The goal of any successful business should be constant improvements. Even for the leader in any industry, if they’re not trying to consistently do better eventually they’ll lose their spot at the top. Strategic sourcing is one of the management solutions business use to grow and develop by re-evaluating the internal processes and tracking spending. Many companies have an entire workforce management system in place to coordinate such matters, while most small businesses can usually manage with one or two people keeping track of such matters. Here are three areas quality strategic sourcing can have a big impact on your business.

1.) Payroll: Every business with employees, no matter the size, has to deal with payroll. They wouldn’t have a workforce very long if they didn’t. While this is something large corporations should be able to do on their own, small businesses, especially those with less than 20 employees, should think about outsourcing their payroll needs. According to Inc. magazine, payroll is the number one function for small businesses to outsource. It’s generally just not worth the time or money to have an entire system in place in-house when there are companies available to do it for you. As long as you aren’t spending more than 20 to 30% of gross revenue on it the strategic sourcing of payroll is a sound procurement process.


2.) Freelance: No matter what your business there’s a good chance you’ll need some kind of copy, marketing material, internal newsletters, and other various content produced. Unless you’re in a similar industry like journalism or advertising most small businesses won’t be able to afford a permanent staff of in-house writers. That’s what freelancers and contract workers are for, about 90% of firms use some type of freelance talent. Forming a good relationship with a quality pool of talent that you can hire when you need specific work is a great strategic sourcing utilization.


3.) Social Media: This one may seem out of place as you probably don’t think social media can save you money directly per se, but there are ways to benefit from it. The first way it can save you is through free advertising. Besides that though one survey found the 37% of global recruiting leaders believe social media is the, “most essential” recruiting trend that will impact the talent landscape in 2015. It allows potential talent to find and view you, as well as allowing you the ability to scout and analyze the potential talent.