Building Your Offshore Team - Where to Start

What to think about when starting an offshore team

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Historically, offshoring has been the realm of large global corporations who have outsourced ‘non-core’ functions. Low-cost operating centres around the world offered great savings but also required economies of scale in order to deliver value. Until very recently the technology requirements to run a BPO service would be cost-prohibitive for smaller companies.

Fast forward to 2023 and those boundaries have collapsed. Work has become completely borderless, and companies are taking advantage of untapped talent communities around the world.

In 2023, an effective worker needs a fast internet connection, a laptop and (maybe) a phone to work anywhere globally. This allows agile and dynamic SME's and startup to get a clear competitive advantage in the race for talent.

BMS is one of those SME's, and this article talks about our great experience along with some of the downsides.

Risks

Hiring resources around the world is tricky and time consuming. Your organisation needs to have the ability to identify, onboard and manage offshore staff – which in itself can be a complex task.

Questions asked

• How do I pay them?

• What are my contractual responsibilities?

• What does it look like from an accounting perspective?

• How do I find and assess the talent?

• What about Provisioning IT Kit / Services?

• What are my cybersecurity risks?

• How will I manage the offshore team?

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These are certainly challenges that need to be overcome, so what are the upsides? Will it be worth it?

BMS has been hiring offshore talent for a while, both as a high performing resource for our business and more recently to drive growth for our clients. Quite frankly the results have been superb.

Our experience of Filipino workers can be summarised by the following points:

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1.     Highly motivated, enthusiastic contributors who bring great energy to the team and are always willing to learn and go the extra mile.

2.     Strong skills and very clear task oriented mindset – Always getting the job done

3.     “No job too small (or big)” mindset

4.     High pace of work

5.     Self motivated professionals who don’t need to be managed

1 year into the process and BMS will continue to invest in and grow our offshore team and we are already looking at new talent-pockets around the world.

Honestly we love our offshore crew, but it wasn't always straightforward (after all, smooth seas don't make a skilled sailor!).

What We Got Right

• BMS values - When hiring and engaging our offshore team we made sure that we didn't compromise on the key characteristics that we look for

• Culture - We pride ourselves in having a fun, open and inclusive culture. It;s been vital to make sure our offshore team feel part of it.

• Learning - Training virtual workers is hard, regardless of where they are based. Managers at BMS worked very hard to upskill thier offshore colleagues

• Incentives - Like your local team, offshore workers need to be incentived to do their best. We made sure our Filipino team have incentives that work for them

• Work From Home - Commuting in Asia is insane. Dont expect to get the best talent if you are forcing your team to work in Metro Manila

What we could have done better

1. More documentation of processes and tasks - BMS tended to fly by the seat of our pants

2. Setting clear objectives and expectations - Don't assume people know what's expected of them

3.Internal structure around communication - Who is managing who?

4.Make sure you have clear job descriptions for each contributor

5. Tech - Make sure your VPN / Hardware and Software are set up in advance to avoid bottlenecks

All BMS Problems, and not to be blamed on our team. We raced headlong into the project and in the end the results were superb - But we could have been better prepared.

The above are all 'start-up' headaches and we couldn't be happier with the outcome. Yes, setting up any team is challenging and are extremely happy with the growth and results that BMS is achieving off the back of our offshore superstars.

Summary

If you want to take advantage of the huge talent pools available offshore, and don't know where to start, BMS would love to help. It makes sense to work with an expert organisation who can make the whole process completely seamless and risk free.

Learn more about offshoring and how to build a high performing team - Please book some time here : Introduction to offshore

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