Businesses, whatever field they belong to, always make sure to be at the top of their game. This means that they exert effort in getting clients, providing them the best services, and placing their name on the list of successful institutions. However, what most people don’t know is that a company’s growth is heavily reliant on the people who do the job. The employees make sure that each requirement set forth by the clients is met and done with the highest quality possible. But when tasks become too overwhelming, companies resort to hiring external help through an outsourcing company or hiring freelancers.
These third-party services come to the rescue to avoid delays in the projects. However, there have been debates on whether businesses should hire an outsourcing company or farm out to freelancers. Which one should a company hire considering both are properly equipped with the right skills and knowledge.
What is an outsourcing company?
An outsourcing company provides specific services to businesses that need extra help or assistance on their in-house tasks and departments. This type of third-party service provider has its own skilled workforce to take on the functions assigned by clients.
Each outsourcing company has its own specialty depending on what field they are focused on. Some offer business processing, information technology, SEO, and customer service among others. Usually, a company hires an outsourcing provider when they want to take repetitive tasks off their plate such as encoding, bookkeeping, database building, among others.
The main reason why outsourcing companies are a big thing is that businesses want to minimize their expenses as much as possible. Hiring a full-time employee to do certain tasks may be too costly rather than just hiring an outsourcing company. Moreover, companies like this are located in different parts of the world which means that each of them specializes in something. You won’t have to go through piles and piles of applicants’ resumes and interviews since the outsourcing company you’ll hire already have outstanding people to do the work for you.
What is a freelancer?
A freelancer is an individual third-party service provider that accepts projects on a short-term basis and is paid per output he or she makes. Compared to employees working in an outsourcing company, freelancers are one-man teams who operate as a single enterprise. They have the option to cater to various clients without being tied up to any employer in particular.
Freelancers offer services depending on their specialty. You can always search for people who are great at journalism, content writing, graphic designing, architecture, among others. These are individuals who will render their service as long as the client needs them.
Outsourcing company vs freelancers
While both are ideal to hire, an outsourcing company is the better option in the long run.
Outsourcing is great for businesses as it can help them cut labor costs significantly. Since getting their services is usually a package deal with a long-term contract, you get to ask for discounts and save. Moreover, outsourcing companies are always available to attend to your needs 24/7. Since your account is handled by several people, you can get updates from any one of them at any time of the day. This means that if the account officer is not available at the moment, another person can take charge and assist you.
In addition, you don’t have to micro-manage the people under the outsourcing company as someone is already in charge of that. Compared to when you hire freelancers, you have to communicate and coordinate with them individually which may be time-consuming on your end.
Another great thing that makes an outsourcing company stand out is that your data is secure. Since the company has access to security software and network, you are assured that all your files and information are kept safe. Of course, freelancers also have their own set of security technology to avoid hacking and other security issues in their own computers.
When it comes to communication, an outsourcing company can always report to you and answer your queries in an instant. This is somehow difficult for some freelancers since they may have the tendency to be not available at the time that you need them. Still, with proper rules set between you and them, it can still work in the end.
Conclusion
Whether you want to hire an outsourcing company or a freelancer is really up to you. You may choose the former if you want a long-term contract and you don’t want to add more work to your plate. While the latter is also a good choice if you just need a few tasks done in a short span of time.