What Should We Outsource?
Choose a practical starting workflow
Start by considering recurring work with a clear output, explainable quality standards and responsibilities you can hand over. Then review the workload, management effort and decisions your team needs to retain.
Use this worksheet to compare tasks and decide what to discuss, prepare or keep internal.
No registration required. Review your answers, download your worksheet or print a copy.
Move from “we need help” to a clearer decision
Your business may have several competing needs: campaign work is building up, creative requests keep interrupting your team, or administration is taking time away from other priorities.
You do not need to outsource everything at once.
List the work, consider how it is delivered today and identify a starting scope. The worksheet helps you record your reasoning without assigning an automatic suitability score.
What should you consider before outsourcing a task?
| Consideration | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Workload | How much work is involved, and how often does it occur? |
| Management effort | How much time do you spend coordinating, chasing or correcting it? |
| Repeatability | Can the work follow a consistent process? |
| Quality | Can you explain what an acceptable result looks like? |
| Business importance | How would a delay or error affect your operations? |
| Decision-making | Which approvals or judgements must remain with your team? |
| Handover | What instructions, examples and access would a provider need? |
These questions support a scope discussion. Important work or sensitive information needs suitable arrangements; it is not automatically included or excluded.
Examples of work to explore
Marketing operations: Preparing campaigns, scheduling approved content and maintaining agreed reports.
Creative production: Adapting approved artwork, editing supplied footage and producing recurring assets.
Business administration: Updating records, processing agreed information and maintaining documentation.
Workflow automation: Reviewing repetitive steps and exceptions to identify what might be automated.
These are examples for discussion, not confirmation that every task is suitable or included in a service.
How the worksheet works
Set your objective.
Describe the improvement you want.
List the tasks.
Record workload, frequency and current effort.
Review suitability.
Consider quality, decisions, access and handover.
Choose your next action.
Discuss outsourcing, prepare first, keep internal, explore automation or leave undecided.
Select a starting scope.
Shortlist up to three tasks and record preparation actions.
Your choices remain yours. The worksheet does not calculate savings, rank providers or automatically decide what you should outsource.
Compare your recurring work
Your answers are not submitted to HiredVietnam. Download or print a copy to keep your work; answers are not retained after refreshing or closing this page.
Describe the work without entering passwords, customer records or sensitive operational data.
Your answers are not submitted to HiredVietnam. Download or print a copy to keep your work; answers are not retained after refreshing or closing this page.
No passwords, API keys, live customer information or confidential document contents. Describe categories of information instead.
1. Set your objective
Describe the change you want to see. No financial estimate is required.
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2. List recurring tasks
List work that takes time or needs more consistent delivery. Use one row per task or closely related workflow.
3. Review suitability
Sensitive information, important work or a need for judgement does not automatically rule out outsourcing. These answers identify responsibilities and requirements to discuss.
Add a task to begin comparing your work
4. Compare and choose
Review the tasks side by side. Choose your next action for each one; the worksheet does not decide for you.
- Consider for a scope discussion: You can describe the output and identify how the work could be handed over.
- Prepare first: Instructions, quality expectations, access or approval responsibilities need clarification.
- Keep internal for now: You want to retain the work or its decisions within your business.
- Explore automation: A repeatable part of the workflow may warrant a separate automation discussion.
- Not decided: More information is needed.
Automation and managed delivery can coexist; a category records the next discussion, not a permanent service-model decision.
Add a task to begin comparing your work
0 of 1,000 characters
5. Plan the next step
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Download or print your worksheet before closing this page.
Frequently asked questions
What tasks should a small business consider outsourcing first?
Consider work that has a clear output, occurs regularly and takes meaningful time to deliver or coordinate. Review whether you can explain the requirements and retain the approvals your business needs.
Should we outsource the task that takes the most time?
Time is one consideration. Also assess quality requirements, business importance, decision-making and handover. A time-consuming task may need preparation before a provider can take responsibility for it.
What should we keep in-house?
Record the decisions and activities you want your own team to retain, such as business priorities, spending authority or final approvals. The boundary depends on the service scope and the responsibilities you agree.
Can we outsource a process that is not fully documented?
You can identify it as a candidate and mark the preparation needed. Instructions, examples or a walkthrough may be necessary before ongoing delivery can be scoped.
How is this different from the readiness checklist?
This worksheet helps you choose which work to explore. The readiness checklist helps you assess preparation for a selected workflow. The service brief then captures your detailed requirements.
Is the worksheet free to use?
Yes. No registration is required. You can review the answers, download a Markdown copy or print through your browser.
Will completing it contact HiredVietnam?
No. The worksheet does not send your responses. Use the contact link separately when you want to discuss a starting scope.
Related resources
Turn your shortlist into a service brief
Once you have selected a workflow, describe its outputs, workload and responsibilities in the Managed Services Brief Template (opens in a new tab).
If you need to resolve preparation gaps first, use the Outsourcing Readiness Checklist (opens in a new tab).
Bring your shortlisted tasks to a conversation about scope, delivery responsibilities and budget.
