The top 7 benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines

If you have heard about outsourcing to The Philippines you probably know that the obvious benefit is massive cost savings. But, that is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more benefits to be had out of outsourcing and when you get your head around them it will totally change the way you view your business planning and strategy.

Read on for the Top 7 benefits of outsourcing to The Philippines (aside from cost savings):

1. Efficiency

   If done correctly outsourcing will improve your capacity to take on more work and your capability to deliver better quality. Both of these gains are a direct result of the efficiency benefits of integrating an outsourced team into your business. Outsourcing successfully forces you to properly document your processes, train your team appropriately and ensure the right people are working in the right jobs.

   Many of our customers attest that a properly trained Filipino team focused on the repeatable, process driven tasks are 30% more productive than their local team. This is due to the fact that these tasks are being done by people who were employed to do them. This is in contrast to your local Australian or U.S. team who more than likely applied for a job with you based on an advertisement and job description that outlined a role that is significantly different to what they are currently doing. Often we see staff employed to do certain jobs, only to end up being overwhelmed by administrative tasks.

2. Growth through lead generation

   The Philippines is classed as a developing country and as such they operate within a ‘low cost economy’. This means everything costs less than what it would cost locally. Which means, you can finally test and trial all of those sales and marketing ideas you have had over the years. We have successfully seen businesses deploy highly successful lead generation tactics from The Philippines including, over the phone appointment setters, solid inbound content marketing plans, list building and data mining projects.

   Nothing is truer than the saying ‘you need to spend money to make money’; and, this is certainly the case when you consider the impact of a strong sales and marketing function in any business. But, you need to make sure you are getting strong ROI, and it is much easier to realise this when you are investing in lower cost resources. A marketing mistake when executed from Australia or the U.S. could cost your business tens of thousands of dollars; however, testing and trialling different tactics at a lower cost allows you to identify what works and refine your marketing strategy.

3. Turning fixed costs into variable costs

   When you engage with offshore staff through Beepo, you are not employing staff directly; rather, you are entering into a contractual agreement with Beepo as your vendor. And the termination clause in the contract is 45 days. This means you can dial up and down the resourcing in your business quickly and easily without having to worry about the industrial relations risks or employing a HR advisor to assist you in doing it locally. This benefit does not only relate to the cost of wages within your business, but all of the other overheads that go along with employing someone directly such as:

   • Computer
   • Desk and chair
   • Office space
   • Internet and Telco
   • Superannuation
   • Workers compensation
   • Payroll and payroll tax
   • Recruitment and rehiring costs
   • Supervision
   • This list goes on!

4. Takes away people pain

   As alluded to above, when outsourcing to The Philippines you are not employing staff directly; you are working through Beepo. This means the staff are employed by Beepo; therefore, Beepo is responsible for managing the industrial relations and human resources aspects of that person’s employment. This means no more:

   • Recruiting
   • Performance management
   • Time in attendance
   • Leave applications
   • Workers compensation
   • Payroll
   • HR information systems
   • Employment offers and contracts
   • Again this list could on as well!

5. Frees up cash in your business to use to re-train, grow or save

   Due to the fact The Philippines is a low cost economy, by engaging with an outsourced team there, you can save around 60% - 80% on total employment costs. That means an employee in a country like Australia or the U.S. which may cost your business $50K salary PA + $50K in overheads PA (and that is conservative) could cost in The Philippines $25k PA in total!

   You can either look at this expense as a saving or an investment. My advice would be to look at it as an investment and think about how additional resources could boost your business performance through:

   • Supplementing your sales and marketing push
   • Taking the mundane, repetitive, process driven tasks off your local team; or
   • Testing and trialing a new idea you may have

6. Increase Employee Satisfaction

   Did you know that integrating an offshore team in The Philippines into your business can have positive benefits on the satisfaction of your local team? If you surveyed your local team and asked them what proportion of their day do they spend doing admin based tasks like completing forms, entering information into a database, calling customers or suppliers for extra details, chasing up arrears, booking travel, sending out eDMs, etc. what do you think the response would be? And do you think these are the sorts of tasks your team enjoy doing? Your local team are high cost resources, so they should be focused on returning high value back to your business. Through some simple resource allocation, you can easily:

   • Have you high cost employees working on high level, revenue generating projects
   • Have the mundane, repetitive, process driven tasks being completed more efficiently by a team that is happy to do them
   • And have a much happier and satisfied local team who will be more productive and incredibly well retained in your business.

7. Supercharge your Customer Experience

   An outsourced team in The Philippines, can help improve your customers’ experience through more touch points, better communication, faster turnaround times and increased customer support.

   You’ve probably heard it before, but your existing customer base is your best lead generator and it is also your best sales opportunity. I guarantee referrals from existing customers are the best leads you could ever hope for within your business. Referrals close quicker, are better customers and the cost of acquisition is much less than any other lead generation source.

   Don’t forget that as well as being great referrers, your customers should also be your best source of new sales. Do you know how effectively you are servicing your customers? How frequently do you talk to them and understand their business challenges? How well do your customers know what you do? Do your customers generally buy one thing off you and not realise that you have a whole suite of products and services that could assist them?

   The more touch points you have in your business including onboarding reviews, customer satisfaction surveys, regular customer newsletters and an account management function all go a long way to ensuring you are sticking close to the people that pay the bills - the customers. Unfortunately, in Australia or the U.S. to undertake all of these tasks requires a huge investment; and without knowing what it is that will be most successful in your business, that investment can be risky. But when investing in these tasks in a low cost economy the risk is much lower and you have much more agility to change tactics when required.

If done properly, outsourcing will improve your bottom line. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking it is only about saving money. Outsourcing is about utilising your money more efficiently. By viewing outsourcing as an investment you can improve many other key performance indicators within your business; not just the bottom line, and ultimately be incredibly more successful.

Hopefully, this has spiked your interest further in how an outsourced team can help you grow and scale your business. If you want to learn about the scope and breadth of skills available in The Philippines then download our eBook ‘The top 10 offshore roles you need now to boost your capability and grow your margins’.