Outsourcing has become an increasingly common business practice and a gamechanger for small businesses. It’s a cost-effective way to leverage expertise that a small business might not have in-house. Whether it’s administrative functions or highly specialized skills, outsourcing can increase efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance productivity. Knowing what to outsource can help businesses prioritize operations and focus on core functions that help drive the growth of the company.
Customer Support
Customer Support refers to a range of services that assists customers who have queries or concerns regarding a product. Companies often outsource customer service support to help reduce costs or for faster deployment. Outsourcing can also help deal with an expected influx of customer calls, such as seasonal demand or after the release of a new product. Some examples of customer support functions you can outsource include:
- Customer Service Support – This involves responding to and providing solutions to customers through a variety of communication channels.
- Reception – A receptionist assists in answering calls, taking messages, and transferring calls internally.
- Digital Fulfillment – A digital fulfillment specialist streamlines order processing to manage and send assets digitally.
- Reservations – Reservation agents can manage all tasks related to holiday rentals and reservations for your business.
- Product Listing – Businesses may choose to outsource E-commerce product listings to ensure error-free and optimized listings.
- Dispatching – Dispatch services include answering customer calls, logging their requests, and dispatching technicians.
Data Management
Data Management involves the inputting, storing, organizing, and maintenance of data. It’s a vital but time-consuming aspect of business operations. Businesses opt to outsource data entry to increase efficiency and improve data accuracy. By leveraging the expertise of an outsourced data management team, companies can focus on core functions and improve operational efficiency.
- Data Entry – This involves inputting data into a system or database e.g. transcribing information, processing data, and word processing.
- Order Processing – When you outsource order processing, you entrust the handling of your customer’s orders to a third-party service provider.
- Invoicing – An outsourced team will create your invoices, send them out, and monitor whether outstanding invoices are paid.
- Data Analytics – Outsourcing data analytics will provide you with error-free and actionable insights from the data you entrust with them.
- Transcription – A skilled transcriptionist can ensure accurate documentation and conversion of audio recordings.
Medical Support
Healthcare-related functions like medical billing and credential verification require heightened accuracy and efficiency. Medical support outsourcing allows healthcare organizations to maintain client satisfaction without spreading their in-house team too thin. Medical practices commonly outsource medical billing to ensure that the billing process remains timely, accurate, profitable, and up to date. If you decide to outsource medical billing and coding, you may also consider outsourcing these functions:
- Credentialing Services – This refers to the verification and assessment of a medical professional’s credentials and qualifications.
- Denial Management – This involves the careful analysis and resolution of any issues related to denied healthcare and insurance claims.
- Revenue Cycle Management – An outsourcing team can help manage all or part of the revenue cycle, freeing up healthcare organizations to focus on core competencies.
- Eligibility Verification – This refers to the process of confirming information such as insurance coverage details to prevent billing issues and enhance patient care.
- Patient Services – An outsourced patient services team can help professionally and compassionately address patient inquiries and concerns.
Technical Support
Technical Support refers to services related to resolving technical issues. The primary function of a technical support team is to advise and assist users with their product. With the fast-paced development of the tech industry, there is a growing requirement for a dedicated help desk or tech support team. Outsourcing helps businesses stay ahead of the curve while providing professional expertise for their customers.
- Troubleshooting – This involves the searching for and resolution of technical issues.
- Help Desk Support – This refers to assistance provided by an external team in debugging difficulties and providing solutions to tech issues.
- Software Development – Businesses may also entrust their custom software solutions to an outsourcing provider to improve efficiency, mitigate risks, and enhance security.
- End User Support – An outsourced team can provide comprehensive assistance to end users of your product.
- Network Management – Your outsourcing partner will provide you with a team to handle some or all network management tasks for a business.
In Conclusion
Outsourcing for small businesses is a beneficial business practice, and a strategic way to leverage external expertise for business growth. On top of the cost savings, small businesses can benefit from the global talent pool that outsourcing provides. Businesses can outsource functions that they currently do not have the bandwidth for without compromising quality and customer satisfaction.
At FGC+, we handle the daily responsibilities of staffing and people management so that you can focus on what you do best. Learn more about our end-to-end outsourcing solutions at www.fgcplus.com.