Just as a company would evaluate whether to buy or rent equipment, a similar decision should be made for staffing or outsourcing. Many companies look at their business cycle over the year but neglect the monthly cycle. If a company is going to use a piece of equipment everyday, then buying makes sense, but if they only use it 5-10 days each month, renting would be the better choice. For years, professional efficiency management consultants have helped businesses with these decisions and the results are often very beneficial for the bottom line.
Some companies are fortunate to have talented, trained and qualified staff that can serve in multiple types of job assignments and perform, but for many firms “smartsourcing” or “peak period sourcing” during these times is a better approach. Staff utilization will improve, a consistent level of service during peak periods is maintained and costs are lowered as a result of sourcing these processes during the monthly business cycle.
How might smartsourcing or peak period sourcing work for your business? Here’s a scenario:
A manufacturer receives 8,000 invoices per month from suppliers. In order to take advantage of payment discounts on 6,000 of these invoices, the business has only 10 days to make payment. To meet this kind of deadline (including mailing, review and payment scheduling) all the information needs to be entered into the accounts payable system within 3 days from receipt. While regular trained clerical staff can enter most of the normal pay term invoices through the month, this “peak period” occurs once a week twice a month due to the way suppliers invoice. During these times someone else must enter 3,000 invoices over a three day period. If you use other trained staff to enter invoices in a timely, accurate manner for only 6 days each month, what are those employees qualified to do for the rest of the month? Probably not invoice data entry.
In tough economic times, like the current business climate, it’s important to make the most of your staff and budget. Peak period sourcing or smartsourcing may be the best way for your company to efficiently meet project deadlines.
