Setting up a team in another country to optimise your local team

The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things, the same way, and to expect different results.

Is your business truly optimised?

Ask yourself these three questions:
1. How much time, do I, my team or my clients spend on tasks that “create cost rather than generate revenue?”
2. Could I reduce current costs by adopting a more global approach to such tasks?
3. What if my competitors are thinking globally and I am not?

To nip the ‘elephant in the room’ in the bud, we first need to agree on the importance of optimisation and globalising our businesses. We are patriotic at heart and want the very best for our children and grandchildren. To achieve that we now all compete on a global playing field with far more complexity than ever before. We all want to keep all of our jobs in Australia. The fact is that every major company now has activities in other countries, and with things like Freelancer and O Desk, a lot of one off tasks can be done elsewhere too. What about if you want a small and dedicated team setup offshore, isn’t that against our country’s patriotic duty? We have one client who has not let go of a single local team member, but has now achieved total optimisation by having all local team members focussed on revenue generating tasks, and a small team in Manila that does all of the administration grunt work. This allows them to still employ 94 people in Australia. If they didn’t have the Manila team, the 94 people wouldn’t be gainfully employed.

Technology has brought us closer to other countries than even five years ago and we need to think outside a larger square. But where do we start and what should we target?

Here are some examples that we know of where globalising your team have truly worked:

Going to a second shift and reducing your average cost per hour
o Company ABC had a 3D CAD designer (cabinetry) that had about 11-12 hours a day of work. This person was swamped and truly affecting client experience. The company couldn’t increase their price nor could they afford the extra CAD license or the person required. This Company reached out and decided that at 4:45pm in their local time someone would login to this same PC and take over the design process. What this means is that the sales people still bring work in at the end of day, however instead of being 48-72 hours later, it is now done overnight. This company’s clients cannot believe how fast they are…. leading to more work and more referrals. This role is around a $90,000 all up role locally, it is now $110,000 for two people.
· Allowing salespeople to make one extra call per day
o Salespeople want to sell, so how can we support them to achieve what they need? Company XYZ had eleven sales representatives that all used the hour each day completing the CRM as the reason they could only get to two sales focussed meetings a day and not three. Our partner worked with them to not only put on seven web developers, but also a dedicated CRM person. Using voice messages on mobile devices this person completes all of the CRM activity and ensures accountability by setting appointments, entering the CRM detail and attaching the voice message. This has totally re-invented the way this team works for $1200 a month! Plus this has created many more sales opportunities.
· Freeing key team members of Admin, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable or even Credit Account Application Processes
o Everyone is busy. How many people in your business are spending 100% of their time on tasks that drive revenue or high value to your business? On the flip-side how many get dragged down with daily administration, reporting tasks or at the end of month? How do we free these people up to be great and support them to achieve what we need? Company DEF had this challenge whereby skilled internal sales people were held up doing reporting, creditor data entry, estimating and a host of other “cost tasks”. No proposals were being followed up and there were no strategic discussions with clients about helping them grow. No one had time. This company now has four people in Manila handling all of these tasks, freeing up the local resources to sell and think strategically, and even have a holiday.
There are hundreds of examples like this, but you need to have an open mind and be willing to change how you do what you do.

Setting up in another country has a whole level of fear of change. Which Country do you set up in? Who has a local presence? Who do you trust? What is the best model? How do you get the best pricing model with the best protection for your business?

Integrated Office Solutions can help.

We are here to help, even if you are setting up yourself or thinking about it and just want an ear to bounce things off.

To discuss your options please contact Rodney Frost
Email: rodney.frost@integratedos.com.ph
Or call on Mobile: 0418 452 589