Outsourcing Examples to Inspire Your Business

What is Outsourcing?

Did you know that outsourcing helps companies and businesses reduce costs by about an average of 15%? 

Outsourcing is a huge opportunity for businesses to tap into, especially if you’re looking to cut down costs and boost your earnings. 

But what is outsourcing, exactly?

Whether you’re an e-commerce business, a software development firm, or even a small business, outsourcing is a strategy available to you and a great way to lower costs and refocus your full-time employees’ efforts onto your core business activities. 

Business process outsourcing (BPO) can provide many benefits, including: 

• Lower costs in overhead, staff, and technology
• Increased staffing efficiency
• Greater access to experts in the field 
• Faster completion times and improved project management
• Ability to focus on your business’s core competencies 
• Improved capacity and functionality to take on more work and grow your business 

What Type of Work Can Be Outsourced?

No matter the industry or size of your business, you can outsource various functions of your business. Even small startup companies have leaned into outsourcing as a solution to improve their business model.

The types of outsourcing services vary. Here are some of the most popular ones to inspire your outsourcing journey: 

• IT solutions: IT outsourcing is one of the most popular niches in outsourcing. Whether you’re looking to hire a development team to build an app, expand your business’s IT systems, or even just run your business more efficiently, the outsourcing market is abundant with IT services.
• Customer service: Outsourcing work to customer support teams is a popular strategy used by many businesses today. As a business grows, so will its customer base, and having teams around the clock to address customer concerns across various time zones can become incredibly challenging. This is where customer service outsourcing comes in, be it in the form of call centers or dedicated support teams.
• Human resources: Many companies prefer to outsource HR functions to agencies that specialize in hiring experts and talented individuals. HR outsourcing can also include elements of training and development.
• Bookkeeping and payroll: Technological developments have made it possible for payroll processes to be outsourced to external teams with systems specifically built for it. Instead of managing these tasks in-house, many companies now choose to work with outsourced developers of payroll solutions, allowing them to track money coming in and out, pay their staff on time, and more. 
• Sales: As a business grows, it may be necessary to outsource some aspects of the sales process to keep up with the growing demand. Today, outsourced teams exist in every global market to aid companies with growing their sales in those regions and industries.
• Marketing and advertising: With the growth of digital marketing, the number of social media marketing experts and remote developers in this field has grown with it. Today, businesses can easily reach out to marketing service providers in their industry and start outsourcing!

7 Examples of Successful Companies that Outsource

Whether you’re a small business looking to outsource to freelancers or you wish to expand your internal team’s capabilities by opting for a bigger service provider, you can’t go wrong by looking at some success stories for inspiration. 

Here are seven examples of outsourcing to inspire you to take your competitive advantage to the next level. 

What does Basecamp do? 

Basecamp is a project management tool that helps businesses improve their functional efficiency and collaboration efforts. They offer functionalities such as time planning, group chats, to-do lists, and more. 

What did Basecamp outsource and why?

Various enhancements and improvements to their platform due to rebranding their core activity. 

What is the success story?

Basecamp has its roots in a web consulting company called 37signals. Later renamed to Basecamp, it shifted its core competency from web consulting to project management and outsourced the tool’s development. Several changes were needed before Basecamp reached the level it’s at now.

The developers that implemented these changes? That’s right—they were an outsourced team. 

What does Google do?

Google is the most popular search engine and a household name, but its services extend well beyond local searches, including online advertising technologies, cloud computing solutions, and more!

What did Google outsource and why?

Google AdWords and other innovations have been outsourced to grow the tech giant’s market share and expertise. 

What is the success story?

It’s challenging to put a pin on the various functions Google has outsourced simply because of its size. The tech mogul’s most frequently referred to outsourcing activity is Google AdWords. An innovation covering over 90% of Internet users worldwide, it’s no surprise that Google relied on outsourced experts for customer support around the world. By doing so, they could scale their operations to a whole new level while maintaining customer satisfaction.

What does Skype do?

Skype is often considered the father of video-calling software. Now a household verb (“Let’s Skype later!”), the tool is offered under the Microsoft store, allowing people around the world to connect through audio and video options. 

What did Skype outsource and why?

Skype outsourced its back-end development as it required specific expertise in order to grow.

What is the success story?

The founders outsourced the development of the Skype platform to a team of Estonian professionals. They incorporated the famous features we love now, such as video chat, file sharing, and instant messaging. Two years later, eBay bought out Skype for $2.5 billion and Microsoft for $8.5 billion. These large valuations point to the impact successful outsourcing had.

What does Slack do?

Slack is a popular team collaboration tool with over 10 million users in the market. It’s used by many businesses to communicate with remote teams and even with their clients on a shared and unified platform. 

What did Slack outsource and why?

Slack outsourced its app and website design in order to improve its user experience. 

What is the success story?

The early prototype of Slack is vastly different from the tool used today. Among many tools in the market, Slack is the go-to used by many business teams. Why? This is thanks to Slack outsourcing its development to a design firm that revamped the app’s user interface, brought out a new logo, and improved the website.

What does GitHub do?

Famously used by software developers, GitHub is a code hosting platform that allows its users (Gits) to collaborate on various technical projects. It’s often used for version control, bug tracking, and more. 

What did GitHub outsource and why? 

GitHub outsourced its website backend development in order to perfect its user experience. 

What is the success story?

The founders of GitHub wrote the initial framework for the site on their own, but it soon became apparent to them that they needed external help. They worked with Scott Chacon, the professional whom they chose to outsource to. The result? GitHub achieved its potential and was acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion.

What does Alibaba do?

Alibaba rivals Amazon in its provision of eCommerce and retail services. A multinational Chinese company, it is also known for its provision of Internet and tech services under the Alibaba Group.

What did Alibaba outsource and why?

Alibaba outsourced its website development to make it more locally relevant in different markets. 

What is the success story?

Having started in 1999, Alibaba grew quickly to become the eCommerce conglomerate it is today. Jack Ma, the founder, outsourced to developers in the US to create a website that would be visually appealing and attractive to both customers in the home market as well as globally. Jack Ma was one of the first in the eCommerce sphere to recognize the importance of localization and personalization in customer support and used outsourcing as a solution to incorporate into his business model.

What does WhatsApp do?

WhatsApp is a social messaging platform used by many around the world to communicate and text with their friends and family. 

What did WhatsApp outsource and why?

WhatsApp outsourced its core development (specifically, the app’s development for the iOS platform) in order to optimize its cost strategy. 

What is the success story?

Facebook bought Whatsapp for $19 billion and outsourced it to the original founders to help develop the app for iOS users. Afterward, most of the app’s core development was outsourced to teams across Eastern Europe. Today, WhatsApp is a go-to messaging service in many global markets.

Outsource with STAFFVIRTUAL

STAFFVIRTUAL offers various outsourcing solutions fine-tuned to suit your business requirements. 

Be it back-office support, full-time payroll/PEO support, or 360-degree support with handling your customer service, we have you covered. 

We can help you prioritize and focus on your core activities as you grow your business. 

Contact us for any questions, or read our blog to learn more about how we can help!