Top Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing Technology Support – Part 2: Is Outsourcing Right for Your Firm?
Outsourcing some marketing functions, especially in areas that involve technologies to support marketing and business development, can solve a number of problems and provide important benefits for your firm and team. In our last post, Top Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing Technology Support Part 1, we offered some good examples and a summary of the benefits that firms can gain from outsourcing. But before you determine that outsourcing is right for your firm, consider these key questions to help you decide:
Is Outsourcing Right for Your Firm?
There are many factors to consider before deciding to outsource marketing and business development technology functions. Asking a few questions can help you decide if the outsourcing makes sense for your organization:
- Why are you considering outsourcing this function?
– If your existing staff is too busy with day-to-day processes and requests to make needed improvements, or gaps in knowledge are preventing you from realizing the benefits of your marketing technology systems, you can reap significant returns from outsourcing. Additionally, outsourcing can make sense to fill a need when key staff members leave the firm or have to be out of the office for an extended period. - Do you have the right team members to accomplish key firm goals?
– Does your current staff have the necessary skills and experience to maximize return on your technology investments? Finding good candidates can be challenging and training (and retraining) costs can be significant. Additionally, having candidates with real world experience can help you accelerate your efforts and avoid common pitfalls. - When should you outsource?
– Is your need temporary or long-term? Outsourcing can bridge gaps when there are staffing transitions or skill deficiencies, fill needs related to special projects and help the in-house team meet critical deadlines. It can also provide the additional capacity needed to manage routine tasks and operations when teams are focused on major projects or organizational change. - Is your firm culture amenable to outsourcing?
– While outsourcing some CRM and data management functions makes good business sense for most organizations, some firms may be hesitant to entrust key tasks to people who are not in the firm’s office. However, many firms have already successfully made the transition to outsourcing, so there are plenty of success stories that can be shared to ease any fears.
Where to Start
For firms considering outsourcing for the first time, it’s helpful to understand that outsourcing provides a number of options. Rather than committing to a large initial project, a measured approach may make sense. For instance, the firm could begin outsourcing some routine but essential functions such as contact deduplication, mailing list cleanup and CRM record cleaning. Then, as confidence builds and firm leaders see the benefits of outsourcing routine or support functions, the prospect of outsourcing higher-level functions such as ongoing CRM system or project management begins to make sense.
With a reliable external team to handle specific essential functions, firms can experience fewer disruptions, greater operational stability and consistency, and more streamlined workload management. And these operational efficiencies can lead to greater productivity and returns on the marketing spend—and greater profitability for the firm.
To explore whether outsourcing makes sense for your firm, a complimentary assessment is a helpful first step. Reach out to the team at CLIENTSFirst at 404-249-9914 or info@clientsfirstconsulting.com and we can discuss how your firm might benefit from outsourcing.
– For more than a decade, the team at CLIENTSFirst Consulting has been helping law and other professional services firms and other organizations successfully select and implement CRM and eMarketing systems to maximize value, adoption, and return on investment. If you need help achieving CRM success, please contact us at 404-249-9914 or Info@ClientsFirstConsulting.com.
