While the cost savings that outsourcing can provide are widely recognized, many business leaders worry about losing control of key processes, according to a study published late last month.

The IBR found that 60 percent of global businesses have no immediate plans to outsource a business process. Outsourcing is least prevalent in Southeast Asia (26 percent), Eastern Europe (31 percent) and the Nordic countries (33 percent).

Trinh Thi Tuyet Anh, Director of Outsourcing at Grant Thornton Vietnam, said: 'Outsourcing is a helpful tool in restructuring manpower; freeing resources from administration and re-allocating them to operations. Accordingly, the enterprise can benefit from lower payroll costs without sacrificing output capacity. Senior leaders of these lean, dynamic organizations also have more time to on the strategic priorities for their business.'

Among those businesses which currently or plan to outsource, 57 percent claimed they did so to improve efficiency, marginally ahead of reducing cost (55 percent).

“The results clearly show that outsourcing is worthy of serious consideration,” Anh said.

Outsourcing can also allow business to tap into skills and expertise that might not necessarily be as readily available in the local labor market, she added.

Bao Van