How Back-Office Outsourcing Can Take Your Company to the Next Level
No matter the size, every business eventually reaches the point where they must decide whether to remain at the status-quo or change directions if they want to continue being successful. With back-office outsourcing, your company can pursue a more focused and strategic course of action that helps you take the right steps forward.
In this article, we’ll introduce the definition of back-office outsourcing (BPO) and share the five ways BPO can add value to your company. Whether your company is an aspiring start-up, needs to crush costs, optimize the use of its current system(s), or augment their current staff, back-office outsourcing is your solution.
What is Back-Office Outsourcing?
When most people think of “outsourcing,” they think of large factories full of people performing rudimentary labor. While there remains some truth to that stereotype, back-office outsourcing has grown in both effectiveness and popularity over the past decade.
Today, BPO involves hiring a third-party team of functional and technical experts to do the behind-the-scenes work so your core team can focus on value-added activities for your business. Activities include accounting and finance, production reporting, regulatory reporting, and land administration.
Back-Office Outsourcing
Depending upon the size and scope of your company’s needs, a BPO firm can help you with:
- Accounting and finance
- Production reporting
- Regulatory reporting
- Land administration
- Staff augmentation
- Information technology
- All things data — collection, processing, reporting, and analytics
That list is chock-full of items your business needs, and hiring a full-scale back-office outsourcing company relieves you of that work so that you can drive your business forward.
5 Stellar Advantages Provided by Back-Office Outsourcing
Now that you understand what BPO is, it’s time to talk about how these services can make a dramatic difference in the day-to-day operations and long-term health of your company.
1. Lowering Costs
Take a look back through all of the tasks we described above. Now, think about the possible salary involved to hire just one person for each role, not to mention hiring more as your company grows. That’s a lot of people and a lot of money.
Hiring a back-office outsourcing company directly reduces your expenses because you’re hiring temporary resources that don’t require training. This is a boon to your bottom line no matter the size of your company. Money can then be allocated toward other areas of your business. It’s a win-win scenario.
2. Focusing on Core Processes
As mentioned, one of the key perks to teaming up with a BPO business involves reclaiming time to take care of what matters to you. The cross-functional aspects of back-office outsourcing cannot be understated. It’s yet another two-fold advantage for your company: you first save time by giving these tasks to someone you can trust and you can then channel that energy and time into the fundamental work your people need to do.
3. Improving Expertise
The resources at BPO companies can wear many different hats in an oil and gas organization, and provide both functional and technical knowledge. Benefit from tenured experts who understand your organization inside and out.
4. Enhancing Processes
Building upon #3, having expertise work for you means they can improve how the work gets done. While these developments can include the specific tasks for which they were hired — accounting, production reporting, etc. — truly top-notch back-office outsourcing companies also provide access to leadership team advisory services.
When you choose to invest time, money, and effort into hiring industry experts to work for you, you also benefit from their knowledge of industry best practices. They can help with optimizing your workflows, which will only lead to success.
5. Increasing Efficiency
When those first four elements are fused into a unified whole, the result will always be a more efficient and action-oriented workplace. We’re not talking about efficiency just for the sake of doing things faster and fewer steps, much less the tired “work smarter, not harder” cliché.
Increased efficiency means that your business is making the right decisions with better information, clarity, and insight so it can take the right steps for the present and future. It’s about taking your improved processes and matching them with the right people internally and externally. And when you combine that with more accessible capital because you’ve saved on staffing, you’re ready to start driving positive growth for your business.
You Need to Invest in Back-Office Outsourcing
Selecting the right company to manage your business processes comes down to two questions:
- What do you need?
- What can they do?
The right back-office outsourcing company will be able to speak with your leadership teams to determine if they have the right solutions to your problems. Your business has unique needs, and you need a partner that has your best interests at heart.
Ensure you ask the right questions to determine whether the back-office outsourcing firm is the correct fit. Consider costs, current resources, current pain areas, and future growth opportunities to determine whether the outsourcing firm is aligned with what your company needs to accomplish.
With so many elements of day-to-day business operations that fall outside of your expertise, time, and energy, it will be difficult to grow your business if you’re spending less time on value-added activities. Once you identify the need for back-office outsourcing, start taking inventory of where you are today, as well as future goals.
If you’re looking for both back-office and IT outsourcing services for your oil and gas company, contact EAG 1Source today!