Outsource a whole process or just the tasks in it?

Key takeaways

When you decide whether to outsource a process or tasks, the difference is what you hand over. Task outsourcing hands over instructions: do this step, this way. Process outsourcing hands over an outcome: supplier invoices paid accurately and on time. Process outsourcing needs more set-up but much less day-to-day management, because the provider owns the steps in between.

• Task outsourcing: you manage the steps and the handoffs.
• Process outsourcing: the provider manages the steps; you manage the outcome.
• Tasks suit small, scattered work; processes suit steady volume.
• Most SMEs start with tasks and move to processes within a year.

What is the difference between process and task outsourcing?

Task outsourcing hands a provider a defined piece of work inside a process you still run, such as keying invoices into the accounts. Process outsourcing hands over the whole sequence from trigger to output, such as receiving, checking, coding, matching and queuing invoices for payment. With tasks, you remain the joining point between steps. With a process, the provider is.

• Which business processes should you outsource?
• What is a business process? A plain guide for SMEs

Which one costs you less management time?

Process outsourcing, once it is running. Each outsourced task creates two handoffs, one in and one out, and someone in your team has to manage both. A process with five tasks outsourced separately can mean ten handoffs a cycle. Outsourced as one process, it has one input and one output, and you review results against agreed measures instead of chasing steps.

• Count the handoffs each option creates.
• Estimate who in your team manages each one.
• Compare that time with the provider's hours.

• Process handoffs: why every extra handover adds cost
• End-to-end process outsourcing: when one owner wins

When is task outsourcing the better choice?

Task outsourcing is better when the work is small and scattered, when the surrounding process is still changing, or when you want to test a provider before handing over more. It is also the right choice when one step needs a skill you lack, such as transcription or image editing, inside a process that otherwise works well.

• Which tasks a small business should outsource
• Task bundling: turn scattered small jobs into one role
• Recurring tasks vs one-off projects: what to outsource

What does each option cost?

Both are usually priced by the hour or by the item. Indicative managed offshore rates run about £9–£18 an hour. In an illustrative example, five invoice tasks outsourced separately take 12 provider hours and 4 hours of your manager's time a week. The same work as one process takes 11 provider hours and 1 hour of review. The provider bill is similar; the management saving is the difference.

• BPO cost per hour in the UK
• Work out your cost per task before you outsource

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a firm outsources data entry, then invoice chasing, then reconciliations, each to a different freelancer. Within months the owner is the only person who knows how they fit together. Re-scoping the three tasks as one process with one owner usually fixes that.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Process or task: a quick checklist

Choose process outsourcing when most of these are true.

• The work runs every week in steady volume.
• The steps follow each other without your input.
• You can define the output and check it.
• One provider can access every system needed.
• You want to manage results, not steps.

• The process selection score: outsource, split or keep?
• Process dependencies: map them before you hand over

Next step

Tell us which tasks you are outsourcing today or plan to. We will show you whether they form a process worth handing over as one, and what that would change in your week.