Over recent years CEOs have become familiar with outsourcing what were once previously considered essential in-house business functions; typically these include IT and more recently HR. We believe this trend will continue as businesses focus on their core activity and the competences that deliver their success.
Arguably it is possible to identify two fundamental drivers of outsourcing:
Firstly ‘push’ motivations, such as introducing external service providers to help deliver cost cutting measures and to enable the in-house team to focus on core business topics.
Secondly ‘pull’ motivations, for example external service providers fulfilling a competence or resource gap and at the same time accessing industry best practice and broader commercial experience.
Of course, these are not mutually exclusive.
Many businesses don’t have the resources to recruit or carry a head of strategy to help shape the company’s plans over the next two to three years. Alternatively, the in-house resource, typically the CEO or Marketing Director, may be facing shorter-term revenue and profit challenges.
In such situations, CEOs and managing directors would benefit from practical, affordable and trusted experts to work with them on an on-going basis to provide specialist support, or on a specific project to help review and refine the strategy.
The key to a successful outsourcing relationship lies in developing a partnership approach, an unambiguous remit, and payment on performance and delivery of key milestones. Clients can also benefit from independent perspectives.
Critically, the external service provider needs to operate and act as an integral and core part of the senior leadership team, demonstrating the same commitment and enthusiasm for the company as a fulltime senior employee.
With our hands-on company experience, at Whitecap we know that strategy development, business planning and marketing strategy can all be successfully outsourced to deliver cost savings, whilst accessing specialist expertise and helping drive profitable and sustainable growth.