Four Reasons Your Startup Should Consider Outsourcing Outsourcing your work can help your business save money, assign specific work to specialists, save time, and expand your offering.

The global outsourcing market is estimated to be worth around US$90 billion. Within that vast market are businesses of all sizes, outsourcing the work of marketing, accounts, IT, HR and many other departments. And with good reason. Outsourcing your work can help your business save money, assign specific work to specialists, save time, and expand your offering.

Do you want to expand your business to the next level? Or improve your talent pool without incurring the costs of hiring new staff? Let's look at how you can achieve just that through outsourcing.

Outsourcing saves you money on staff
Reducing costs is the number one reason why companies outsource. In fact, 59% of companies surveyed cited cost reduction as their motivation for putting this into practice. Why? Outsourcing tasks to trained professionals allow you to stick to smaller budgets and only pay for what you need. This is usually far more cost-effective than hiring a full-time employee– which can be a pricey business here in the UAE.

With full-time hires, UAE employers must factor in health insurance contributions, visa fees, and gratuity benefits. The end result is an employee who costs substantially more than their yearly salary. Meanwhile, a freelancer will usually just charge an hourly rate for the work they carry out and the cost saving is clear to see.

Then, there are the costs involved in finding a new employee in the first place. This is estimated at approximately US$ 4,100 per employee. When searching for a freelancer, you simply post a job ad to an online marketplace and wait for a response– no training, no time-consuming interview process, and no added expense.

Outsourcing ensures your business tasks are handled by a specialist
Many businesses make the mistake of only considering outsourcing when they reach capacity, using it purely as a way to handle the overflow of work. One of the major benefits of outsourcing is not quick and easy access to an extra pair of hands, however. Rather, it is how skilled those extra hands are.

When you outsource work, you are handing it over to an expert who can give it 100% focus. You might be a fantastic entrepreneur but that doesn't mean you're a great writer or designer or IT pro. If you embrace outsourcing, you don't need to be. Simply hand specialist tasks over to the specialists.

Related: Can Co-Working Spaces Help Your Business Become More Productive?

Who is outsourcing?
You can even hand over entire business functions to instantly expand your company's skill set. Just look at the numbers: 74% of companies outsource IT, 52% of companies outsource HR, 43% of companies outsource procurement, and 39% of companies outsource finance.

An expert for every task was something unimaginable for many businesses in the past. Now, thanks to outsourcing, it's easily achievable. Why wouldn't you take advantage of that? Or to put it in the words of former US politician and vice chairman at JPMorgan Chase, Alphonso Jackson, "Where the work can be done outside better than it can be done inside, we should do it."

Outsourcing saves you time
Perhaps you're not at the stage yet where a fully outsourced IT or HR department is required. But maybe you're at full capacity and need to free up the time to focus on more business-critical tasks. There are plenty of easy ways to do this.

Outsourcing smaller tasks – checklist: social media management, content creation, email marketing, admin and filing, and invoicing. Taking these tasks off your desk frees you up to focus on growing and improving your business. Plus, as every task you outsource is now in the hands of a specialist, you'll also save time on project management.

This means no need for prolonged planning and review meetings. Simply brief your freelancers and they'll take care of the rest. The process is simple, fast, and cost-effective. And that is ultimately why so many businesses do it.

Outsourcing allows your business to expand its offering
There's another major benefit to being able to call on the services of an expert –or a team of experts– whenever you need it. It allows you to expand to new markets gradually without breaking the bank.

Say you run a clothing business and want to expand to make shoes. Traditionally, this would have been a lengthy –not to mention costly– process. You have to hire someone to conduct market research and analysis, employ new staff skilled in shoe manufacturing. Then there are the additional resources you would need to sell your product into a new market.

Outsourcing allows you to essentially pay as you go
Hire a freelancer to carry out your market research: If you are happy with the results, outsource a small run of production to a manufacturer. Next, engage the services of freelance marketing and sales professionals for only the hours you require and can afford. Essentially, outsourcing lets you grow into new markets at your own pace without overstretching your resources. Test the market, and if the demand is there, gradually dedicate more outsourced resources to this area of your business.

Outsourcing and your company's future
If you're looking to increase capacity, expand your offering, or improve your skill set, there's no easier or more affordable way than through outsourcing.

Related: Seven Business Tasks You Could Be Effectively Outsourcing