There is a lot going on for a lot of businesses right now. Whether your focus as a business is taking advantage of downtime to topple items on the long list of backlogged projects or strictly survival, there may be a strategy that can assist you. Outsourcing isn’t a new concept, but the effectiveness of outsourcing may have become far more potent than you realize considering recent economic and social circumstances.
First, I want to tell you the short version of why I’m qualified to make this observation.
A company like ours has specialized for years in working remotely for different businesses on a project basis, on a “retainer” (i.e. a pre-purchased block of hours to be used on general IT services and projects at the client’s discretion), or even as needed at an hourly rate. We have worked for businesses locally in Utah, but also work on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis with clients all over the country. We specialize in what I will simply call Flexible IT Services (or FITS). We are REALLY good at making data work for you through custom data solutions, reporting, ERP system customization, custom programming, and much, MUCH more. Where the FITS comes in is that we will rarely say no if someone asks if we can figure it out. Even if we have never done it before, we will surely find the solution.
Back to outsourcing and why it might be the answer to your steadily rising level of problems. It is no mystery that COVID-19 has turned business on its head for many businesses out there. From the inability to continue paying all your employees at the same level pre-COVID to being forced to let some employees go, an overturn in personnel is happening left and right. The number of employees may be on the fall, but the workload likely remains the same.
For example, a situation we have seen at a handful of businesses is an employee leaves the company and that employee’s workload is divided among remaining employees. These remaining employees may be able to take on this extra work momentarily, but there is a learning curve for their new tasks that accompanies stress, change, and fear. As I see it (albeit simplified for this generic situation), you have three options:
- Hire a new full-time employee to fill the recently vacated position (a solid option, but considering worldwide circumstances right now, might not be realistic)
- Leave the spot open and keep the workload divided between remaining employees (also a solid option, but you may be venturing into overwhelm territory with these employees who might ask for higher compensation to go with the added responsibilities)
- Outsource the workload to a highly talented FITS consulting firm who can automate tasks, fill workload gaps where other employees may not be comfortable taking over, and be available to fight fires where they pop up
In my mind (and yes, I realize I might be a little biased), option 3 is by far the safest option in the current economic environment. Outsourcing to a FITS consulting firm provides a few benefits that you may not have considered:
- You only pay when you need work done. Salaries aren’t an issue, there is no major financial commitment to a new employee.
- We specialize in solving problems. Remember those weird errors that everyone has learned to live with over the years? Let’s get rid of those and also create elegant solutions to ease errors, human or computer caused.
- Relieving current staff of menial tasks through automation. With a little bit of time setting up automation, your current employees can now be relieved of boring/repetitive tasks. This frees up their time to work on more important things and give their time a bigger value to everyone.
If your business is dealing with any kind of productivity slump due to employee turnover, don’t let that continue. Get on top of it and utilize specialists to keep you moving. Now isn’t the time to let economic oddities slow you down. Now is the time to take advantage of the circumstances to rise above and become even more effective than you were before. We would love to help you through this. All it takes is a quick meeting to see what we could do for your business.