The Top Industries That Rely on Outsourcing
Many businesses are turning to outsourcing nowadays for a variety of reasons but often the main consideration is to cut operational costs in order to keep the business or company afloat amidst the struggling economy. Other companies consider outsourcing as a valuable tool for managing a growing and expanding company.
Australia like the United States, United Kingdom and other countries value outsourcing as an integral part of any business operations. With another company or a third party providing the services for specific functions of the business, a company is allowed more time and resources to focus on growing the business. For example, instead of having its own pay office or department, a company may decide to outsource its payroll functions to payroll service provider.
Some of the commonly outsourced business functions in many countries include:
- IT Software and hardware management
- Network and server management
- Transport and logistics
- Recruitment and human resources
- Training and Development
- Payroll and Accounting services
- Document management
- Legal services
According to oDesk, a global outsourcing company, Australian businesses are increasingly outsourcing various tasks online. oDesk had recently reached a milestone passing the US$1 billion worth of outsourced projects which is a clear indication that online work has really entered mainstream and is no longer considered beta. From their data, Australian companies have been outsourcing both non-technical and technical tasks for the last two years.
The increasing trend for outsourcing is driven by the huge demand for technical talent. The shortage on tech talent in Australia has been widely circulated through various articles and blogs.
For the more technical-based functions, Australian companies and enterprises have turned to outsourcing of the following business areas:
- Game development – outsourcing has grown by 437%
- Engineering and technical design – outsourcing increased by 276%
- Mobile application development – outsourcing increased by 258%
- Human resources /payroll and recruiting – registered an increase by 227%
- Legal – outsourcing grew by 267%
The above figures were released by oDesk.
Outsourcing of legal services was driven by the fact that more Australian companies are pursuing global ventures which in turn require legal support in a range of countries the company plans to deal with.
The growth of outsourcing across non-technical tasks, according to oDesk’s Vice President of Enterprise and International, Matt Cooper, is a worldwide trend which Australia is participating in. It indicates that online work is no longer confined to technical aspects but has rapidly expanded into blog and article writing, translation services, finance (payroll), and HR. oDesk is seeing more niche skills being demanded by the Australian market. Australia is a significant market for oDesk.
With more companies realizing the monetary benefits and advantages of outsourcing, oDesk and other similar outsourcing providers can expect more skills and talents required by Australian companies and businesses. Apart from the shortage of technical talent faced by Australia, outsourcing offers Australian companies a more cost effective solution for streamlining their functions in order to focus on other revenue-generating areas of the business. Similarly, outsourcing allows the Australian companies access to technical expertise and a wealth of information and experience which will be beneficial to the company’s growth.