20 Examples of Outsourcing in 2024

There are many ways that a company can use outsourcing to improve workflows and have a better bottom line. These outsourcing examples may give you an idea of ways you can use outside workers, such as virtual assistants and contractors to streamline operations. Let’s take a closer look at how outsourcing can work for your company.

20 Examples of Outsourcing that Companies Can Use

Here are 20 examples of outsourcing companies like yours are using today. If you can think of a service, you can probably think of a way to outsource it. 

1. Software Development

When you outsource software development, you hire a third party to create the code for your software. This eliminates the need to hire software developers internally. Third-party development companies specialize in development, making it easier for your team to manage the project. Internal team members work with the third-party company’s staff to ensure the project is completed within the scope needed and on time. The third-party company is responsible for all employee payroll, benefits, and taxes, while your company only pays a project fee. 

2. Customer Service Representative

An outsourced customer service representative is a virtual assistant who works remotely to handle incoming and outgoing phone calls, trouble tickets, emails, and live chats. They are trained to understand and solve consumer problems and work exclusively on company communications, interacting with the public. A company may outsource any number of customer service representatives to handle the influx of customer needs. This may be one virtual assistant or a team devoted to solving customer problems.  

3. Data Entry

Data entry can be a tedious task. This is a great opportunity to outsource the work and get someone devoted to data entry for a lower price than you would hiring someone internally or taking time away from other necessary tasks from internal employees to do it. The outsourced staff is given access to the internal programs where data entry is required and focuses on that one task. This not only frees up other staff members but can also lead to fewer errors when someone is focused solely on inputting information. 

4. Administrative Assistance

Another one of our outsourcing examples is getting administrative assistance from a third party source. Many executives are bogged down with administrative work that can easily be done by an administrative assistant. Rather than hire one internally, outsource tasks such as calendar scheduling, CRM work, and bookkeeping to an administrative assistant. This gives executives more time to focus on critical tasks rather than getting bogged down in the minutia of the day. 

5. Social Media Work

An excellent social media presence can significantly impact a company’s reputation and sales. However, posting and staying engaged with consumers online can take a lot of time. This is where outsourcing social media work to a third party can come in handy. The specialist can be tasked with creating compelling content that engages consumers and is also there to reply to comments and reviews. This shows that the company wants to have a closer relationship with consumers and cares about what the public has to say about it. 

6. Loan Processing Assistant

Closing a loan involves a lot of detail-oriented work. However, many of the tasks don’t require the actual loan processor to do them. A loan processing assistant can gather documents, collect signatures, and call clients with updates. They can also be instrumental in helping loan officers complete paperwork, so loans move through the process efficiently and timely. An assistant can also create folders for each loan, ensuring organization and an easy way for loan officers to track down data when needed. 

7. Marketing Assistance

Every business needs a marketing initiative. Without it, consumers won’t know what products and services you offer. Many companies can benefit from outsourcing marketing services to a third-party expert at marketing tasks. The marketing assistant can be tasked with website development, blog creation, social media marketing, and email campaigns. The goal is to create an engaging brand that consumers want to work with.

8. Real Estate Inside Sales Agent

Working real estate can be a feast or famine type of job. However, having a real estate ISA can help keep the real estate agent’s pipeline full of prospects and new clients. The real estate ISA is a master prospector who works phones to prospect for new clients, calls past clients to get referrals and works geo-farming protocols to gain new leads. Since prospecting is incredibly time-consuming, real estate agents can benefit from an ISA dedicated to helping grow the real estate agent’s business. 

9. Virtual Receptionist

Handling incoming phone calls can be a never-ending task. The phones can keep ringing with consumers who need simple answers to questions and help with scheduling appointments. A virtual receptionist is dedicated to handling all of these incoming calls on your behalf. They manage the calendar to ensure there are no conflicts and call those with appointments to remind them of their scheduled time to reduce no-shows. 

10. Sales Development

Not all prospects buy with the first sales call. Many need nurturing, and companies must follow a sales process to walk prospects through the sales funnel. This can take a lot of time and isn’t always the best use of sales personnel’s time. This is where a sales development representative can come in handy. They are tasked with working with prospects in a friendly manner to help them get closer to the sale. They follow up on leads in a timely fashion so they don’t go cold and support sales representatives by responding to inquiries and getting prospects the information they need. 

11. Recruiting Assistance

Finding new candidates for employment is incredibly time-consuming. But executives don’t need to take this task on by themselves. They can use a recruiting assistant to help with many of the most time-consuming tasks, such as filing through resumes, posting on job boards, and performing initial screenings. Assistants can also summarize candidate profiles so that executives can more easily go through them and find the right person for the job. 

12. Inside Sales

Leads can go cold if they aren’t properly worked from the initial contact. This is where an inside sales assistant can greatly help companies increase sales. The assistant is tasked with contacting leads and profiling them to screen them. When the prospect is ready to buy, the assistant hands the lead off to a sales representative to complete the sales process. This workflow ensures that leads don’t fall through the cracks and that sales representatives work with the most qualified leads. 

13. Help Desk Support

Companies must handle customer inquiries quickly and effectively to maintain a good reputation and offer positive customer experiences. But internal staff may be too busy with other tasks to handle customer inquires. This is where outsourcing to one or a team of help desk representatives can help a company streamline support tasks. The representatives take incoming calls and help tickets and can find solutions to leave consumers feeling good about their interaction. 

14. Transaction Coordinator

A transaction coordinator is a real estate professional who helps the real estate agent manage all the tasks associated with a real estate sale. They are trained to adhere to deadlines, understand paperwork, and work with clients to process everything in a timely manner. This helps real estate agents ensure that the transaction closes escrow on time and nothing slips through the cracks. 

15. Virtual Personal Assistant

Busy professionals are often bogged down by tasks that can be assigned to an assistant. Virtual personal assistants can manage calendars, organize computer files, and handle receptionist calls. They can tackle email boxes and help professionals prioritize tasks so that they are more effective at their jobs. Essentially, the non-revenue generating work is something that a virtual personal assistant can do for you. 

16. Graphic Design

A lot of marketing correspondence needs to be properly formatted with the right images displayed. Having an internal graphic designer can be costly. Outsourcing tasks such as product packaging, social media imaging, and white paper design can not only save a company money but also get an expert who brings an outside eye and creativity to the project. 

17. Blog Writer

Having an active blog requires work. It takes time to research topics, understand SEO, and write the blogs. Most companies don’t have expert writers on staff, so outsourcing blog writing is helpful. The blog writer takes the topic assigned and fleshes out the copy so that it is engaging and helpful. 

18. SEO Research

A blog writer can benefit from the help of a specialized SEO team that looks at the existing search engine landscape and helps companies identify topics and outlines to maximize search results of written online content. The SEO team will look at competitors, find pertinent keywords to focus on and outline the articles so that they have the best chance of ranking among the top search results. 

19. App Development

Many companies can benefit from having a phone app with which consumers can interact. However, most companies don’t have the internal resources to create a functional app. Company leaders may come up with the app idea and outsource the development to a professional who can efficiently complete the job. 

20. Bookkeeping

Staying on top of the books can be a time-consuming task for many business owners who aren’t experienced in accounting principles. A bookkeeper can be tasked with keeping the income and expenses organized in a digital accounting program. They will handle accounts payable and receivable and run regular reports to help the business owner better understand the company’s financial strength. 

Conclusion

As you can see from these examples of outsourcing, there are many ways to use outsourcing to help you streamline your business, free up executive time, and improve your bottom line. Outsourcing can save you up to 70% of staffing costs and provide you with the expertise to do the job properly and to customer satisfaction. My Out Desk is here to help you with most of your outsourcing needs. Get started today.