Small Businesses Outsource Two or More Business Functions, Reports Achilles Group Survey

April 11, 2008; 02:50 AM

Houston, TX (PRWEB) April 11, 2008 -- Most small businesses outsource at least two business functions, reports Achilles Group in their latest best practice report titled, “2008 Small Business Outsourcing Best Practices Guide.”

“The finding reveals interesting differences in outsourcing between small businesses and larger enterprises -- the most common reason to outsource at the enterprise level is to reduce costs and typically focuses on administrative tasks before moving to more strategic matters. Small businesses outsource to save time,” says Bill Bradshaw, Achilles Group founder.

Achilles Group’s research division surveys small business executives and managers on a quarterly basis with the latest survey being completed by more than 150 small businesses with 25 to 250 employees. The new guide is the latest in a series of benchmarking reports and papers from the Achilles Group, a provider of outsourced strategic HR services focused on providing Fortune 500 HR expertise to small businesses.

Small businesses use outsourcing to replace the significant amounts of time and money they are wasting to refocus on core competencies. The key drivers for small business outsourcing were ranked as follows:
1.   Free up executive time
2.   Enable on-demand access to specialist expertise not available internally
3.   Reduce costs
4.   Gain access to best practices processes and best-of-breed technology and tools
5.   Gain the ability to scale up and down more efficiently than through the use of internal operations, by shifting the risk of scale to outsourcers (document procedures, M&A experience, incentive pay for productivity and quality)
6.   Improve performance: ensure industry-standard service levels, automate manual processes and activities

The report also indicates that small and mid-market businesses will continue to:

- Outsource non-revenue producing functions such as accounting, payroll, information technology, public relations, human resources, and marketing to name a few major business functions that are outsourced
- Integrate information flows from HR to accounting/finance and to front-lines of sales and
- Utilize insourcing and outsourcing to improve the organization
- Improve employee centric decision making while increasing the investment in people, keeping them fully engaged, providing right combination of resources, flexibility, opportunity, and total compensation

“The key is creating agile workforces that can respond to change so that the business is creating talent and ability for the future” said Bill Bradshaw. “While moving beyond traditional activities is uncertain ground; outsourcing brings significant capabilities and business processes that small businesses would otherwise not have.”

Given factors such as increased competition, outsourcing, technology advancement, and the war for talent, today’s small business’ profits are based more than ever on how well they focus on core revenue-producing activities. One of the ways Fortune 500 corporations improve employee capabilities is by utilizing outsourcing to improve employee productivity, train new managers, provide compliance, and free executives time.

Achilles Group’s small business outsourcing report includes topics such as:

• Outsourcing Functions by Company Size
• Outsourcing Scorecard for Selecting a Vendor
• Insourcing versus HR Outsourcing versus HR Shared Services
• The Future of Small Business Outsourcing

The complimentary report is available for download at: http://www.achillesgroup.com/resources_outsourcing.php"

http://www.achillesgroup.com/resources_outsourcing.php

About Achilles Group
Achilles Group (HR Shared Services model, Achilles Group provides human capital expertise for about half the cost of hiring an internal HR director. Typical clients include executives looking for an alternative to building an HR department and companies outgrowing their current HR capabilities. Started in 2002, Achilles Group provides strategic HR services in support of business goals for more than 17,000 client employees in over 30 states.

Media Contact:                
Charles Bedard
281.469.1800

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