From November 6th-8th the management team of TPL had one subject in mind: 2010 strategy. There were numerous topics discussed and even more ideas generated for where TPL is going in 2010. One inspiration for the team building activity was the article The 10 Commandments of Zappos by Jeffrey M. O’Brien for Fortune. Broken into twos, each group was responsible for creating The 10 Commandments of TPL. Results to come on the next posting!

And of course no one forgot the culinary adventure part of the trip, enjoying everything from Vietnamese delicacies to Cuban inspired pizza!

Check out this great post about BPO Solutions in Vietnam…

Look no further Transcend People Limited is your solution!

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?

TPL is back from Boston; the IRCE was an invaluable opportunity to meet with our clients, make new connections and of course, catch a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. (We were lucky enough to see the Sox win 6-1 against the Marlins, in their 500th straight sellout game at Fenway!)

At the IRCE, we encountered a wide spectrum of vendors, from companies who were still considering outsourcing their business processes, to more experienced companies who were exploring additional outsourcing opportunities.

Some of our biggest clients use additional outsourcing providers along with TPL; it’s a strategic approach, akin to diversifying your portfolio or avoiding putting all your eggs in one basket. PC World recently published an article on outsourcing to multiple providers at once, citing U.S.-based Hanover Insurance as an example.

As companies grow savvier about outsourcing, they’re choosing to parcel out their work based on the specialties of different providers. Hanover Insurance outsources to no less than 3 countries: India for mainframe work, Canada for research and development, and China for both application interface design and its ability to quickly scale the number of workers for a given project.

Companies are now transitioning from evaluating what areas they can outsource to looking at which outsourcing providers would best suit their needs. This trend indicates a shift from viewing outsourcing providers as mere cost-cutting measures. Now, outsourcing providers are being considered for their potential as long-term partners with specific areas of expertise. We find this interesting because TPL has made “focusing on what you do best” a core part of its business philosophy from day one. By choosing to concentrate on data entry services, TPL can confidently offer our clients world-class expertise and service (but don’t take our word for it; our clients have plenty to say.)

The anticipation is building to intense levels at TPL; we can’t believe the Boston IRCE is just a week away!

Here’s a sneak preview at the banners for our booth:

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney just released their Global Services Location Index (GSLI), which ranks the most attractive destinations for offshoring. Vietnam cracked the top 10 for the first time, leaping ahead 9 spots from 2007 to land alongside perennial powerhouses India, China, and Malaysia. Though the top three players haven’t changed, the report notes that there’s been a significant trend away from Eastern Europe towards the Middle East and Africa.

You can read A.T. Kearney’s article here or download the full report, “The Shifting Geography of Offshoring”, here.

KPMG, an international accounting and professional services firm (they’re part of the ”Big 4″ auditing firms alongside Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Deloitte) has just published a report titled “Exploring Global Frontiers”, on emerging BPO destinations. Ho Chi Minh City was listed among cities like Brisbane, Australia and Boise, Idaho as promising alternatives to more traditional locations in India or China.  

According to the report, reasons to look to cities in the Asia Pacific region include “[...] younger populations, plenty of government incentives and the lessons learned from the numerous outsourcing centers which already dot the region.”

Check out the article in our News section or click here to download “Exploring Global Frontiers” as a pdf.

Mark your calendars for June 15-18,2009. In a little over a month, TPL will be flying out from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to Boston, Massachusetts.

We’ll be exhibiting at the Internet Retailer 2009 Conference and Exhibition (IRCE ’09). It’s the largest e-commerce conference in the U.S., with big names like Amazon, Google, Zappos.com, and everyone in between. TPL went to the IRCE in Chicago last year and made a lot of great contacts, and we’re looking to do the same this June.

Of course, since we’ll be in Boston, we’re hoping to catch a Red Sox game at Fenway! (We hear the Sox are on a hot streak.)

We’ll be at booth 225, so make sure to stop by and say hi!  Check out where we are:

<a href="http://www.internetretailer.com/show/ec-irce09/EC/forms/attendee/index.aspx?content=vbooth&id=265&loadTopNav=false

(Trying copying and pasting into the address bar if you run into any problems.)

Here’s a great promotion for those of you interested in learning more about outsourcing. Farrar, Straus and Giroux is offering a free audio edition of Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. If you haven’t read it already, Friedman begins by taking readers into Infosys, the Indian outsourcing juggernaut, and then traces the history and reasons behind the global outsourcing movement.

The promotion is available through August 4th. You can sign up for the free audio book by following this link: http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/giveaway.