The Philippines bags ‘Offshoring Destination of the Year’ in UK for the 2nd time

Author: John Borillo

The international spotlight is on the Philippines once again, and this time it shows that it is a force to reckon with.

Last October 15 this year, the Philippines received the Offshoring Destination of the Year for 2009 at the 6th Annual National Outsourcing Association Awards in the United Kingdom. This is the second time the country has won the prestigious award since 2007. It recently bested four other countries such as Malaysia, Egypt, Russia and Sri Lanka in bagging the title.

“We were elated when we heard about the award,” said Fred Chua, chief executive officer of Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc., an expanding Philippines-based call center which serves small to medium enterprise markets around the world. “This is victory for all of us in the Philippine outsourcing sector.”

The National Outsourcing Association is the recognized body for the outsourcing industry in the United Kingdom. The association judged countries for this award on a set of criteria covering the country’s advantages, attractiveness to UK companies, its level of market penetration in the UK, and availability of outsourcing areas.

“This is definitely great news for small to medium sized businesses considering outsourcing offshore like in the Philippines. Whatever resources they currently have should still encourage them to explore outsourcing in spurring business expansion. This is the best time for them to see the benefits of partnering with a call center provider in the Philippines,” Chua added.

Top global industry sources have cited the Philippines as one of the fastest growing offshore destinations in the world. Chua attributes this reputation with the country’s proficient English-speaking workforce, telecommunications and real estate all working in synergy to provide world-class services to the international clientele. The latest outsourcing award is another feather on its cap of achievements.

“The Offshoring Destination Award affirms our industry’s steadfast commitment to providing the highest level of service, whether it’s for business with large operations or a small to mid-sized business with limited resources,” Chua said. “We will strive even harder to pursue our growth in the years to come.”

About the Author:

John Borillo is the online marketing officer at Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc., a growing Philippines-based call center.

Visit Magellan's web site at http://www.magellan-solutions.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - The Philippines bags ‘Offshoring Destination of the Year’ in UK for the 2nd time

Convincing clients for outsourcing their business offshore

Author: Biplab Saha

Convince them about your capabilities:

The question that a client asks before choosing an outsourcing vendor is that do they have the expertise & understanding of my nature of business?

You need to spend most of your time listening to the client to understand their business objectives, concerns and priorities. Try to learn as much as possible about their business functions - operations, resource management, areas of work, who their end customers are, etc. Then identify their need to outsource. Understand what are they currently investing on - R&D, technology maintenance, customer support – and their pain points like project over-runs, maintenance, legal issues, HR costs etc. Then come out with a solution that shows how you can address the pain areas, save costs and minimize risks.

Clients aren't interested in saving a little cash if they feel that they are exposing themselves to significant additional risk or hassle. You need to show them that while they will be able to enjoy the advantages, they can also trust you to minimize/eliminate the downside.

Strive to be the partner with whom the client can achieve a long-term partnership and minimize financial risk exposure. Comparing hard cost between ‘outsourcing’ v/s ‘staying in-house’ is inevitable, so build some soft-ROI during the process, including mitigation of risks, business continuity, opportunity cost, and so forth.

Counter their apprehensions (perceived or real) against offshoring:

Anyone who has looked at outsourcing (particularly offshoring) would have had a bad experience of some kind. Most of us have had a frustrating experience at some point dealing with outsourced customer care when calling our bank, telco or utility company.

Usual drawbacks that are associated with offshoring are

• Fear of loss of control over processes and performance
• Language/communication difficulties
• Deadline difficulties
• Productivity issues
• Quality issues
• Customer relationship issues
• Increased risk
• IP issues

There is no point in pretending these perceived drawbacks aren't out there – you have to convince customers that you can overcome these by providing evidence of how your organization handles these issues - use examples from previous engagements, or client testimonials to demonstrate successful transition & execution of offshore work by your company.

Closing the deal:

To clinch an offshoring deal, you will need to break up your proposal to a potential client in three parts:

Value Proposition - Why outsourcing to your company can deliver benefits over in-house alternatives.

Peer & Industry Comparison - What their peers and competitors in the same industry and some famous ones in the other industry are achieving through outsourcing. Explain how outsourcing has practically been increasing over the years - That companies are only too happy with the overall results … with more & more companies signing bigger & bigger contracts now.

Missed Opportunity - What will they miss out on if they do not outsource now. Explain how outsourcing will make their organization re-look at the ways it does business and at a strategic level, will help accelerate the growth of their company regardless of the specific objectives around cost savings and quality improvement.

About the Author:

Biplab Saha is an offshore outsourcing consultant and assists US based companies in the financial services & publishing business to identify, evaluate and sign up with suitable service providers in India. He is also a Partner at Business Atom, a business solutions firm that advises BPO service providers in India on developing marketing strategies and sales plans to tap the growing offshoring market. Biplab led the pioneering efforts in offshoring the US mortgage origination business to India and ran a successful BPO company in that space that serviced some big names in the mortgage refinance business like Wells Fargo and Allied Home Mortgage. He was till recently associated with the offshore publishing services business as the Senior Vice President of CyberMedia’s services division.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Convincing clients for outsourcing their business offshore