The constantly growing cost pressure leads to a relentless search for efficiency potential within a company. It stands to reason that reducing resource consumption to focus on core competencies is an attractive option.
But how should this be achieved, and which methods are particularly well suited?
The answer is outsourcing. It describes the external delegation of tasks or task areas that were previously handled internally. By performing tasks that do not relate to your core business in-house, your company continuously loses flexibility (fixed vs. variable costs) as well as valuable investment capital (tied up in non-core activities). Furthermore, specialisation advantages (such as increased innovation capacity) are not realised when competencies are not strategically shifted.
To address these problem areas, various forms of outsourcing are available to you:
Selective Outsourcing
Individual tasks or task areas within a business process are outsourced to an external provider (e.g. invoice generation). The outsourcing company retains overall control of the process.
This approach is suitable when core processes of the company are to be supported but not outsourced.
Business Application Outsourcing
Software applications are operated externally, typically delivered on-demand via the internet. In special cases, an “external” on-site solution may also be used. Process control remains with the outsourcing company.
This variant enables, above all, the realisation of economies of scale, since the outsourcing provider serves many clients in the same way and can therefore design its infrastructure and associated processes more efficiently.
Business Process Outsourcing
Entire (secondary) business processes (e.g. the procurement process) are outsourced to an external service provider.
The primary aim here is to leverage external know-how to realise specialisation advantages in business processes that are not close to the core business.
Your differentiating characteristics relative to the competition lie in your core processes, not in your secondary processes. For strategic reasons of aligning your company along these core areas of activity, you should decide in favour of IT outsourcing.
What value does this create for your business?
By deploying IT outsourcing, you choose to increase the flexibility of your core business activities and convert fixed costs into variable ones. You leverage specialisation advantages and increase your financial investment potential to support new projects in your core business.
The scope of the outsourcing initiative is entirely at your discretion.
Pröhl Consulting from Berlin is happy to advise you on the outsourcing variant that is most advantageous in your specific case. We will also be glad to explain the risks associated with such an outsourcing initiative and present you with ways to manage those risks effectively within the framework of our IT security concepts.
Interested in further information on this topic or looking to carry out an outsourcing project? Don't hesitate to contact us.
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