Ah, the corporate world. A magical realm of financial reports, revenues, conference calls, leather briefcases and damage control. Everything`s grand scale here- strategies, scandals, charity campaigns, all sorts of publicity stunts- just think of any business feature, supersize it and you`ll get a somewhat adequate idea of how things happen in the land of neckties. Two other words that apply are smart and efficient.
That`s exactly what outsourcing is
A cost effective, relatively hassle free and extremely time saving way to get things done. Whether it`s an ongoing assignment, or a short term campaign, outsourcing back-end activities, customer relations and any other part of the workload the company sees fit, gives the internal staff the chance to concentrate on their main objectives instead of losing focus because of the new chores they`d have to do on the side.
Outsourcing is not a “for business use only” phenomena
Don`t be fooled by the big word, we all do it on some level. Let` say we have a wedding to plan. We hire caterers to deliver the food, as we don`t have the time, nerves or equipment to cook and serve for 150 people- that`s outsourcing. We also hire decorators to take care of flowers, napkins and any other aesthetics-related details we don`t want to bite our nails over- we`re outsourcing again. Tailors, make-up artists, hairdressers, photographers, DJs- these are all specialists we bring into the organizational process to do a task we are not willing or capable of handling ourselves. Of course there`s the option to simply hire a wedding planner who`ll do everything for us. What usually happens in such cases is that we outsource our chores to the said planner and then he or she outsources them further to the separate brinks I listed above. And that`s not a bad thing, in fact it`s quite the opposite. Knowing that we have professionals dealing with all aspects of the wedding, except for the “I do” part of course, helps us relax and enjoy the experience.
What do Christmas decorations have to do with any of this?
Think of how long it takes you to decorate your home for the holidays? First there`s the shopping for new ornaments to add to your collection, then comes setting up the tree, decorating it, maybe putting a few special pieces in the yard, lights on the windows, a wreath on the door, artificial snow if you live somewhere warmer- even if you don`t do all of these, it`s still very time consuming.
Now imagine how much time has to be dedicated to decorating a 5-10 stories business central. What about storage- your homes festive attire might easily fit in a few boxes in the garage, but that`s certainly not the case with a bigger building. Skill set? Different standards apply to corporate Christmas decorations- there are trends to be observed without allowing them to conflict the overall style of the company, the items are often bigger and more complicated to install, specialized equipment is required sometimes- it`s definitely not what I`d call an easy task that can be done by anyone. It takes well trained professionals to do it right, yet their expertise would only be needed for a few weeks a year.
Which makes more sense- to keep around all the time, even though they`d have nothing to do, or to hire them on a when-needed basis?
Keith Kirkham splits her time between DIY furniture and writing for PHS Greenleaf. Check out for Christmas tree hire, some are perfect for home use, and others are everything corporate Christmas tree hire stands for.
