Choosing between Agencies and Freelancers for Outsourcing Tasks

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Choosing between Agencies and Freelancers for Outsourcing Tasks

More often than not, outsourcing tasks can bring about many benefits. You can enjoy more flexibility, have access to specialized skills, and save more money in the long run. When it comes to choosing between freelancers and agencies, there are big differences to consider. An agency is a service company that offers a clearly defined range of services and distributes incoming orders among employees. In contrast, a freelancer would rather be described as self-employed since he/she processes all tasks directly. However, betting sites in Kenya should not be the main aspect to consider when choosing between freelancers and agencies since it is the end result that truly matters.

The advantage of agencies is that you get a clearly defined service for a clearly defined price. Since agencies have several employees, the result can be guaranteed more reliably. If an employee falls ill, they can be replaced, and the order can still be completed. As a result, agency employees are more likely to work through their tasks but not identify with the client, i.e., the company. An agency employee does not accept incoming orders from the actual client, but from their own employer. This means that tasks with clearly defined workflows or generally applicable standards are well suited for agencies (e.g. PPC marketing, SEO).

However, the fact that agencies are companies with many employees also has disadvantages. As the client, you finally commission the agency, which then charges its employees with the implementation. Communication therefore takes place across corners, which not only makes the workflow error-prone, but also slows it down. For example, if you want to change something at short notice, this is only possible during the agency's business hours and will only be implemented once the responsible clerk has been informed. Agencies often only act as intermediaries and commission freelancers themselves, which means that they are either paid less (the quality suffers, freelancers neglect agency orders) or the service prices for clients rise (so you pay a surcharge for the placement).

A fixed contract with a freelancer can compensate for the disadvantages of an agency. A freelancer usually offers far more leeway in terms of individual services, can be treated like an employee of the company, and can also identify with the company. On the other hand, the desired benefits depend on a person who may be absent due to illness or other personal events. Since freelancers work directly with people, the personality of the other person plays a part in the workflow, especially in long-term cooperation. It takes a little longer to find the right freelancer, but working together afterwards is all the more fun.

It is also important to note that freelancers always have limited capacities, as do probably other clients too. As a result, freelancers are not so closely tied to the company and are available to the market. So it can always happen that the freelancer gets a much better offer or is busy.

The latter is problematic insofar as one's own company grows while the freelancer's time resources remain the same. In this case, you can, of course, try to persuade the freelancer to take up a permanent job. A full-time freelance relationship works less, as this quickly falls under the category of bogus self-employment.

                                           Outsourcing Guide

At first glance, outsourcing sounds pretty simple: You look for tasks that you hand over to a freelancer or service provider, pay X sum, and get a certain result for them. Basically, it works like this, but there are a few points you should pay attention to when implementing it. If you're at a point where outsourcing would be the next best step, this step-by-step guide is an ideal way to get it right:

                                Find tasks for outsourcing

A company is a composition of incredibly many areas that can be divided into variable tasks and routines, which in turn require different resources (capital, time, expertise, etc.). The first step is to identify these areas and break them down according to the above scheme (Area > Tasks & Routines > Resources). This and all other steps are explained in the following instructions using the example of Amazon FBA (development of its own products and their subsequent Vedrive via Amazon). The first step is to identify all the larger areas, e.g.:

• product research

• product development

• manufacturer search

• Amazon Launch

Daily business

The last point (daily business) should always be integrated. These are tasks or routines that are necessary for business operations. Ultimately, after launching a product, you need to keep selling it and make the business profitable.

An example of daily business in the Amazon sales area would be stock management, i.e., ensuring that there are always enough units of each product in stock. This is a relatively simple task that needs to be standardized once and can then be done without additional expertise.

The individual areas are now divided into tasks and routines. For example, the workflow can be planned efficiently:

• Product research to-do's

• Collect new ideas

• sort list

• patent research

• Certificate Research

• make decision

Of course, each of these tasks has its own workflow, which differs from company to company. This includes, for example, individual criteria for the selection of products. First of all, however, it is not a question of really representing each task 1:1 (like a guide), but of defining the sub-areas that represent a separate section in the process and would be suitable for distribution to different employees. For example, it makes less sense if different employees cover the individual steps of the patent search.

Now, for each of the tasks noted, it is checked as to how the workflow can be optimized and whether outsourcing to a freelancer is a sensible step.

To check each task, the following questions can be asked:

• Can the workflow be automated or simplified with tools?

• Is specialist knowledge required to complete the task?

• Can the workflow be standardized through clear rules?

• How much time and resources are required for implementation?

• At what frequency (interval) is the task performed?

• Is the task one of your core competencies?

• Would you like to hand over the completion of this task?

In order to understand how to correctly interpret the answers, the process in the following example is carried out once for product research.

Gathering new product ideas: This cannot be automated but can be accelerated with tools. Nevertheless, a large part of the work is based on manual research within Amazon, which requires a high expenditure of time. Specialist knowledge is not required; the workflow can be standardized. With about one product launch per month, the time required is 1-2 hours per day (frequency: daily). Since product research is standardized, it is not a core competence. The task should be handed over, as it is routine work in the company.