Almost All Small Businesses Outsource Work in 2022, New Research Finds

Staff Report

Wednesday, April 20th, 2022

Clutch, an established B2B reviews and ratings platform, surveyed 1,003 small business owners and managers and discovered that 90% plan to outsource business tasks in 2022, compared to 80% in 2021.

The benefits of outsourcing, like efficiency and flexibility, are attracting more small businesses as remote work becomes the new normal. Respondents are planning to outsource business services such as IT (27%), digital marketing (24%), legal (23%), finance (23%), development (21%), and customer support (19%).

90% of small businesses plan to outsource business tasks in 2022.
90% of small businesses plan to outsource business tasks in 2022.
What services are small businesses outsourcing in 2022.
What services are small businesses outsourcing in 2022.
In this report, Clutch examines perspectives of small business owners and managers on their outsourcing experiences. This annual report gauges how well outsourced firms and freelancers fit into modern small business strategies.

2022 Benefits of Outsourcing for Small Businesses Data

The Clutch team found the following top outsourcing benefits for small businesses in 2022

Saving time — 27% of small businesses are most motivated to outsource to improve their efficiency and save time.
Supporting various business processes — 90% of small businesses plan to outsource in at least one support area in 2022.
Accessing flexible resources — 33% of small businesses outsource in order to access flexible resources.
Working with experts — 26% of companies with 10 employees or fewer outsource mostly in the hopes of working with an expert.
Collaborating with domestic or international partners — 56% of small businesses that planned to outsource in 2021 did so onshore.
Discovering nearshore companies — 21% of small businesses outsourcing tasks in 2022 intend to hire a nearshore company.
Growing a business — 19% of small businesses with 251 to 500 employees primarily outsource to scale their business.
James Surrey, Founder of Review Home Warranties, a company that helps buyers find home warranties, uses outsourced workers to write, fact check, and publish home warranty reviews.

"If our staff were to publish every review piece by ourselves, the publication rate of new reviews would be a snail's pace," Surrey said. "This would significantly delay our ability to reach new readers and potential customers."