HAPI Guide Summer 2017 | Page 22

ABUNDANCE HEALTH BIZ TIPS When It Makes Sense to Outsource, and How to Do It Wisely By MJ Schwader , Amit Rai, Amit Sharma and Miriam Knight from PlatformCrafters.com Amit S: Well, there are three common reasons for outsourcing. The most important reason is cost. Especially for small or start-up businesses, there are limited resources and in most cases are just a few individuals who are working on multiple com- ponents of a business. To run a business success- fully and increase revenue, many critical compo- nents have to be handled simultaneously. It could be handling finances, it could be marketing, Hu- man Resources, or payroll. It might even be manu- facturing or R&D in some cases. Miriam: Let’s start with the question of what is outsourcing - Amit? Amit S: Basically, outsourcing is any service or product that you need to look outside your com- pany to supply. It may be outsourcing of a techni- cal task like web development or graphic design, it may be a function like accounting, or it may be a service like public relations. So anything we can’t or don’t want to do in-house and are able to find an outside supplier for can qualify as outsourcing. Miriam: And why is it useful for people to do that? What are the main reasons? 22 | HAPI Guide Particularly in a start-up, business owners should try to keep most of their time focused on their core competence. This is what will drive the success of their business. Other components, which may be less important but still necessary for the business to function properly, can be outsourced. This frees the owner to focus on strategy and his or her areas of expertise, and is more likely to deliver better re- sults. Outsourcing can help save costs as well. Let’s say some new software or technology a business uses is released six months down the line. If this function is outsourced, the company won’t have to spend