Top 5 Ways Offshore Outsourcing Solutions Empower Both Startups and Forbes-Ranked Businesses

The COVID-19 outbreak has changed the way businesses of all sizes operate. Due to pandemic-related restrictions, companies had to shift their operations to digital channels, maintain efficiency, and improve their customer experience without spending a fortune. For these reasons, offshore outsourcing solutions became a powerful and valuable tool for many brands.

Offshore outsourcing in the Philippines, in particular, has been booming. The country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) sector has been cited as one of its economic pillars during the pandemic, allowing Filipino workers to maintain steady employment while helping foreign investors keep their businesses afloat.

From small businesses to large corporations, offshore outsourcing solutions have benefited them all. If you’re not convinced, let’s take a closer look at the various advantages that offshore outsourcing brings to the table. We’ll also cover the particular business functions that companies can outsource.

It is not unheard of for startups to scale dramatically in this current era, swiftly gaining a valuation of a billion dollars in the blink of an eye. These so-called “unicorn” companies are not just a fantasy; they are organizations that have realized the key to rapid growth.

What is their secret to achieving “unicorn” status? One of the ways is through offshore outsourcing solutions.

Let’s look at an example of a “unicorn” organization: Uber, a popular ride-hailing platform used in many countries worldwide, works so well because their critical functions occur outside their core organization. Instead of handling everything in-house, they utilize offshore outsourcing solutions for their driver-passenger matching function.

Offshoring allows companies like Uber to scale rapidly by expanding their workforce and workload capacity without increasing overhead costs. Through offshore outsourcing solutions, fresh startups can skip the trial-and-error process and avoid developmental costs by handing over their business functions to capable outsourced professionals.

What do companies like Google and Microsoft have in common? Not only are these both large, well-established enterprises that provide products and services that nearly everyone uses or has heard of, but they also utilize offshore outsourcing solutions to their advantage.

Google has reported having more outsourced workers than direct employees. They use temps, contractors, and vendors to access expertise and resources that they do not have in-house, allowing them to remain competitive and profitable year after year.

On the other hand, Microsoft has an estimated employee-to-contractor ratio of 1:1, meaning that they have just as many outsourced workers as they do in-house employees. Offshore outsourcing solutions providers supplement expertise and skills beyond the company’s typical scope, reducing the workload of direct employees without affecting their day-to-day operations.

The lesson to be learned here is that even large companies depend on offshore outsourcing solutions for their success. So, if you run a small startup and want to compete with the big players, take this lesson to heart and invest in your business growth with help from the right offshoring providers.

According to Deloitte, around 70% of businesses say that cost reduction is their top reason for outsourcing. In the face of a pandemic that shook the global economy, saving money can spell the difference between a company that stays afloat and one that sinks into debt and bankruptcy. Through offshore outsourcing solutions, businesses can retain their competitive edge without breaking the bank.

Here’s an example to highlight the difference between onshore and offshore outsourcing costs: When you opt for onshore outsourcing in the United States, the average call center pricing would be $20 to $30 per hour. However, if you work with an offshore call center in the Philippines, the cost would drop significantly to about $8 to $14 per hour!

One of the biggest challenges of setting up an in-house team is finding the right workers, hiring and training them, and developing the necessary infrastructure to accommodate your growing workforce. The entire process can take up so much of your time, money, and resources, diverting attention from your core business.

By opting for offshore outsourcing solutions, you can skip these steps and gain access to a skilled workforce with the expertise and resources you need. You can focus on what you do best while having peace of mind that an experienced outsourced team is handling your other business functions.

Digital solutions are shaping the future, and businesses that adapt to these continually evolving trends will reap the benefits in the long run. Speed, quality, and flexibility are becoming more important than geography in business, so offshore outsourcing solutions are paving the way for brands to future-proof their operations.

Providers of offshore outsourcing solutions typically utilize the latest technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, and cloud technology. These technologies help enhance the productivity, efficiency, and agility of businesses that partner with outsourcing firms.

Now that we understand the benefits of offshore outsourcing, let’s look at which business functions are typically outsourced. For many companies that opt for offshore staffing in the Philippines, these are the most common outsourced services:

Customer support is one of the most frequently outsourced business functions. And one example of a company that decided to outsource customer service is Google.

In previous sections, we’ve discussed the fact that Google utilized offshore outsourcing solutions to their advantage. Let’s dive into this a bit more. In 2000, Google launched AdWords (now rebranded as Google Ads). The company was quickly overrun with support tickets and received mixed-to-negative feedback about its customer service.

In 2011, Google invested in email and phone customer support, outsourcing call centers from several parts of the world. They quickly handled more than 10,000 calls a week by opting for offshore outsourcing solutions, efficiently addressing customer concerns and questions. This decision only improved their reputation among customers, but they also gained a significant return on their investment. 

To this day, Google remains one of the most popular and enduring tech giants. Their decision to outsource offshore customer service in the Philippines and other countries is one of the reasons for their continued success.

Another business function you can leave in the capable hands of offshore outsourcing solutions professionals is recruitment. Talent acquisition is a time-consuming and sometimes tedious process, but it cannot be rushed at the expense of finding quality hires. After all, your workforce is essential to the success of your business.

Recruitment process outsourcing or RPO can take the stress off your shoulders. Instead of taking time and resources away from your core competencies, you can focus on what you do best and let an experienced RPO team take care of your recruitment needs.

Since more and more businesses are transitioning to digital, IT offshore outsourcing solutions are becoming more in-demand. In 2017, the most commonly outsourced IT function was software development at 64%, followed by software application maintenance at 51%. 

Industry analysts expect the global market for IT outsourcing to continue growing at a compound annual rate of 7.7% between 2020 and 2027. The increasing need for digitization, data security, and enterprise architecture in business fuels the demand for these particular offshore outsourcing solutions.

To illustrate how valuable programming and software development outsourcing can be, let’s look at one real-world example: Slack, a software company that developed a workplace communication platform, kept its development in-house. However, the founders realized early on that their platform was not the first of its kind. There were already other business or workplace chat apps on the market.

So, how did Slack differentiate itself from its competitors? They leveraged offshore outsourcing solutions, consulting with outside experts to tweak the UX/UI of their app. The result was that their app’s interface had a look, sound, and feel different from industry norms and felt fresh to its user base. Outsourcing made all the difference in helping Slack stand out, and it propelled them ahead of other similar companies.

Having a highly efficient back-office operation can help empower the rest of your departments to function at their best. As such, many businesses find it valuable to utilize back-office offshore outsourcing solutions. Some of the back-office functions you can outsource include: 

• Virtual Assistants
• Accounting
• Fraud Prevention
• Content Moderation
• Content Creation
• Data Entry
• Bookkeeping
• Claim Processing
• Supply Chain Management

Ready to take your business to the next level? Partner with the professional team at SuperStaff BPO. We offer a variety of offshore outsourcing solutions, from customer support to e-commerce services. 

We know how best to position your brand for global success with over a decade of experience working with businesses of all sizes, from startups to Forbes-ranked enterprises. Reach out today, and let’s talk about how our offshore outsourcing solutions can help you!