With the New Year upon us, many companies are now looking at their business processes in order to assess what they can change in 2012. With companies continuing to struggle amidst a challenging economic climate, many are likely to dramatically change how their company operates this year, with outsourcing likely to become the preserve of many businesses attempting to rationalise their cost base.

Last year was a record year for companies operating in the outsourcing sector, with a huge number of businesses looking into the concept in an attempt to cut fixed costs and become more flexible. With the ability to drastically reduce fixed overheads whilst maintaining business operations without interruption and providing access to skilled staff, outsourcing has been a lifesaver for many in 2011, which is why the new year is likely to bring a further uplift in demand for outsourcing services; not only in the UK but overseas too.

In a recent survey conducted by dictate2us, a dictation and transcription service, it was found that 62% of companies plan to outsource administrative jobs this year, to cut the costs of overheads. Chief Executive of dictate2us, Daryl Leigh said :“Many of the administrative tasks typically undertaken by secretaries are necessary but incredibly time consuming. For that reason, it’s important that business owners look objectively at their organisation to question whether outmoded methods of operation are still relevant.”

It is thought that the increased interest companies have in relation to outsourcing is due to the many small business that continue to struggle to find employees with the necessary skills. Research carried out by the Federation of small Businesses (FSB) found that 27% of start up companies struggle to find qualified and skilled staff.

Outsourcing was also a hot topic in the news last year, and this trend appears to continuing in 2012. In one article in particular, published in the Daily Mail, John Neilson, Managing Director of NHS Shared Business Services, has urged the NHS to outsource more of its call centres to India, to further cut costs; a predicted saving of £20 billion by 2014. With articles such as these featuring in various different publications on a daily basis, it is no wonder that more companies are wanting to know what is to be gained through outsourcing, with there being more of a demand for outsourcing companies than there has ever been before.

One outsourcing website in particular that has reaped the benefits of the increase in outsourcing is OutsourceMyProject. With over £1 million worth of projects posted onto the site in 2011, the business is looking forward to what 2012 brings. Loren Holland, Managing Director of OutsourceMyProject said: “Over the course of last year we witnessed a drastic increase in the number of small and SME companies looking to outsource their business functions to professional and freelance experts. Smaller businesses are now waking up to outsourcing, which historically has been viewed as the preserve of only large organizations. The principal benefits of outsourcing are twofold; cutting down fixed cost overheads and accessing skilled services which may not be available in-house.”

About OutsourceMyProject:
Established in January 2011, OutsourceMyProject.com aims to bring together organisations and individuals looking to outsource business functions or projects with freelance providers of professional services. Following the website launch, more than 10,000 providers, including freelance web designers, legal specialists, freelance editing professionals and copywriters have registered with OutsourceMyProject.com to bid on over £1 million worth of freelance work.

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