Building & Running Global Teams – With Brian Hunt of Kore BPO

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek is joined by Brian Hunt, CEO of Kore BPO. Kore BPO offers customized outsourcing solutions that are perfect for small businesses. 

They talk about Brian’s experience in different outsourcing locations, the mechanics and changes in the outsourcing industry, and their opinions on how AI can be integrated in the future. 

Kore BPO and Brian’s tech background 

Brian introduces his company, Kore BPO. 

“Kore BPO is a company that I started about a dozen years ago. It was primarily an internal arm of an existing company that was focused on recruiting in the United States. 

Over the last few years, it’s really evolved into a number of different service lines and offerings.” 

He explains the early parts of his career where he was involved in outsourcing software development. This role required him to manage multiple teams in different locations like India, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and the Philippines. 

“I got experience working with different teams and geographies solving bigger, complex problems. I fell in love with different cultures and people, and ended up starting my own outsourced internal group.” 

Brian mainly heads the Kore BPO group, but he is also involved in the US-based KORE1 division for staffing and recruiting. 

For more specific recruiting services, they also have a branch called Kore RPO. 

Establishing a proper outsourcing setup

From his experience, Brian remarks that each outsourcing location brings its own advantages. 

“It really depends on what you’re trying to do. You can find great, hardworking, passionate people [in] any part of the world. The key is to just find the right team [and] put them in a position where they can be successful.” 

When it comes to the work model, he personally thinks that for those trying to scale, an office setting for your offshore staff works best.

“I think that if you’re trying to grow and scale a part of your business, [then] that needs to have some training, usually some kind of team collaboration. 

It’s very difficult to scale a department when it’s fully remote. I still believe there’s some inherent value in having a group of people working together and collaborating in an office space.” 

He touches on how he’s seen the industry change and expand. 

“When I first started, the entire basis of outsourcing was really technology. And it was a combination of outsourcing software development [and] tech support.

What’s exciting about today is [the industry offers] all forms of knowledge work.” 

This redefining of what outsourcing can do has allowed new companies to innovate. 

“I think there’s a real opportunity to integrate some of those into one partner, especially if you need it at a smaller scale.” 

The march of AI products

Kore BPO primarily caters to small businesses, and for Brian, the rush of technology in the last few years has enabled them to keep up with larger competitors. 

He believes that the proliferation of AI tools has really helped to level the playing field in productivity. 

“I think it’s going to empower and really make outsourcing even more effective. My team in India is just consuming new AI tools and collaborating and sharing different ideas of prompt engineering and how to make their days easier, better, faster.” 

He’s very open to the new developments that the technology will bring. 

“I’m excited about AI and I’m leaning into it… There’s a lot of excitement being put towards AI, and there’s a lot of products being built.” 

You can learn more about Kore BPO and Kore RPO on their respective websites. You may also find Brian on LinkedIn where he’d be happy to chat and help you come up with solutions that are right for your business.