A Full Guide to External Services All Thriving Businesses Should Use

Thriving businesses rely on services and they use them all the time.

External services can be a great way to cut down on the amount of time you spend doing administrative work so that you can focus more on your business and what you actually enjoy doing. But some entrepreneurs might not know which external services they should outsource so here's a useful guide on the external services every thriving business needs. 

Finance

Finance is one of the many things that thriving businesses need to get right. You can use accounting agencies or freelancers for your payment processing solutions, bookkeeping, taxes, etc. As the folks at Accredited Interchange explain, outsourcing these services will save you valuable time and money. So if you're not great with numbers then it's probably best for you to outsource them instead of spending hours on end trying to work out your budgets and sales projections. 

Customer Service

This is another hugely important aspect of running a business and it's one that many businesses end up outsourcing. Customer service is extremely important but it can also be expensive to hire someone full-time. If you can't afford to hire someone full-time, then using a customer service company with a support staff that lives in your country will help your business grow and expand. This way, you won't have any problems with communication or language barriers and they'll be able to provide detailed answers to questions from clients without making them feel like they're being rushed.

Social Media

Social media might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you're considering outsourcing services but it should be. Social media is an important marketing tool and will help your business grow. It's really important that you keep on top of social media sites like Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat etc. It'll take up a lot of your time if you try to do it yourself so, instead of spending your valuable hours on social media sites, hire someone to manage your social media for you.

Legal

Any business has legal needs. You need to hire an in-house lawyer or get a legal department. If you need an attorney for legal advice, you can contact a law firm or hire an independent contractor.  They can be an affordable way of getting legal help and advice for your business when you need it the most. You can have them look over contracts before you sign them to make sure they are legally binding and that there are no loopholes in the contracts. It's also really important that you have all of your company documents in order so that an attorney can assist with everything from SAQ's, letters of incorporation, and more.

Cyber Security

In the wake of high-profile attacks on both small and large businesses alike, cyber security is something that should be taken very seriously. You could outsource a whole IT department if you wanted to but chances are your business doesn't really need all of those people. Instead, consider hiring an IT security consultant to make sure that you're protected against cybercriminals and hackers. This way, you'll have a seasoned IT professional who can review your current IT security and offer up suggestions for how you can improve it.

Outsourcing is something that many businesses choose to do and it's a great way of getting work done when you can't do it yourself. Whether you outsource your knowledge, your IT and internet services, or even customer service, these types of outsourced jobs can really help take some pressure off the rest of the business.