BMG Outsourcing is one of the earlier pioneers in Outsourcing, particularly in the areas of Accountancy and Bookkeeping for clients in Australia and New Zealand. When done for the correct reasons, outsourcing can save you time and money. However, you will be pleased to know there are many more benefits that you can expect that will extend well beyond money.
Cost and Efficiency Savings
Repetitive back office tasks that form the procedural operations of your business are ideal for outsourcing. These tasks can often fall into the laps of senior resources (who should be focusing on the core business activities that make the company successful). This generally occurs in peak busy periods when all back office staff are already working to capacity, causing a misallocation of time and resources. Without careful attention, this can become a recurring process that puts stress on the entire organisation, misappropriates resources and can lead to family breakups, health issues and a dysfunctional organisation. However with this insight, you can take action.
We recommend to optimise success you:
1. Use Outsourcing
Use outsourcing as the catalyst to document your office procedures and to identify uncontrolled and poorly managed areas that may have developed over time and that are blowing your budget.
Our “systEmise” team can show you easy ways to get started and will offer to build you an intranet to store your policies and procedures- using Google Sites or Sharepoint. systEmise offer templated procedures you can download that cover standard functions in Marketing and Bookkeeping that can easily be adapted to your environment. You may even find smarter ways of doing things in the process! Or why not get “ systEmise” to train you in using use tools like Screen-Castomatic or Camtasia to capture your screen strokes on video with your brief documentary of how to perform the task, to build your training library for your remote staff members. Not only this, it adds to the goodwill of the saleability of your business and allows others to step in during times of sickness or holidays. Clients have even asked ‘systEmise “ to create a simple membership website for sell their Intellectual Property to other players in the industry provide a recurring income stream and elevate their profile as an expert in their field. It doesnt take much, just that entrepreneurial mindset.
Break the procedures down into the repetitive tasks. These are most suited to successfully being outsourced. Fill up our template of “111 tasks you can outsource” now and get planning straight away ie inbound calls, debt collection, data entry.
2. Internal expertise – have experts on call and save cost
You can’t expect to be expert at everything, but there are skills that you shouldn’t compromise that may inhibit your success . For example, don’t let the cost of research prevent you from expanding into new markets. Outsource this task to personnel who can perform the research for you at a fraction of the cost of doing it yourself and leave you to manage your core business , ie initial market analysis for promotions, new phone systems, researching new software products etc.
3. Reduced office overhead
Rather than squeezing extra staff into your already cluttered office in expensive prime real estate, use our remote office to build up your back-office team. Let’s face it, employing extra staff means new desk, computer, space, parking etc. Weight up the benefits of saving your expensive office space for core functions and use our less expensive location for your back office administration.
4. Staffing flexibility, continuity and disaster recovery
Most businesses experience operations that have seasonal peaks and troughs. The cost of bringing in temporary additional resources come at a premium, take more of your time to train, and must be released when you are done. Outsourcing can provide additional resources at a more consistent cost and have a better chance of being available for the next peak ie retailers demand for Christmas, bookkeepers for tax time etc. Using a reliable outsourcing company can be on call if staff decide to leave at short notice, fall sick or take holidays, allowing operations to keep operating (without you having to step in).
How to make outsourcing a success and avoid pitfalls
Our experience had taught us that Outsourcing is NOT for everyone, so we are careful to select the right companies to work with that are as determined as we are to make every project a success.
Be SMART selecting the tasks to outsource :
Choose repetitive well documented tasks that form back office procedures. Don’t expect to outsource successfully tasks that you know nothing about and expect your remote member to just do it..
Respect your staff member.
Unfortunately the term VA or Virtual Assistant has been widely used and in our opinion has become a misleading and derogatory title for a remote team member. By definition, “virtual” means “Not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so:” Now lets make it clear from the start, don’t expect anything virtual about your “personal team member” . He/ she is a person just like you, has thoughts and feelings, may have a family and may even get sick.
Treat them with respect, give “constructive” criticism, feedback and offer compliments where compliments are due. In this way you team member will grow with your business in competence and longevity. And you will enjoy the new freedom they provide, no extra clutter, no small office gossip, no parking complaints and will add a new fresh dimension to the role. You may even want to plan a visit to meet them.
Change management
If this remote worker is to work as part of a team with your local staff, don’t expect that they will all “buy into” the concept of outsourcing and accept chance . A degree of change management may be required, so why not call a meeting and explain your objectives, and get them to jump on board from the outset and work as a team together.
Provide adequate training
As with any local staff, you need to set expectations, clearly state objectives and goals, create a procedure, identify measurement criteria and train into the job. Rome wasn’t built overnight, so don’t expect miracles to happen.
Take the time to train your new team member about your business, to understand your culture and to be part of your company team. The Filipinos are generally very task oriented, focused and quick learners so just take the time to start on the right foot.
Take time to understand their culture.
Download our eBook and gain insight into their culture and country. The Filipinos are, on the whole, beautiful people and very appreciative of the opportunity you are offering them. They will love it if you take even just a small amount of interest in their life too.
Don’t outsource your problems. If you have problems in your business, outsourcing does not magically make them go away.
