In the past two decades, we’ve seen how the business-to-business relationships of companies have grown from a convenient partnership to one of the essential relationships in managing and running a business. There is strong and continued growth of third-party logistics (3PL) companies primarily because it is easier and cheaper for business to tap their resources rather than build one of their own.
Transportation
Businesses use third-party solutions for their transportation needs. They even outsource driver leasing services so that they don’t have to employ drivers and trucking and delivery crew anymore. Instead of investing in their own delivery services, trucks, drivers, mechanics, and many more, businesses find 3PL companies that can provide them with trucks, delivery vans, drivers, and courier services.
Warehouses
Retail companies are saddled with the need to keep up with their inventory and find the items in the different warehouses that they keep. What many of them do now is to outsource their warehousing needs to a logistic company that can manage their inventory and update their systems regularly to reflect what they have and don’t have in stores and stockrooms.
This is one of the main benefits of outsourcing a part of the company operations. Even core business operations such as inventories can be managed by a 3PL company. It allows the business’ employees to focus on growing the business and marketing its products and services to target customers.
Technology
Instead of hiring their own computer programmers and IT specialists, most companies prefer to outsource these services to other tech companies. This is especially true if the nature of the business has nothing to do with IT. Most business owners and managers find it hard to understand the technical aspect of running the company. They worry about cloud storage, hacking, and ransomware when they don’t even understand what these can do to a company’s data.
The best thing for them to do is to have someone else handle this side of the business. Just make sure that you’re partnering with a reputable IT company that will not compromise the integrity of the company’s business data.
Labor
A company can outsource its labor force, too. Many businesses decide to hire temporary workers during seasonal spikes in sales. If you’re in the retail industry, it will do you good to outsource workers during the Christmas season. But what need would you have of these workers once the holiday ends? Outsourcing workers means that you are not tied down to them, whether in terms of job security or compensation.
Maintenance
It used to be that businesses would hire cleaners to keep their offices and stores squeaky clean. But because many companies now offer B2B maintenance services, businesses decided that it is no longer wise and practical for them to hire their own maintenance crew.
There are many advantages to using 3PL companies. It is no wonder this industry has ballooned in recent years. If you want to focus more on your core business and reduce the cost and time you spend on hiring and training workers, you should seriously consider using 3PL companies.
