Business Practices You Might Want To Bring In-House

Nowadays, running a business isn’t exactly an easy task. You have so much to take into account. You need to identify a gap in the market and cater to it. You need to research your target demographic to make sure your pricing, branding and advertising are heading in the right direction. You need to design an engaging website that is appealing and functional – easily navigable for your users to prevent them from closing the tab and to guide them towards making a purchase.

Of course, it would be nigh on impossible for one person to specialise in all of these areas at once – alongside the many other skill sets that need to be drawn in to run a company effectively. Even if it was, you wouldn’t have sufficient time to get all of the work done to a high standard.

So, you’re going to have to call in help at some point or another. Now, many small businesses start off outsourcing. But as your business expands and grows, you may find that you significantly benefit from bringing things in house.

Here’s a quick run down on the topic, followed by some areas you might really want to consider bringing in-house!

Stepping Back from Outsourcing

Of course, if we’re going to look into stepping back from outsourcing, it’s important to completely understand what outsourcing actually is. Put simply, outsourcing is a commonly employed business practice in which your company actively distributes parts of your work to an independent third party.

This third party will usually be a self-employed freelancer, an agency or a contractor. There are, of course, benefits that come hand in hand with this. When you outsource, you (first and foremost) lift a huge weight and workload from your own shoulders.

The people you choose to carry out your outsourced work will already be highly qualified and experienced in the field that you are assigning to them without you having to provide them with any training. They are also likely to already have the specialist equipment or software required to complete the task themselves, removing your need to purchase it for them to complete the work.

Finally, you are freed from the responsibility of becoming an employer. You don’t have to provide benefits such as sick pay, annual leave, parental leave or anything else. However, as your brand grows, you should consider bringing more of your processes in-house. At the end of the day, the individuals you’re outsourcing to are making a significant profit. This is their income. By bringing things in-house, you can significantly reduce costs in the long run.

Areas to Consider Bringing In-House

So, now you know why you might want to bring things in-house, it’s time to focus on some areas that you can do this with. Here are some of the most common!

Manufacturing

Outsourcing manufacturing is purely logical when you first start out.

New companies rarely have sufficient funds to start setting up factories or production plants of their own. But as you start to grow, you may have money available to invest in some of the manufacturing equipment and machinery, such as compressor valves, that goes into producing the products you make.

You will also have more capacity to take on and train staff in how to use this equipment and machinery.

Receptionist Duties

Many startups outsource reception duties to companies who will take messages and arrange appointments on your behalf. Others will have occasional agency staff come in to fill the position. But it is much better to have your own receptionist or personal assistant to complete these tasks. They’ll become more familiar with you, the business and what needs to be done to keep everything ticking over smoothly.

Market Research

Sure, market research companies can prove effective for one off projects. But using them on an ongoing basis can prove to be extremely costly. Instead, why not create an in-house insights, market research or other similar team. This will allow you to carry out ongoing research and collate ongoing data without the extortionate costs.

These are just a few different areas that you might want to consider bringing in-house for the benefit of your company. You can save. You can develop a loyal, hard working and dedicated team of employees.

You can see your company grow and your profit margins rise! So, why not get started today? Of course, it’ll be a relatively lengthy process before all new staff are in place. But in the long term, it’s more than worth it!

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