In a previous article we looked at how ‘SMEs Challenge Big Business Through Outsourcing’ and how it is levelling the playing field somewhat for SMEs, who simply can’t afford to match the in-house support services that larger companies maintain. By helping them act ‘big’, giving them access to the same economies of scale, efficiency, and expertise that large companies enjoy, leading practice SME organisations are using outsourcing to drive transformational change and improve business results.

 

Increased Flexibility Gives You More Options

A major shift in the outsourcing arena has also seen organisations benefiting from the increased flexibility in the options of ‘what’ and ‘how’ you can outsource, which is the focus of this article. Traditionally, outsourcing has been considered to replace an entire department like HR, or a particular function e.g. payroll. However, it’s now possible to enable your organisation to access and leverage the appropriate expertise to support your overall business strategy and goals across the entire digital lifecycle, either as an ad hoc or longer-term strategy.

 

Strategic Digital Consultancy

Most companies have very clear organisational aims and objectives, but these do not always include digital technologies as a strategic enabler.

Strategic digital consultancy engagements establish a common understanding amongst your executive team as to the vision and objectives and future roadmap for your digital programme, as well as assessing your organisational readiness to effectively leverage transformational change.

 

Architecture and Design

Each year, organisations around the world face astronomical project failure rates, often wasting millions of pounds per failed project. Projects most commonly fail because there is a lack of attention and efforts being applied to key project performance factors and there is a poor suitability and scalability of the current IT landscape from both an environment and software architecture perspective. Having an independent party review your current landscape, provides you with an unbiased ‘outside in’ view and can help you sharpen the focus on IT development projects, shaping the design of specific digital outcomes.

 

Development and Migration

Getting software into the hands of users as fast as possible and leveraging new technologies such as the cloud is a key business priority. By shrinking time to market and embracing change, you can respond rapidly to market changes and sustain a competitive advantage. However, this can put pressure on capacity and highlight capability issues within internal resource, which may increase delivery times. Outsourcing projects or full programmes of work gives you instant access to a global resource pool and enhanced technical skillsets. Plus, if you want to mitigate risk, there are outsourcing models available that allow you to manage and direct the resource, without incurring the fixed costs of overheads etc.

 

Support and Maintenance

Technology and the business environment are two of the fastest changing aspects of our world. Through outsourcing your support and maintenance, it ensures that you continue to get the most out of your investment, that it matches your business requirements of the time, and your employees know to optimise the systems that they use. Outsourcing can also help your business to shift its focus from peripheral activities toward work that serves the customer. Routine tasks such as updating legacy systems and maintaining your cloud environment can be transferred to free up valuable time for internal resource, so they can focus on innovation.

 

The good news is that you can now pick and choose what you may want to outsource and for how long. Each organisation is unique. And your outsourcing strategy must be formulated based on a clear understanding of your specific situational factors. Getting the basics right from the start by addressing the key considerations against your decision drivers, is key to ensuring long-term benefit and success. Need some guidance on which delivery model best suits your business? Download our Outsourcing Brochure now.