Opportunistic Outsourcing to 500 Staff in 4 Years – with Zana Gawan-Taylor of BSA Solutions

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek welcomed Zana Gawan-Taylor, the CEO of BSA Solutions.

BSA Solutions is a dynamic outsourcing firm with offices in Malaysia and The Philippines.

About BSA Solutions

Zana founded BSA Solutions in 2020, back during the height of the pandemic. 

The CEO recalled, “It came about at the time during the height of COVID where a client approached me and asked to help them set up… They can’t actually work from home because of several reasons: IT security, security reasons, and confidential information.

They were not confident about their associates working from home. So I jumped on that opportunity and saw options for us to bring people back to work to the office with certain measures.”

Before the inception of BSA Solutions, Zana has just resigned from a role in an outsourcing company.

“I see outsourcing [as] basically human resource management. I’ve always had this affinity [for] developing talents, understanding [what] each person is good at, leveraging their strengths, and helping them overcome their weaknesses.”

As for her vision for BSA Solutions, Zana is clear that she is “not building a call center.”

She said, “I’m building a professional service that can be of equal to somebody onshore. For example, if I introduce a financial accountant to an Australian company, I’m not introducing a service. I’m introducing a person [who] can be an extension of their team onshore.

Over time, they can be on that organizational structure in Australia, climb up that corporate ladder, and [get promoted] as the finance manager of a company in Australia.”

BSA Solutions is industry-agnostic, and they have clients from different industries. Zana described their offerings as, “There’s no particular niche, but I want to specialize in more high level, more complex roles rather than the usual…

I want BSA to offer a much more professional skillset, in terms of engineering and probably in power, or in mining industries. It’s higher level roles compared to the conventional traditional roles that people offshore know about the Philippines.”

BSA Toastmasters

Zana is invested in helping employees improve their soft skills, including effective communication.

“We do a lot of learning and development [efforts] in-house. What I want them to be is [to] be a bit more cultured in terms of not just in their work but also topical issues.”

She added, “I want a person to be well-balanced in terms of arts, politics, economics, [and] culture. So that when they talk to their counterparts in Australia or America, they can actually hold an intelligent and stimulating conversation to give them the confidence that they can actually communicate at the same level.”

In line with this goal, BSA Solutions is now part of Toastmasters International. “We are a distinguished club… I see Toastmasters also give [staff] the confidence in speaking up.

Speaking up is quite a challenge to actually get people in the Philippines to be comfortable with. I’ve seen the progress after a year.”

Zana described the process. “As part [of Toastmasters International], there is a specific program. There are different pathways that you can choose from – and we chose [the] leadership pathway.

Under each pathway, you have an option where everybody can actually go to different levels… 

With BSA, I want everyone to progress all at the same time… it’s easier to learn together if we are on the same level.”

Zana noted that running this program is “a really good bonding session” for the team.

The outsourcing market

Zana believes that the outsourcing market is evolving. “I think the market is quite maturing especially when people realize that you can work anywhere. 

That opened their eyes to physical limitations. [Plus], all this remote work technology makes it feasible for everyone to jump on it.”

The BSA Solutions CEO added, “But I think the crux of it is actually trust. if you’re going with a service provider, you need to trust that this service provider actually looks after your business and has the same interest [in seeing] your business grow as much as you do. I think that’s the key.”

Zana is focused on making long-term relationships with clients and keeping them happy.

“I see BSA in the next four years [not by the] headcount, but more of I develop the talents that come through BSA to [help them] move up the organization structure in Australia… that’s my vision for each one of the associates.”

For employees, the BSA Solutions CEO sees promotions as a benchmark for success.

She said, “I [want to] see them [be] promoted. Not just [achieve] salary revision or salary increase, but they actually hold a higher title.”

To learn more about BSA Solutions, you may visit their website. You can also connect with Zana through LinkedIn or through her email address: [email protected]