Published on
20 April 2021
Read time
2 mins
A first-time outsource is fraught with challenges. It's important to engage a skilled Procurement team (internal or external) who can ensure the right supplier is chosen; the process runs smoothly without time overruns, as well as those commitments made during pitching and negotiation are clearly scoped out within the contract. Engaging Procurement to fill a check and balance type position pays dividends not only in cost efficiency but also service quality once operations have gone live. With such challenges to overcome, why is outsourcing an ever-attractive option for businesses who want to operate in a more agile way?
Outsourcing a non-core business activity has many advantages; some of the key benefits which have the most significant impact include:
- Reduce costs / headcount:
Outsourcing partners can sweat their resource more efficiently by leveraging experience and scale, delivering savings to the client. Reducing headcount additionally carves out potentially expensive employee benefits and lessens resource demand on payroll and HR.
- Increased Efficiency:
By engaging a specialist partner, processes that otherwise were held above criticism can now be easily challenged, kick-starting an appetite for continuous improvement, ultimately bringing efficiency gains with correspondingly improved service quality.
- Focus on core business revenue-generating activities/strengths:
With non-core activities contracted to a third party, internal resources can be focused on business strengths and, ultimately, revenue generation activities.
- Bring in industry best practice and knowledge:
By leveraging experience and continuous development, outsourcing partners are able to elevate a clients business processes to their full potential, overhauling old ways of working with those on the cutting edge of what's possible. This can be done via business process re-engineering – optimising the existing processes to remove waste or via technology – for example automating tasks through robotics
Ultimately, an outsourcing exercise can reap great rewards, unlocking potential previously unobtainable to an internal team. Engaging a specialist third party to ensure the transition from the controller to the client is one that pays dividends in cost efficiency, service delivery and peace of mind.
For further information of how 7 Step Solutions can assist in your outsourcing plans, please get in touch to find out more - admin@7stepsolutions.co.uk
Latest news & insights
Tail Spend solutions – a platform or a service?
Ten separate client conversations in the last few weeks have started the same way: "We're not looking for yet another platform. We just need a partner to provide a service and help us get a handle on our Tail Spend." That's not a coincidence - it's a pattern worth naming. Tail Spend is often the least glamorous corner of procurement,
Procurement's Role in Operational Resilience
(and why most businesses are getting it wrong!) From Cost Control to Strategic Function Procurement is still too often treated as a cost-control function. Negotiate contracts, manage suppliers, drive savings, repeat. That model isn't just outdated, it's a liability. In today's operating environment, businesses that relegate procurement to a back-office function are quietly accumulating risk they can't see yet. What
When the Heat Is On: What the June 2026 Heatwave Reveals About Your Supply Chain
As temperatures across southern England breach 35°C and Amber Extreme Heat Warnings run through next week, procurement leaders need to ask a harder question than 'is our office cool enough?' The real exposure is in the supply chain and most organisations have little substantial knowledge of how vulnerable they are. Most business commentary will focus on workforce welfare - keeping