It’s possible to do it all yourself when your business is small and it’s just getting off the ground. As it grows, it becomes impossible.

Hiring employees to manage certain aspects of your business is one option, but it can be costly. When it comes to some tasks, it may be better to outsource them instead if you want to save time and resources.

Data Center Operations

Building and operating your own data center gives you complete control over your data, but it is costly. 

You also have to deal with the possibility of downtime when your systems become unoperational or they’re being maintained, costing you even more money.

Colocation enables you to outsource your data center to a third party. Someone else takes on the responsibility of maintaining the center for a low monthly fee. Colocation services offer 100% uptime and offer better resilience, less latency, and enhanced security compared to the monumental task of trying to maintain it all in-house.

Tech and IT Tasks

Unless you’re a tech or IT business, chances are, it isn’t your strong suit. Instead of dealing with the headache and the hassle of doing it yourself, consider outsourcing it to a professional.

IT and tech-related tasks you can outsource include:

  • Software development and maintenance
  • Web hosting and support
  • IT infrastructure development and maintenance
  • Security
  • Database development and management
  • Networking and communications
  • Technical support

Tech and IT tasks are great to outsource because the industry changes fast. Hiring a full-time employee means it’s your responsibility to make sure they’re up-to-date on all the latest changes in the industry. That’s not something you have to do when you outsource your IT. They are responsible for keeping up with everything that’s changing in the industry without you having to pay for any additional training.

Manufacturing

If your business involves manufacturing items, don’t automatically assume it means you have to have your own warehouse and machinery. You can have a third party manufacture your items for you.

Outsourcing manufacturing comes with benefits like:

  • Reduced labor costs
  • No overhead costs
  • The flexibility to ramp up (or down) production
  • Ability to focus more of your time on other things, like marketing

Don’t automatically assume you have to work with an offshore manufacturer, either. Although working with a manufacturer in another country can potentially save you more money, working with a manufacturer closer to home can provide you with peace of mind. It can provide your customers with peace of mind too.

Shipping and Logistics

You might want to consider outsourcing shipping and logistics if you’re also outsourcing the manufacture of your products, but you might want to consider outsourcing shipping and logistics even if you aren’t.

Ordering items that you’re selling and storing them in a warehouse takes a lot of time, especially when it comes to maintaining your inventory.

You have to store it all, which means you have to have a large space too. The larger the space, the more it costs to maintain it, which can really eat away at your bottom line.

You might want to consider drop-shipping as an option. Instead of fulfilling the orders yourself as they come in, you send those orders to another company that fulfils the orders for you.

Bookkeeping and Payroll

Bookkeeping and payroll can be hard tasks to outsource, especially if it’s something you have done for your company in the past. But as your company gets larger and there are more numbers involved, it’s a good idea to consider outsourcing your bookkeeping and payroll tasks.

A bookkeeper can help you with:

  • Payroll processing
  • Accounts receivable and payable
  • Calculating, preparing, and filing taxes
  • Drafting and submitting financial statements
  • Income and expense tracking
  • Ledger balancing

The nice thing about outsourcing these tasks instead of hiring an employee to do it full-time is the fact that you only have to pay for the tasks you need help with. It provides you with the flexibility to do some tasks in-house and outsource other tasks, with the ability to add or remove tasks in the future without having to compensate a full-time employee.

It can be extremely difficult to let go of tasks as a business owner. That’s especially true if you’re used to doing all of those tasks yourself.

But there comes a point in your business when you can no longer grow and evolve by doing it all yourself. Outsourcing some of the tasks on this list will help you save time and money, which are both essential to achieving success.