Having the right person for a job is crucial for any business. Decisions on staffing should be made with care as it reflects on the quality of work and customer service. In the current economic scenario, hiring more in-house, full-time workers would mean more office space, training expenses, higher electricity bills, and other costs. Position outsourcing or virtual staffing can provide the solution. With technological advancements and high-speed Internet connectivity, outsourcing support staff needs can increase your productivity and revenue.
According to a survey, law firms in the U.S. and U.K. view outsourcing of positions as an effective strategy to deliver quality services at reduced costs. The survey was conducted by Williams Lea, the global leader in specialized business process outsourcing solutions for law firms, and Sandpiper Partners, LLC, a recognized education and business consultancy for the legal industry.
It was found that the firms were already outsourcing some areas there was a lot of potential for cost savings if they opted for outside support for back office and administrative tasks such as document processing and secretarial support. Up to 31 of the respondents said that these were the target areas for back office support in 2014.
The goal of the survey was
- Help law firms understand their options to increase back office efficiency
- Help them understand the steps that their peers are maintain high profits and service levels
- Provide insight into how other law firms are managing back office costs, firm expectations around cost and budget increases in 2014
- Enable law firms to understand support areas that will impact cost reduction initiatives and use that knowledge to increase back office savings levels and efficiency
Key Benefits of Staff Outsourcing
A baseline of 10% savings was the minimum savings threshold for outsourcing a function for 85% of the respondents. However, more than two-thirds of respondents said that would want to see savings between 10 and 20% to consider seeking the support of a third party service provider.
The most important benefits that the firms expected to enjoy from outsourcing positions was increased profitability and improved productivity and efficiency. The perceived benefits among the firms were as follows:
- Increase in firm profitability – 23%
- Increase in productivity and efficiency – 23%
- Reduction of head count and overhead – 21%
- Achievement of higher service levels – 20%
- Utilization of state-of-the-art technology – 7%
- Improvement in business outcomes – 6%
The survey showed that in 2013, 79% of law firms faced the challenge of reducing service costs, compared with 66% the previous year.
