Mature industries like banking, pharmaceuticals and insurance have been outsourcing for decades – even before the term became popular. These verticals have standardized processes in their industries which enable them to easily scale – based on the economy and market conditions.

Because outsourcing has become available to small business owners and online professionals, you can now expect the same level of scalability, efficiency and cost savings that exists in other well-managed businesses that leverage outsourcing.

According to a report titled “Global Sourcing Trends in 2009” by U.S.-based law firm Morrison and Foerster:  Most outsourcing transactions intend to produce immediate improvements to the bottom line for businesses. While this is a common reason to outsource, with fluctuating economic times like we have been experiencing lately, the flexibility to scale up or scale down (based on the business’s needs) has been the determining factor to outsource.

Smart executives are using outsourcing to build flexibility and scalability into their businesses—and to gain access to a global pool of skills at competitive cost.

The recent economic downturn led many companies, especially those who don’t have existing outsourcing contracts, to consider outsourcing. But companies who already have outsourcing agreements are re-evaluating their outsourcing decisions to find providers that offer more business continuity and integration.

In an environment where Fortune 500 companies have disappeared overnight, a successfully executed outsourcing partnership could make the difference in a company’s ability to ride out these challenging times. The flexibility to bring on needed help and expertise in times of growth – without committing to a project contract or adding people to the payroll, has been an invaluable solution to the small business owner and online professional. In addition to providing scalability, this also allows the owner to focus on core competencies of the business.

Outsourcing provides businesses with instant scalability and service flexibility, as well as reducing overhead costs.  One of the major advantages of outsourcing is that companies can now get the best from new developments without the expense.

In terms of new technologies, new processes and new ways of doing things, you don’t have to invest to do that in-house.  Outsourcing is also particularly beneficial for new businesses, or those looking to expand their operation. This includes those who do not necessarily know what hardware or software they will need.

Outsourcing providers with more experience should be able to advise companies about where to spend their money, so that they do not waste time and resources.

Any hesitation to outsource may be affecting your company’s chances to effectively scale for growth in this highly competitive business environment. As a small business owner or online professional, carefully consider your outsourcing partner when looking to expand your business and make it globally competitive.  When considering a company for outsourcing, make certain that they are equipped to handle the ebb and flow needs of your business when scaling up, and when scaling down!

“Small businesses” is an economically term which generally related to the business scope and extent. The taxing authorities categorize “small business” according to their finance turnover in a defined time duration, in most cases: a year. Another aspect of specifying a business as a “small” one is its field of activity: a single barber shop, or a single “Pizza” parlor, or a single stand in a marketplace, are “small businesses”. When one of those becomes “a chain of…” it’s another story.

 

The behavioral sciences, especially Sociology, regard “small business” as a small organization. From the sociology point of view a business is a type of social organization. The sociology discipline classifies organizations by their internal human relations and interaction. No matter how many people are involved, what’s count is the quality of the inter-relationships among them. If everybody knows everybody, face to face, by each name, and the instrumental communication is informal as the social communication, then it’s a “small organization”. 

Such informal relationships can function when we are talking about 2 to 100 workers, managers and subordinates all together. Probably when it’s a 100 people organization we’ll find formal division of labor, duties definitions and documented regulations. On the other hand – a 4 personnel store: the informality is extreme and there is no room for documentation and definitions, everyone is doing everything and if the boss, the store owner, will keep distance – he’ll lose the great advantage of potential warm instrumental relationships with his three salespersons.

Between the 4 and 100 personnel the most common are the 30-40 personnel small businesses. Even if the business owner will try to establish formal regulations he wouldn’t succeed. In such a small organization people will behave according to the informal habits which dominate the everyday activities. There is no way that a new employee will sit down and read a documented guidance book. What will probably happen is that he’ll be told orally what to do by a senior foreman and will complete his integration by imitating others in his close working environment. If he’ll insist to read written instructions he wouldn’t find it because it doesn’t exist  in such small businesses and if he will – it wouldn’t be updated. This is the great fault of small organizations and yet their great advantage: it makes them much more flexible and adaptable to market real time changes.

The sociologist Max Weber claimed that the ideal desirable theoretical model of the most efficient organization is the ‘bureaucratic” model. Weber argued that this type of model will be the only social organization that will overcome human faults and weaknesses. His organization will leave much longer than the individuals who are working for it. People will have to adapt themselves to the organizational needs and demands and not the other way round. He wanted to fulfill the old cliché saying “The graveyards are packed with people who thought they were irreplaceable”.

Just for the sake of argumentation, I’ll point only two of the criticism on Weber’s model:

One – Bureaucratic organizations suffer of stagnation. When a “big business” wants to react to changes in its businesslike environment its got to be someone whose job is to detect such changes and to call a meeting of the right forum which is nominated in advance to take care of such cases and according to the firm regulations to make decisions which will be accomplished by those who will be appointed to the task. Such a procedure is taking a lot of time while small business are reacting immediately and move forward leaving the big businesses behind.

Two -  The biggest enemy of the bureaucratic organization is the informal organization within the formal one. A lot of money, time and energy are wasted trying to overcome the influence of the informal organization. In small businesses, which are informal by nature, there is no such problem.

 

As a metaphor we can compare big and small businesses to a steam ship and a sailing boat. In the big steam liner, even if the crew members know each other personally, they operate a daily routine under strict regulations carried out by formally ranked officers and other commissioned lower ranked staff. If the weather will change and threat the ship safety, no one will react without a strict command issued by the captain. In the small numbered crew of a 40 feet sailboat there are no ranks or strictly defined jobs. Everybody is doing everything which is needed when it is needed to be done. There is a Skipper but in case of a sudden hazard you can carry on each sailor that he’ll do what’s necessary without waiting to be told what to do. In small teams, who are operating in a stressed environment, a small boat in the big blue sea or a small business in the jungle of the wild markets, crew members know that if they wouldn’t operate shoulder to shoulder they will be hanged neck to neck. The friendly commitment to each other is working for the benefit of the organization.

 

A online print shop is a classic example of a small business. It is organized by the following departments:

Management and administration (3)

Sales and marketing (3)

Accountants (2)

Customer service (3)

Graphic artists studio (5)

Printing machines operators (3)

Production and finish (7)

Shipping (2)

Business development and Internet support (2)

 

Those 30 workers are crowded in 100 square meters shop including machines and furniture.

The print shop is operating on line and off line.

On line, through the Internet, they offer the classical advertising and promoting printed materials like: Business cards, magnets, fliers, stamps, account books, envelopes, letterheads, invitations, stickers, bookmarks, and so on.

Off line, when the customer arrives in person and orders his request face to face. This is when the products are “heavy” like: books, catalogs, folders, small paper made packing materials, and such.

 

The small number of employees, operating under the right managers leadership, creates consolidation, unification, integration, and forging “team spirit” based on interpersonal relationship which creates an identification, involvement and empathy with the business goals. The lack of distance between managers, foremen and other employees do not harm discipline and high standards of working moral and ethics. Discussions, which are taking place from time to time, in open forums, enable all workers criticize constructively or suggesting improvements. Workers can express themselves freely in periodical interviews and all channels of communication, including internal E-mailing, are open unlimited. The closeness relationships enable flexible positioning workers in different stations according to various burdens. The outcomes of 30 workers is synergistic by nature and much more than just aggregative.

              

The answer is YES, if you are a small business owner, you have employees, you have payments to make, taxes to deduct from the salaries and send the deducted money to the IRS.

1. Payroll Software Is Worth

As small business owner, you need to take care of the payroll all by yourself. Calculating the income tax and national insurance contributions in producing the weekly payroll can easily take an hour or more each week. An hour that could be better spent earning profits or at the very least having an extra hour of free time each week. Free time that small business owner’s value at a premium since the majority of small business owners either work or think about work from dawn to dusk 7 days a week. A payroll software package to satisfy the payroll requirements can be just one part of making that small business more efficient.

2. Payroll Software Can User Friendly

You do not need to be a computer whizze or financial guru to use payroll software. Dr Ge, the designer of ezPaycheck, believed “Good small business payroll software was designed and engineered for ease-of-use by those who have only basic computer skills and little accounting know-how. It should be simple – stupid simple – so that small business owners can focus their time and energy on running their businesses, not trying to figure out how to run payroll software.”

So ezPaycheck payroll software from halfpricesoft.com always comes with sample database. Dr Ge said most of their users can print their first check in minutes.

3. Payroll Software Is Affordable

Most small business owners do not need complex accounting suite, which comes with lots features that you might not need to touch at all. You can easily find stand-alone small business payroll software on market that cost you less than $100 per tax year. Some companies even offer discount price for updating package when renew it next year.

4. Start Your Test Drive

If you are still not confident enough, you can go ahead and download such software from internet. Most companies allow user to user try such software free for 15 to 30 days.

Tips:

Followings are some suggestion in choosing payroll software:

1 Test drive trial version of your payroll software efficiently. Firstly, you should be very comfortable with the GUI and should be able to handle it on your own even before you make a purchase. Ask for trial version of the desired software. Many payroll software companies provides free download version from their web site. Make sure you test the trial version enough before making a serious purchase.

2. Of course good payroll software must calculate taxes accurately. But as payroll software for small business owners, it must be simple, straight-forward and user friendly as well. It cannot expect the small business owner to be an expert at computers and finance. If you start a payroll application and cannot figure out how to use the buttons after 10 minutes, it may a good decision to forget this payroll software.

3. Be sure to check for any hidden charges while making the purchase. You may need to pay annual charges for updates.

With less than $100 priced easy-to-use payroll software like ezPaycheck (from halfpricesoft.com), you can handle the payroll job easily yourself. Why you need to pay accountant $200 per month?