors. These are inclusive of, but aren’t limited to:

• Open tenders
• Restricted procedure tenders
• Competitive dialogues
• Negotiated tendering procedures
• Innovation partnerships
• Single supplier contracts
• Framework agreements
• Dynamic Purchasing Systems

Now you know how to accurately perform a tender search, you may be wondering how to write a bid. Well, luckily for you, our sister company, Hudson Succeed, are experts in bid writing.

They have over 60 years of bid writing experience and an 87% success rate. Whether you’re completely new to tendering or aren’t seeing results – they can help. There are four bid writing packages available:

• Tender Writing

Once you’ve found a tender you’d like to go for, send it over to us. One of our Bid Writers will write the tender response for you. They’ll provide a full Tender Writing breakdown and even submit it on your behalf.

• Tender Mentor

Tender Mentor can give your tender response a once over before you submit. The Bid Writing Team will analyse your response, notifying you of any errors prior to submission.

• Tender Ready

A 4-week programme for those who have never tendered before. The programme will develop your branded corporate literature and case studies. Our team will advise you on what tendering opportunities you should go for and guide you through your tendering response.

• Tender Improvement

The Tender Improvement package can help those who have tendered before but aren’t seeing results. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous responses and work with you to develop improved content.

Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow.