When businesses think about outsourcing, they often think about entire departments: customer service, administration, finance or IT. But outsourcing doesn't have to mean handing over a whole function. In many cases, the most effective place to start is with a single process: a clearly defined piece of work that is consuming internal resource, creating operational pressure or simply isn't best delivered by your existing team.
That could mean answering and triaging enquiries outside normal working hours, managing a particular customer support workflow, processing employee absence notifications, handling service requests or providing first-line support before escalating more complex cases internally.
Rather than asking which department could we outsource?, it can therefore be more useful to ask: which processes do we actually need to manage ourselves?
Think Process, Not Department
One of the misconceptions surrounding Business Process Outsourcing is that it requires a significant, all-or-nothing operational change. In reality, a business can outsource as little or as much of an operation as makes sense, while retaining control of the areas it wants to keep internally.
A software company, for example, may want to retain complex technical support in-house while outsourcing its first-line customer enquiries. A manufacturer may have specialist engineers capable of resolving technical problems, but not want those engineers spending valuable time receiving, categorising and triaging every initial request.
The same principle applies across very different industries. A facilities management company might retain responsibility for managing contractors and making operational decisions while outsourcing the receipt, logging and escalation of service requests. Another organisation might operate perfectly well during the working day but need out-of-hours support when its internal teams are unavailable.
In each case, outsourcing doesn't replace the existing operation. It removes a defined piece of work from it and allows the internal team to concentrate its resources where they add the greatest value.
What Types of Business Processes Can Be Outsourced?
The range of business processes that can be outsourced is considerably broader than many organisations initially realise. The important question isn't necessarily whether a process is customer-facing or administrative, but whether it can be clearly defined, managed and integrated into the wider operation.
Customer-facing processes are an obvious example. An organisation could outsource all or part of its customer service, including first-line enquiries, particular communication channels, appointment or booking activity, specific products or services, or certain categories of customer support. More complex cases can continue to be handled internally, with clearly defined escalation routes between the two teams.
Operational processes can also be outsourced. These might include receiving and logging service requests, incident management, first-line triage, engineer or contractor dispatch, employee absence reporting and escalation to an internal on-call team.
Back-office activities are another area where outsourcing can provide additional capacity. Structured administration, inbox management, data processing, case updates and other repeatable workflows can all potentially be delivered externally, particularly where the work follows an established process but consumes valuable internal resource.
Processes that need to continue outside normal working hours are also particularly well suited to outsourcing. Rather than recreating a daytime operation overnight, businesses can use an external team to maintain continuity, handle defined activity and escalate only those situations requiring internal intervention.
What Makes a Process Suitable for Outsourcing?
Not every process should be outsourced. Some activities sit at the heart of an organisation's competitive advantage or depend heavily on knowledge, relationships or judgement that would be difficult to replicate externally.
For everything else, a useful starting point is to consider whether the process can be documented, governed and measured. Can the steps involved be clearly defined? Can responsibilities and escalation points be established? Can the information required to complete the work be made securely available? And can successful delivery be measured through agreed service levels, quality standards or KPIs?
If those things are possible, there is a good chance the process could be delivered successfully by an outsourced partner.
Freeing Specialist Teams to Do Specialist Work
One area where outsourcing can be particularly valuable is first-line triage and escalation.
Some of the most valuable people within an organisation are also the people whose time can easily be consumed by relatively routine activity. Engineers, technical specialists, clinicians and senior operational staff may need to become involved when an issue requires their expertise, but that doesn't necessarily mean they need to receive and assess every initial contact.
A well-designed outsourced process can gather the required information, complete an initial assessment, categorise the request and escalate it according to agreed criteria. The specialist remains available when their expertise is genuinely required without becoming the first point of contact for everything else.
This can also extend beyond the normal working day. Customers may need assistance, engineers may need dispatching, incidents may need escalating, employees may need to report an absence or critical information may need to reach an on-call team. Outsourcing these processes can provide continuity without requiring the organisation to maintain additional internal resource around the clock.
Shared Service or Dedicated Team?
The right delivery model depends on the complexity, volume and requirements of the process.
Some activities can be handled effectively through a shared service, providing access to trained resource without the cost of maintaining a dedicated team. Other processes require greater familiarity with an organisation's customers, systems and procedures.
In those situations, a dedicated team can operate as an extension of the internal workforce, working within the client's existing technology, following its procedures and operating against agreed KPIs and governance. That might mean one dedicated person or a larger team, depending on the requirement.
The important point is that the outsourced model should fit the process rather than forcing the process to fit a predetermined outsourcing model.
Where Should You Start?
If you're considering outsourcing, the best starting point isn't necessarily the process that looks easiest to move. It may be more useful to identify where the greatest operational friction currently exists.
Look for work that consumes disproportionate amounts of management time, restricts growth, requires additional recruitment, creates gaps in coverage or pulls skilled employees away from higher-value activity. These are often the areas where outsourcing can have an impact beyond simply reducing cost.
It can create capacity without adding permanent internal headcount, extend operating hours, provide greater resilience and allow existing teams to concentrate on the work they are best placed to perform.
Importantly, identifying a potential process for outsourcing doesn't mean committing immediately to a permanent outsourced model.
Test Before You Commit
Where an organisation is considering outsourcing a new or redesigned process, it can make sense to test it outside business as usual before making a wider commitment.
Lemon's Process Testing service provides dedicated, ring-fenced resource to operate a defined process in a live environment. This gives an organisation the opportunity to understand how the process performs, identify improvements and gather real-world evidence before deciding what happens next.
If the approach works, the process can transition into a longer-term outsourced model. If changes are required, they can be made based on what has actually been learned rather than assumptions made before implementation.
Start With the Process
Outsourcing has moved a long way from the traditional idea of transferring an entire department to an external provider. Businesses now have much greater flexibility over where their internal operation ends and an outsourced partner begins.
The opportunity might ultimately involve an entire operational function or a substantial dedicated team. But it can equally begin with one workflow, one channel, one part of the day or one process that an internal team simply doesn't need to own.
At Lemon, we work with organisations to understand the process first: what needs to happen, when it needs to happen, which systems are involved, how exceptions should be handled and what successful delivery looks like.
Our mantra at Lemon is simple: if an office-based process can be documented, governed and measured, there's a good chance it can be outsourced.
