Outsourcing: Not An Overseas Solution

“Outsourcing."  For years the term has gained a negative connotation implying overseas solutions and poor service.  But, that was then.  Outsourcing, or third-party consulting, is now one of the best ways to enhance your firm’s profitability.

Let’s think about it.  We are, by training and education, architects, engineers, contractors—design professionals.  Yet, many of our firms employ legal departments, accounting, finance, and human resource departments—all of the necessary “back of house” functions that allow us to do what we do and make money.  But, in 2008 many of those functions were eliminated from small and mid-sized companies.  Even larger corporations looked at them differently.  So before you think about regular employees to replace those functions take a look at third-party consultant (outsourcing) and do the math. 

Let’s do the numbers. Consider the annual salary of a full-time human resources manager.  The median salary of this professional is $61,500, a year not including benefits and the investment in training and development in order to remain compliant with state/federal regulations.  Contrast that with a retained source provider whose annual median is $24,000 and the annual savings (cost) is $37,500.  But, this is more than mathematics.

There are possible intrinsic gains from an outsourced provider that include the ability to:

• Compare and contrast your firm’s practices with best business and best management practices in real time.
• Leverage expertise across various business and disciplines.
• Enhance operational productivity by allowing the firm to focus on design/construction.

Now, I want to be clear. Before you consider utilizing outsourced or consultative resources do your due diligence:

• Determine what role(s) could be outsourced.
• Define what you need from a consultant or third party provider.
• Evaluate the company or individual.
• Understand their technology and privacy policies.

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