Filed under: Advantages/Disadvantages of Outsourcing/BPO
With the economy showing signs of recovery TPL is looking forward to 2010. As more businesses look forward to financial growth, many are starting to consider the option of outsoucing. True to the old adage, spend money to make money, making an early investment in outsourcing truly pays off. Many companies that outsourced early fared better during the recession and now is a better time then ever to start building a relationship with your outsourcing provider.
The TPL management team is going on a team building retreat in November to the beautiful beaches of Mui Ne to discuss all the exciting changes happening in 2010…stay tuned for more!
Given the tough times in the past year, many US citizens have turned to living and working abroad not only for the new perspective but also because it makes sense economically.
With Vietnam being one the top ten list of best places to live according to The Happy Planet Index 2.0, by a think-and-do tank, nef (The New Economics Foundation), it has been the perfect choice for many expats. This has been the choice of the managers at Transcend People Limited.
Although many came for different reasons, they were all drawn to Vietnam for its vitality and vibrancy. At TPL these expats hold positions ranging from QA Supervisor to Managing Operator, all having the opportunity to work simultaneously with the educated Vietnamese staff as well as with clients in the United States, UK and Australia, giving TPL the competitive edge of western management to provide customers with the business culture they are used to while giving them the ability to:
• Increase efficiency
• Better utilize staff
• Decrease production costs
On September 16, 2009, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a speech pertaining to the current state of the economy. Although there is light at the end of the tunnel, it seems the tunnel is long. Stating the recession basically over, business owners have started asking themselves how to prepare for another economic downturn? With the many advantages of outsourcing, now is the time to prepare one’s company for a bull market by cutting fat from their companies now.
With many locations around the globe offering various outsourcing services, shouldn’t one consider using one where their employees have a great quality of life?
Filed under: Advantages/Disadvantages of Outsourcing/BPO, Other Outsourcing Destinations, Outsourcing in the News
There’s been a slew of outsourcing articles in the past week, resulting from Brown-Wilson Group’s annual Black Book of Outsourcing, which identifies the 50 best-managed global outsourcing vendors.
Here are a few that we found interesting:
Critics Challenge Outsourcing Rankings, BusinessWeek:
“Brown & Wilson Group’s principals defend their way of doing business. Scott Wilson and Doug Brown say their survey, which results in multiple rankings, is the world’s most independent and objective rating of outsourcers.”
Report: India losing grip on outsourcing ecosystem, ZDnet:
“Despite their slide on the list, Indian players remain a major force in the outsourcing industry, and outsourcers in China are still nowhere close to replacing them.”
Philippines tries to edge out India for U.S. outsourcing jobs, Christian Science Monitor:
“The BPO market [in the Philippines] has grown by nearly 50 percent a year in the past three years alone, generating nearly $5 billion in revenue last year. That’s still only a fraction of the business that India – the global market leader – captures.”
Outsourcing Looks Closer to Home, Wall Street Journal:
“As the world becomes smaller, companies are no longer considering moving offshore as the most cost-effective and efficient way to outsource, but instead are asking: what does the business demand? This transformation means outsourcing is seen as less of a crutch for the technically deficient or work-force challenged company, and more of a strategic tool. ‘It is becoming a matter of looking at the world as a marketplace of skills and products and deciding what gets done where the best.’”
How Offshoring Affects Customer Satisfaction, Wall Street Journal:
“If a company can save more by sending customer service overseas, it will have more opportunity to devote at least some of that money to upgrading its business.
In addition to considering whether or not to offshore customer service, companies should consider whether back-office functions such as information technology may be suitable for offshoring. Our study found that back-office offshoring had no effect on overall customer satisfaction. So the savings a company garners this way aren’t offset by dissatisfaction among customers.”
Filed under: Advantages/Disadvantages of Outsourcing/BPO, Outsourcing in the News
This week, InformationWeek published a 30-page report on the results of a reader poll focused on business process outsourcing. Author Ivan Schneider, writes:
“Saving money is still the No. 1 goal of business process outsourcing, though a notable minority sees it as a tool for strategic change.”
At TPL, we tell prospective clients that cost savings are an important advantage of BPO, however, it’s not the only reason. Companies should also look to BPO in order to increase efficiencies and reduce resource/management burden.
Companies who view BPO as a “tool for strategic change” are the companies we like to target. Any new BPO partnership requires a sizable initial investment of time and resources, for the client and the provider. So to be sustainable, it’s got to be a long-term win-win for both parties.
Aside from cutting costs (cited by 83%), other reasons companies consider BPO are:
- Improving efficiency (73%)
- Shifting internal focus to innovation and new projects (55%)
- Improving time-to-market (42%)
- Tapping lower-cost offshore labor (53%)
- Concentrating on core capabilities (54%)
- Expanding into new business (20%)
More key drivers for BPO are available in the report. You can download and read the rest of it here. Happy reading!
Filed under: Advantages/Disadvantages of Outsourcing/BPO, Clients, Conferences & Exhibitions
We’re back in Vietnam after a great trip to Chicago for the IRCE trade show (see previous entry below). We spent a day exploring the city, a day setting up, and 3 days on the floor talking to IRCE attendees about our BPO solutions.
On the floor, we met representatives from all types of internet retailers: start-up to established, B2B to B2C, family-run to public corporations – selling a vast array of products, from nail salon supplies, sports equipment, glass tiles, shoes, military uniforms, and so much more!
The IRCE 2008 Exhibit Hall Floor
This being our first trade show, it was really interesting to see the diversity of businesses represented and their range in openness to BPO. Many of the attendees we talked to seemed thoroughly interested in what we offer: BPO solutions that save their businesses time and money and unload repetitive processes and management burden. Others were already outsourcing: mostly to India and a couple to Eastern Europe and South America.
Others weren’t so convinced: common objections included: “We’re too small” or “We prefer to do it all in-house.” Of course, we know that outsourcing can be a foreign concept to many (no pun intended!) and we’ve got firm rebuttals for all these objections which we’ll get into in another entry.
Overall, the show was a great success for us, bringing in over 100 new leads. Since last Thursday, we’ve been following up on our strongest leads and have already been given sample projects to work on for review by prospective clients. It’s exciting, indeed. More to come on these developments in the future.
