3 June 2015
Payroll and human resources are the most common back-office processes to be outsourced, according to research by Grant Thornton.
The international business report by the consultancy shows that 34 per cent of businesses either currently outsource these processes or plan to do so.
Given that most companies outsource primarily to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, these processes are typically the first to be moved out-of-house, as they tend to be heavily transactional.
They can also be complex to execute owing to some countries' extensive social funding requirements.
Approximately two out of every five businesses use it as an important means to cut costs, improve efficiencies and, in many cases, ensure compliance.
Grant Thornton's survey is based on 2,571 business executives in 36 economies around the world exploring what companies look for in their outsourcing relationships. It also seeks to explore the reasons why companies bring outsourced services back in-house.
Other findings showed that intangible factors - such as reliability, trust and soft skills - count as much as, or more than, technical factors, such as cost and specialist capabilities in making outsourcing relationships work.