Can you outsource the CEO role?

When most people think of outsourcing, they think of low-grade roles and basic virtual assistants. The reality is very different.

You can find highly capable staff offshore, and you stand to benefit much more if you leverage the senior professionals.

Offshore staffing allows you to access millions more candidates than you would otherwise be able to access. And their salaries can be 50% to 70% cheaper!

Silicon Valley, London, New York, and Sydney all suffer from severe skills shortages – plus soaring salaries and employment costs. It’s not unusual to pay salaries of $300k for some technical and senior roles in these areas.

Newsflash: These high-level roles are also available offshore. Imagine saving 70% on a $300k salary!?! That’s a handy $210k in your back pocket.

Below are some handy org charts illustrating the different concepts of outsourcing.

This is the traditional ‘onshore’ org chart ⬆

The old outsourcing model tended to perform functions externally to the client-company on behalf of the clients. A common example of this are giant call centers handling the customer service requirements for banks or other large businesses.

While this kind of outsourcing still exists, it is no longer the dominant model for SMBs.

Then people started offshoring some of their basic roles – in a virtual capacity.  And those people worked alongside the onshore staff, basically joining the client-company’s org chart.

This was a great evolution, however, when you limit the roles to only basic functions, there is very limited upside.

It is common for people to start offshoring the simple roles first.  And this is sensible. But don’t stop there.  Try to climb the skills- and value-ladders.

There is no reason why more complex roles, across every aspect of a business cannot be done offshore.  The offshore staff integrate completely with the client’s org chart.  They are for all purposes a standard employee – its just that they are sitting in a different location.

There is no limit to what roles can be done in this regard.  If the job is done from in front of a computer, then it can be done from anywhere in the world.

Also, as you hire more senior people offshore, you will see the capability and capacity of these people increasing. This results in more project successes, and increased confidence in outsourcing for the client-company.

Also, as you offshore more senior roles, it is more evident that you save significantly more money.

We are now seeing entire ‘onshore’ companies that are setup, run, managed and lead by offshore staffing.

The assumption that offshore roles are limited to the most basic functions is wrong.  You can hire highly qualified senior executives, technical staff and professionals offshore.

Maybe even the CEO role could be done offshore – there are certainly sufficiently qualified candidates for the job! Spooky thought..

The question for your business

Did you think that offshoring was limited to basic entry level roles?

Read more thought leadership articles here:

• The true employment costs
• Boom time for global employment