The 10 world’s largest companies that outsource to boost growth

How outsourcing propels companies into growth and innovation

In most cases, it’s not about a part of the job or business process you don’t enjoy doing; it’s more about having an unbiased eye on the way you operate. Plus, running a business involves too many moving parts to keep your focus and objective clear. While some companies are only discovering the beauty of business outsourcing, others (like Google, Slack, and Alibaba) are already experiencing mindblowing growth by leveraging outstaffing models.

Today, we want to share amazing cases of success that make us — a staffing company
— inspired and motivated to keep on growing businesses.

What are examples of outsourcing?

While weighing up the idea of implementing outsourcing or outstaffing in your business model, you’re most likely to think of the three aspects: who does it, why they do it, and for what companies it actually works. In one of our previous blog posts, we were talking about the major reasons why companies switch to outstaffing, comparing the most popular centers of distributed work.

Of course, one of the most common fields to outsource, you guessed it, is IT. Still, it’s not limited to the tech industry. So what is outsourcing and why might a company practice outsourcing? Let’s have a look at the major services to find out which processes and jobs are outsourced the most and what percentage of companies outsource payroll.

IT outsourcing

Сompanies hire remote IT specialists to satisfy their specific IT-related needs. It can be short or long-term cooperation intended for anything from small to large enterprises. From network maintenance and tech infrastructure support to development processes, companies can get the required expertise in the field they operate.

Professional outsourcing

Professional outsourcing is a broad term encompassing the ultimate specialized services for companies. They may include marketing, accounting, administration, management, and whatever responsibility companies want to delegate or perform under professional assistance. At Zelh, we provide a complete set of business assistance outstaffing services so that our customers can focus on their core objectives while filling the business gaps.

Business process

Many companies start their offshoring experience with BPO. As companies evolve, the number of their operational routine activities grows too, and to keep everything running smoothly, some of the routine operations can be left up to outstaffing experts. While it can be anything from administrations to scheduling, customer service is the most popular choice for this service.

Project outsourcing

There’s a common scenario that many businesses face in different phases of project development: at some point, the team expertise is not enough to complete a certain task like, let’s say, website design, specialized content, or marketing campaigns. In such cases, hiring another member for just one project would be a waste of resources, and that’s where project outsourcing plays big.

Manufacturing outsourcing

When it comes to production and manufacturing, offshoring allows for major resource savings in terms of equipment, infrastructure, workers, and raw materials. Instead of investing in equipment upgrade, businesses can allocate the costs wisely by outsourcing the production to companies providing the required conditions as a service.

The top 10 companies that succeed outsourcing

Now that we’ve briefly discussed the basics about outsourcing and outstaffing, let’s get to the point. What are some companies that outsource? You’re certainly no stranger to the brands and enterprises whose outsourcing stories we’re going to share today.

Google

Google needs no introduction: people all around the globe use their products and services on daily, both for personal use and business purposes, not to mention the most commonly used search engine. This company sets trends and standards that help other businesses change for the better and evolve. And, at the same time, it’s one of the biggest US companies that outsource jobs overseas. Judging by the way Google takes over the digital world, we can only conclude that these guys are doing something right, and outsourcing some of their services is definitely part of the plan.

In fact, they’re the ones who have been doing it for years, long before the model became the new normal. In 2011, they already had over 1000 remote workers from 60 different countries. While performing their core tasks in local offices, they’ve been doing a great job outsourcing certain activities like Virtual Assistant, IT & development-related work, and AdWord support.

Microsoft

Again, the name of the company does the talking: the number of services and products that Microsoft makes is beyond impressive. From gaming consoles to software for people and businesses, the company gives life to products that are on everyone’s lips. And, as you might have guessed, it’s on the list of American companies that outsource staff globally.

Similar to Google, Microsoft has been implementing the outstaffing model for about 20 years, leaving all their internal support and IT matters like desktop management to Infosys.

Apple

It’s no secret that Apple designs their products in California but manufactures them in China. And that’s one of the most prominent examples of manufacturing outsourcing to
a trusted partner with greater equipment and bigger opportunity for product creation. However, China is not the only country partnering with the tech company. Besides Chinese tech factories, Apple also outsources thousands of jobs to Korea, Mongolia, and Taiwan.

In 2011, the tech giant sold 70 billion iPhones, and none of them were manufactured in the USA. Currently, more than 95% of Apple production is assembled in China, and, as stated in a recent analysis, the iPhone could cost $30.000 per unit if they were to produce goods in America.

Slack

Slack is another impressive case of a perfectly leveraged outsourcing. By the way, they did it most unusually! Let us guess: you use Slack for your team communication and love it for the amazingly convenient design, user-friendly interface, and flawless functionality.

Started as a 4-man team, Slack was launched in 2013. But before the official launch, the founders cooperated with an outsourcing design agency for beta testing. In that way, Slack gained crucial feedback that contributed to the creation of a $2.8 billion product, which, in turn, surpassed its competitors and satisfied thousands of users. Now, it’s used in offices worldwide, as well as by companies that outsource.

Skype

When Skype showed up on the market, they took online communication to a whole new level: one could easily connect with their friends, families, and colleagues via phone or chat, wherever the person is. They’d been working on their product to make it compatible with business needs, and now, Skype is known as a leader in the business communication industry.

The outsourcing story of the company began at the back-end development stage. They outsourced app development to Estonian developers that became their partners after the product’s release. Their success was quite significant, though: in 2011, Skype was acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion.

Final thoughts

Outsourcing your business or some of its processes allows you to break the geographical boundaries and get scalable faster. After all, why focus on the local talent pool when you aim to reach the global market?

For companies that outsource, it all comes down to finding the right professional or a team of skilled people that fit your project requirements and budgeting framework. If you search globally with the help of a trusted partner, the chances to succeed are high.

And if you have no idea where to start, Zelh will be there to help. We’ve got it all covered for companies who want to grow fast and smart: from development to management, we will take care of your business objectives!