Why Outsourcing Your Accounting is Important Especially Now
As companies head back to work, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis continues to expose vulnerabilities in supply chains and normal business operations. In early April, almost 15% of business owners reported significant business disruptions; as the month clicked off, more and more business owners began seeing massive issues.
To combat situations like this, business owners begin to look for ways to survive and thrive. One solution is to outsource critical back-office business functions.
Why is outsourcing important?
Reduces Congestion
This crisis has a large number of businesses struggling with day-to-day operations due to the inability to obtain supplies, delivering products, and even staying open during stay-at-home orders in many states. Normal business operations have been disrupted, especially those with external parties.
With all this disruption, the worst thing a small business can do is to continue to oversee everything. Limited resources make it even more critical to utilize essential people and resources wisely and outsource any functions that can be done by someone who specializes in those set tasks.
Outsourcing business functions like accounting, IT, or customer service can reduce limitations and eliminate congestion during a crisis, giving the business owner the ability to focus on the core business functions.
Retaining suppliers and clients is more important than ever, and requires a company to maintain efficient communication and support. Getting stuck with an endless cycle of issues will keep you from working with your vendors.
Freeing yourself from accounting issues allows you to focus on other essential elements of your business, like developing your online presence or other business opportunities. If you do plan on building an online presence, you might want to outsource the technical part, such as creating an eCommerce site. With so many dedicated professionals available, you are sure to receive a quality product.
While you may have an "IT guy," think about the amount of time they spend resolve IT issues for the team that keeps them from working on their core tasks. Your business can't grow during these times if you're hitting a pause button on critical business operations.
Your main objective is to grow your business, so you need to prioritize your activities to help scale your business while outsourcing other functions.
Creates Flexibility
The real success of a firm is demonstrated by its function speed, which is another reason outsourcing is so important. However, speed doesn't matter when the company isn't flexible. For example, no matter how new a specific software might be if it's not flexible enough to allow integrations, it is of little value.
It's no secret how deeply supply chains have been affected due to the recent crisis, and if you rely on materials from another affected country, your product is on hold. To keep things moving, you need to explore other supplier options. You may consider outsourcing this task to another company, which has multiple contacts that can continue the flow of supplies into your company. The last thing you want is to keep your company in a bottleneck when you can fix the problem by finding additional outlets.
If you're worried about how a new company is going to function, test them. Most companies will offer some trial period for you to get better acquainted with their service. These test periods allow you to see how flexible this company will be before making large-scale investments.
Cost Savings
The goal of every business is to turn a profit. No business wants to lose money due to a crisis, which is why more companies are looking to outsource essential business functions.
For example, when you outsource your accounting operations, you can save up to 40% of the average employee's costs (including benefits, training, and equipment). And the price of highering a new employee can be almost triple their annual salary. So, by outsourcing, you are saving money.
Remember, the less it cost you to run your accounting operations, the more funds you can reinvest into the business.
Technology and Resources
Choosing what software is best for your company can be challenging. There are numerous options, and to the untrained eye, they all look the same.
Few companies can afford to risk money by experimenting with the unknown. Outsourcing allows you access to the most sophisticated and proven software used by industry professionals. This prevents you from wasting your time and money trailing packages that don't offer the coverage you need.
Outsourcing allows you to leverage both home and specialized resources without spending a fortune on time and training. Keeping your team focused on the end goal of selling your product.
Growth and Scalability
The current crisis may have caused you to outsource to survive, but this may have been the opportunity your business was looking for to grow.
The technologies and people employed by a reliable outsource company may help your company turn a profit like never before. In the past, you weren't able to grow because you were not able to focus on core tasks, as customer service and HR took priority. However, outsourcing your operations can give your business a shot in the arm to help it scale faster than ever before. Outsourcing improves efficiency and productivity while lowering costs both during normal and unforeseen circumstances.
The Wrap Up
While the world around us is changing due, outsourcing business operations is the one thing a business can do to help stay on track during uncertain times. There are numerous benefits of outsourcing today as a qualified outsourced accounting team offers cost savings, quality of information, and a safeguard for your business. These benefits can help you concentrate on activities that are more suited for your skillset while protecting everything you've worked so hard to build.
If you're interested in learning about your outsourcing options, reach out to the Basis team for a free consultation. We'll discuss your business and your needs to help you determine if outsourcing is your best option.