Tech startup outsourcing

Tech startup outsourcing for operations/admin

Tech startups will invariably have some processes which are not fully automated and require human input at some stage or another. This is where the operations/admin team comes in, especially for pre Series A startups where staff are multifunctional and systems are not yet fully developed. A few examples may include:

  • completing orders
  • dealing with suppliers and supply chain management
  • onboarding, customer support and resolving issues
  • analysing data and looking for ways to improving efficiency
  • streamlining processes
  • fire fighting and fixing a million and one problems affecting the business

The key to operations is that they keep the business going whilst also helping it to grow and get better at delivering their products and services.

The benefits of moving fast

The best lean startups move very fast to beat rivals to corner new markets ripe for disruption.

As soon as they have an MVP platform or app they’ll launch.

But they’re not always fully ready, there’s always a toss up between developing further and adding new features and the delays that this causes.

So what many tech startups have done is to use manual input from human staff as a stopgap solution to perform operations whilst their developers work on algorithms and automating processes.

For example, a well known receipt scanning app used to say “processing” for many hours until an invoice was analysed and coded for accounting purposes. Did their servers really need 5 hours to analyse a simple pdf? No, what they were doing was to use human staff in the background.

They did eventually develop an automated system to do the analysis much quicker. But by launching early they were able to gain traction and test the market. Once they were ready to launch properly they already had a loyal customer base and were able to grow bigger with a marketing push and lower prices due to lower costs.

If they’d waited until their automated process was fully ready they would have missed the boat and a rival would have led the market.

But as a tech startup outsourcing operations they were able to become market leaders.

Lean startups and outsourcing

Tech startups can minimise cash burn and maximise staff effectiveness by hiring a high calibre operations manager or COO inhouse to focus on strategy and heading up operations and then outsource to us.

If manual processes can be somewhat standardised or turned into a process, ie “if X happens, do Y” then much of the work can then be outsourced to an operations team.

Hiring staff in the UK will cost at least £20,000-£30,000 annually per staff member and they’ll also require time off for holidays and sickness.

Outsourcing can slash the cost to something like £9,000 and startups could hire a whole team of 3 for the price of 1 inhouse staff. This also means they don’t have to worry about holidays or sickness.

How can we help?

We are already doing this for several tech and fintech startups using our high calibre team in Bangladesh and have a waiting list of staff who want to join us because they’ve heard about how great our office is.

We can take over any manual, back office or operations processes and help you to launch quicker, save money and focus on growing the business.

Click here for more details about how our tech startup outsourcing works.

 

By Mohammed Haque

Mohammed is a chartered accountant (ICAEW) with many years of experience in dealing with complex audit, accounting and tax matters.

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