|
If your core business is the commissioning of content and delivering it to your subscribers then you'll not want to be distracted by peripheral issues – especially in today's economic climate. At this point outsourcing can prove especially invaluable.
Outsourcing in its simplest form is the concept of taking an internal company function and paying an outside firm to implement it. The function could be accounting, it could be HR and it might even be subscription management. One outsourcing function that has been much in evidence in the past but has declined in popularity is data preparation and digital delivery. However it still possesses excellent potential for efficiency and cost saving.
No one knows better than professional publishers how to discover their potential subscribers' content requirements and to commission that content efficiently from authors. Publishers and editors know exactly how to get the content sorted out to maximise users' satisfaction even if it is information for obligatory consumption rather than more interesting and intellectually stimulating material.
But with most publishers located in or near big cities you may ask yourself if it is strictly necessary or economical to employ IT staff on city wages and in high rent office space to handle the data preparation and delivery tasks or to build website platforms.
These tasks may possibly be handled more efficiently and effectively by people with the same skills who are prepared to work for lower wages in less expensive offices, or even in virtual offices away from ‘the smoke’. Lower incomes are often acceptable to them because they don't have to buy expensive season tickets or pay more for their homes and they might prefer to see more of their families and friends.
There are a few specialist outsourcing providers left, such as Catalysts, and they can offer a number of advantages over in-house operations:
- They work on a wide range of solutions and with a wide range of tools.
- They have to keep up to date with technology and techniques to make a living.
- They bring their experience of working with multiple clients to bear on every task.
- They cost less than the true all-in cost of their in-house equivalents, even when they add their profit margin.
- The more they are used the cheaper they become – volume discounts.
|
