When do you outsource business functions? A strategic checklist

When do you outsource business functions is a question every growing company faces. You might think this is a strange blog coming from us, considering our lifeblood is picking up contracts from companies to help them grow.

But one of our core values here is to do right by our clients, that means sometimes we will advise that outsourcing isn’t the best option for them, rather they should keep the work in-house. Understanding when to outsource then becomes key.

The benefits of outsourcing

Outsourcing might seem like the best options, and many businesses will equate outsourcing with efficiency as it can be viewed as being faster and cheaper. Additionally, it allows you to focus on what’s important, the core of your business, confident that secondary tasks are still being taken care of. Let’s look at a simple example:

You have a task that takes you one day to complete, and a day of your time is worth £700 to your company.
Outsourcing that task will cost you £900 to complete the task.

Financially, it makes more sense to keep it in-house. But of course, it’s not always that straight-forward.

There’s more to consider than just the cost. That’s why we’ve created the below guide to help you decide whether it’s worth outsourcing or not.

Answer each question with a tick in the appropriate column, then see which column has the most ticks to help with your decision.

Download our business scaling checklist here

Make the right decision when it comes to outsourcing jobs and functions with our quick checklist.

Criteria	Question	Outsource	Consider carefully	Keep in-house
Time	Will outsourcing genuinely save time, or just shift the burden elsewhere?
Urgency	Do you need this completed faster than your internal capacity allows?
Cost	Are you factoring in hidden costs like onboarding, oversight, and quality control?
Expertise	Does the external team bring something you can’t build internally (eg technical skills, specialised tools, industry connections)?
Resource Availability	Do you have the internal bandwidth to perform the function without compromising others?
Control and Flexibility	Will you lose the ability to pivot quickly?
Strategic Importance	Is this function too close to your brand or customer experience to risk diluting?
Cultural fit	Do they understand and complement your tone, values, and expectations?
Risk & Compliance	Are there legal, data, or reputational risks?
Knowledge Transfer	Do you want to build internal capability for the long term?

What to consider when outsourcing?

If most of your answers fall within the Outsource column, external help likely makes sense. A mixed result means a hybrid approach might work best.

The power of outsourcing

Outsourcing can be a powerful tool to have at your disposal, especially for short-term needs. You might need marketing support in the run up to a big exhibition, during a product launch, or while you are recruiting to strength and build your team. Similarly, you may require temporary expertise in business operations, such as streamlining internal processes, implementing new systems, or improving workflow efficiency. Particularly during periods of rapid growth, organisational change, or when preparing for audits or compliance reviews.

What’s important is to treat it as a strategic choice, not a default one. Use the checklist above to understand if it is really saving you time, money and stress, or just moving the problem out of sight, and out of mind.

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