Outsourcing Employee Builds Own Firm – with Earl Palanca of Digital Consulting PH

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek sits down with Digital Consulting PH’s COO, Earl Palanca. Digital Consulting PH specializes in providing top-of-the-line Filipino talents to global businesses. 

Derek and Earl talked about Digital Consulting, the importance of building personal client relationships while valuing staff, and the impact of AI on the outsourcing industry. 

Digital Consulting PH’s humble beginnings 

Many businesses faced unprecedented setbacks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, for Earl, his partner Faith (Digital Consulting’s Chief Heart Officer), and CFO Eugene Saw, the global shift towards remote work presented an opportunity for Digital Consulting PH to innovate. 

Earl and Faith are veterans of the outsourcing industry. “[Faith and I have] been in this industry since the early 2000s. We were proud working students when we started in this industry,” he recalled.

“We were also having our full-time jobs, and then, at the same time, when we were supporting our small home office in Clark, it was just a small apartment that we converted into a small elbow-type room kind of operations.

There’s only six seats of us, and it was bootstrapped right out of our own payroll just to [get] it going.

The pandemic hit, and that’s when they were forced to pivot and innovate. Earl said, “I honestly thought it was game over, but we woke up to a higher demand for virtual jobs.”

Now fast-forward to the present time, “We’ve successfully deployed over 500, 400 plus remote jobs.”

What Digital Consulting PH offers

Digital Consulting PH offers a range of services, including recruitment, managed services, and employment solutions. It has offices in Makati, Manila, and Angeles, Clark. 

Earl is proud to say that the firm is “the handshake between global demands for remote work and the local talents out here in the Philippine Islands.”

He also shares that their top three current on-demand remote roles include developers, business development, and sales professionals, and the company has a healthy pool of well-skilled talents. 

“Lately, two parts of the globe that we’ve been winning with: Architectural firms in Singapore and accounting firms in Johannesburg,” the Digital Consulting COO noted.

In terms of fees, “For those that sign up for our recruitment or executive search, we make our margins on the 1st and the 90th day of hiring the staff. 

And then, as a managed service provider, it doesn’t matter what the staff salary will be because that goes to the salary of the staff.

So we just make our margins out of a management fee monthly.”

Digital Consulting PH also stands out by offering comprehensive support to clients, including access to their service delivery team, which monitors KPIs and performance metrics. 

How Digital Consulting PH supports its valued staff

Digital Consulting PH gives great importance to its valued employees. It offers full-time on-site, hybrid, and full-remote work arrangement options to accommodate different staff preferences.

The company highly regards mental health and wellness in its workforce, as it provides other leave benefits such as:

• Heartbrokenness leave
• Soul-searching leave 
• Birthday leave 

As per the COO, “This is so that we can promote advocacy in today’s workforce, that you don’t have to find a good reason to lie to your boss just because you don’t feel like coming to work.”

This remote talent solutions provider also allows employees to promote their side businesses or passions internally. It encourages employees to pursue side projects or businesses and even offers support with branding.

Earl believes that “it’s equally important that your team members feel that support even if it doesn’t benefit the company.”

When asked about the risk of employees being distracted from their core jobs, he has this to say:

“Distractions can happen at any moment, which is why we periodically offer rewards and recognition. We have quarterly rewards and recognition programs in place.”

Significance of building personal relationships with clients

Part of the firm’s growth strategy involves sustaining existing client relationships while expanding its client base. 

“That’s why our team, we fly out to where our clients are at….It’s not enough that your brand is out there digitally. You have to have that warm handshake in front of the business owners,” Earl explains. 

Admittedly, it can be quite expensive, considering the flights, logistics, hotels, and visas. 

But as for the COO, “When you engage into going abroad and meeting the business owners, joining the trade shows, doing the roadshows, you have to already have a foresight of your return on investment…

A single handshake here will lead to a good close deal that has a promise of another good close deal.” 

He affirms, “It’s not enough that they fly you out there. It’s equally enough and important that you build those relationships while you’re there.”

Transcending through the impacts of AI

As the outsourcing landscape evolves, Digital Consulting PH remains adaptable, embracing AI and technological advancements to enhance its services and internal processes. 

“While it’s true that there are a lot of people that lost their jobs because of AI and all of the innovations, equally, we’ve been seeing [the] same job opportunities because of AI.”

Earl sees AI not as a threat but as an opportunity for new roles and increased efficiency.

“We’re seeing a lot of good that AI can do, like our internal processes are cut in fractional time because of the innovations in AI. Because we have access to good, healthy tech, it helped us perform internal processes efficiently.”

Along with the rise of AI-driven roles and processes, the team at Digital Consulting PH aims to stick with the organization’s purpose — to be the best talent matchmakers.

To learn more about Digital Consulting PH and its featured services, feel free to visit its website.