With the information revolution and other resources available these days, companies have a much wider range of options for what they could outsource in their business. The question becomes what should it be. How should you decide?

The first step would be is to list all the steps that you have as a company in servicing your customers starting right from the marketing process, all the way to the final collection of the money.

Then after you have that list take a look at the items that are on there and then decide according to a few different criteria:

1. Which of the steps are unique to what we do? What things represent our intellectual capital and are a core part of our value proposition?

2. Of the other things that remain, which of them have outside resources that would be readily available for that particular step? How would their costs compare to what it costs for you to do it in-house?

3. What do you have leftover that could be outsourced to the outside? What is there that people are readily available to be able to do and could be reasonably cost effective and meet the quality that you require? If so, you have the candidates for outsourcing. These are the things you shouldn’t be doing, but instead others can do. You can allow your company then to focus more on the other parts. In particular, it’s the one that you answered yes to in the first question. Things that are unique to your intellectual capital and are really core parts of your value proposition.

So, take a hard look at your business, evaluate what you’re doing from point A to point Z, breaking it down into steps and then seeing where is the real value and where should you focus your energies and effort. Put your attention there and send the rest packing elsewhere.

Jon Paul, MBA, CPA, CMC, CM&AA

President, Value Added Finance Resources
Bringing new insights on results and maximizing company value