Every business needs “back office” services to insure that it runs smoothly and efficiently.  Accounting, IT services, shipping and handling, and delivery and distribution services are all important functions that every company needs just to stay in business. Unfortunately, sometimes a company’s managers find themselves spending so much time running the “back office” they don’t have enough time to devote to building relationships, increasing sales, and other activities that will grow the company, rather than just handling the emergency of the day.

Management guru Peter Drucker was the first to identify this problem. He advised companies to rid themselves of much of the time and expense of managing their back offices so that they could focus on their “front office,” the marketing and innovation that really brings in the profits.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that a company can do away with necessary services such as delivery and distribution.  It does mean that outsourcing those services rather than managing them in - house often saves time and money – ultimately improving the company’s bottom line.

Let’s use deliveries as an example and take a at the cost of running your own delivery department. How many full and part - time employees do you need to run this service in house? At the very least you may have a delivery person; possibly even a dispatcher and a manager to oversee the department - each one receiving a salary and benefits. Now, ask yourself how many hours a week you actually use these services. Worse yet, is the company that doesn’t have a very department, but instead uses core employees to perform this function.

Take, for example, a medical practice group that has two, three, or more offices. The group will often try to have their own internal people handle deliveries, have someone deliver items from one office to the next on their lunch hour or on the way home. This means that a nurse or administrative person who has a core function is leaving the business early, taking time away from their job.  It may even mean that several people are leaving early to make deliveries to different offices.  The end result is that each of these employees is losing focus and time to devote to their core function in the business.  The bottom line: the patients, the real focus of the business, suffer.

By outsourcing to a courier company whose core function is deliveries, the medical office can decrease internal problems, refocus, and become more productive at the same cost, or possibly even less than they were spending by doing it themselves.

Storage and logistics services can also make it easier for a company to break into a new market. For instance, if a manufacturer or equipment supplier wants to expand its market base to a new city they can use a storage and logistics service company to cut down on start - up costs. Instead of opening a full - service office in the new location, it can begin operations with just a sales staff, outsourcing the storage and delivery of equipment and drastically cutting start - up costs or reducing overall operating costs.

Companies that sell products over the internet often get mired in the details of managing the business by attempting to handle the fulfillment themselves. This creates a huge learning curve in the technical/IT aspects of the company, as well as the shipping.

Owner of xkcd.com, the largest web - comic internet site in the world, quickly learned that handling his own fulfillment or back room activities was not the best use of his time. “We learned very early on, that if we spent more time focusing on growing our business, that the potential would be greater. Outsourcing has helped us grow exponentially.”

Why should you and your people waste valuable time managing services that don’t bring any profit to your business?  Outsourcing these services will not only save you time; it will decrease your costs and improve your efficiency. The bottom line: outsourcing your delivery, storage and distribution services will improve your bottom line.

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ERIC BROWN, CEO of Mobile One Courier & Logistics, started his company 14 years ago as a same day courier service. Today in Hampton Roads, Mobile One has a staff of over 60 people. Diversified in providing total logistics solutions for businesses, Eric’s company specializes in providing distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment solutions. Eric hopes to help businesses grow more efficiently by leveraging their time through outsourcing. This can ultimately help companies to grow their top line and focus on their core business rather than their “backroom.”