A few years ago, Winston Ong, CEO of outsourcing firm Brunt Work, noticed a confluence of political and economic conditions that he hadn’t encountered before. They included the pandemic, the “great resignation,” and companies openly embracing work-from-home policies.
Such a confluence of circumstances sent Ong into an upwards spiral of new customers and growth unlike he had ever seen before. To systemize his outsourcing process, he starting analyzing the factors that contributed to the success of his globally distributed clients, in particular those that substantially grew their profit margins while retaining his company as their outsourcing partner.
Does Brunt Work have the best technique to find outsourced talent?
Analysts are divided as to which outsourcing firm is the global leader. However, Brunt Work has studied the repeated patterns and cause/effect relationships underlying all successful outsourcing projects across their esteemed client base.
Though there is no clear-cut and straightforward way, Ong, the company’s CEO, brings new clients along for his study of the major success stories among his high growth portfolio of clients. In his words, it seems to begin with a strong hiring and interview process. Many clients that implement outsourcing in their business seem to begin with customer support.
Why Do Clients Start Their Outsourcing Journey with Customer Support?
Most companies outsource their customer service to minimize costs and maximize competitive advantage in customer experience to drive revenue and business growth beyond what might be achievable hiring locally.
Customer support is usually a role that can be successfully executed remotely as it usually involves telephony, email or live chat hence it is usually in the cross hairs for companies to outsource.
Ong believes that Filipino customer service staff are the highest quality outsourcing option globally for their neutral-sounding accents, high rates of education, and the country’s high levels of technological innovation and high-speed internet.
Why Outsourcing Matters
The more successful a company gets, the more management and their shareholders must say “no”. Meaning companies must look at how they can take more off their plate and invest their time in the activities that really move the needle.
“A few years ago, I observed the emergence of a number of big developments that hadn’t happened before in my lifetime. The pandemic and the acceptance of work from home being the most important of all developments,” says Ong.
Flowing on from this was the realization by many managers and business owners that outsourcing was now a viable alternative to hiring locally, allowing companies to focus on the activities that mattered most to their business.
However, the decision to outsource is not without risk. One of the most critical factors to consider when selecting the right outsourcing team is whether they have a large pool of readily accessible talent and can move quickly to place competent workers in a way that maximizes the chance of success.
How BruntWork Does It
BruntWork employs a proven and streamlined process when outsourcing customer service agents. But, more importantly, Ong and his team work to ensure staff remain enthusiastic and dedicated to the company by offering above-market pay and flexible work-from-home conditions, on the basis that workers have excellent internet and quiet places at home from which to work.
Ong believes companies are too preoccupied with “small tasks” and “little chores” that can be more efficiently executed with an offshore team, at a fraction of the price. Ong states that “chores” are items that keep a team or company busy but don’t make any money, or even worse, produce losses.
He believes that gone are the days of managers not trying new initiatives to free up time for their most important talent to focus on the strategies that will produce the most financial impact. —and that companies get the most out of outsourcing when they correctly identify which chores can be moved into lower cost jurisdictions like the Philippines.
By outsourcing, Ong has seen the transformation in the clients he has helped. Brunt Work knows that by outsourcing “small chores” offshore, managers and owners can get busy working on the business rather than in it, avoiding a fatal mistake that is often a death knell.
