This article is excerpted from the exclusive Mavenlink ebook, Thriving in a Service Level Economy.

Not too long ago, businesses valued owning their resources above all else. They did everything themselves. They hired and managed large workforces, assembled their own operational and recruiting capabilities, and built and maintained all of their own technology resources.

Ownership created the perception of greater control.

Today’s speed, complexity, growing competition, and global nature of business have rendered this approach inadequate and ripe for innovation. With rapid evolution in markets and competition, organizations must become continuously more lean and agile. They must scale up and down more quickly while simultaneously managing costs, resources, and margins more precisely.

An economy once dominated by global manufacturers and enterprise heavyweights is now increasingly supplemented by and reliant upon service providers.

Data reinforces this reality:

• Services-delivery jobs have grown steadily over the past 25 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS)
• Inc.’s “Fastest Growing Companies” list now features more services-based businesses than any other industry sector
• According to a study by Intuit, 40 percent of American workers will be contractors, service providers, and freelancers by 2020.

We see the effects of this change in every industry.

• Marketing departments frequently employ external agencies and freelance talent.
• Businesses increasingly depend on outside IT firms and cloud providers to manage data and technology.
• And countless organizations rely on outside call centers, legal teams, fulfillment centers, engineering teams, and myriad other services providers to deliver their full workforce needs.

Why globalize resources?

The benefits are clear. External service providers allow a business to tap the right skills and resources at the right moment, without the larger investments of time and cost associated with recruiting, training, and managing resources internally.

Organizations can therefore stay lean and focus on their core business functions while leveraging highly specialized expertise that helps drive their businesses forward.

It’s model that maximizes flexibility and speed while optimizing costs — hallmarks of success in the 21st century.  

For more about how to get the most out of a global resource pool, download your exclusive ebook from Mavenlink, Thriving in the Service Level Economy.