Activation Consultation Overview – Your Fast-Track to Outsourcing Excellence

Just a quick note, I want to tell you incredible value for the Outsource Activation Consultation Program has for you, okay, these upcoming episodes are about the 6 modules of the Outsource Activation Program, within the podcast episodes, I give you an insight into the learnings that you would have on the Outsource Activation Consultation Program but there is so so much more value if you actually do the full program. Now I’m not suggesting that you have to do this, I am sharing with you key points and value within the consultation regardless of whether you want to do the course or not, this is because I am so passionate about outsourcing and encourage everyone out there to try it, but if you do decide to take the Activation Consultation then there is so much more in there for you, okay, there is over 1300$-1400$ worth of  actual course content for you, there are multiple charts and infographics, there’s 21 learning resources, there’s 2-3 dozen videos. And then there are expert videos. There are virtual BPO tours and then also there’s mastermind groups. And of course, there are one on one business consultations. There are open office sessions and we build for you a network in Manila of key people that you can turn to if you need contacts, leads if you need to start your outsourcing journey. Then you have them up your sleeve. So, there’s a huge amount of value there but more specifically it’s not just about the learning and education you get. You actually receive bespoke consultation and advice from myself and Outsource Accelerator. Okay, you get one on one consultation time and you get quick results and solutions for your business that you can if you feel the time is right immediately implement. So, I really believe that there are phenomenal results and potential for you and your company by doing this consultation. That is why I’m so excited. If you just want to listen to the podcast that is absolutely fantastic. That is fine because I’m just so enthusiastic about people starting their outsourcing journey. But if you do want to consider the outsource consultation then go to our website to find out more.

Hi and welcome to another episode of the Outsource Accelerator podcast, this is episode number 52 and my name is Derek Gallimore as you probably already know. So today we are doing something a little bit different. In this episode and the six episodes following, we are doing an intro into the Outsource Activation Consultation Program. Okay so at Outsource Accelerator, we run, I would claim the best consultation program for outsourcing for you in your business. And you know a lot of information out there is free. So, what I’m doing over the next six episodes is going over the content of this consultation program. This isn’t an infomercial. There is gonna be a huge amount of value in this for you out there whether you are considering doing the consultation or not. Also, if you are a complete newbie to outsourcing you will learn a huge amount but also if your experience from outsourcing and even outsourcing yourself now. Then there’s also a huge amount to learn both from these introductory podcasts but also in the actual consultation program itself. So today I want to go over what is effectively the introduction to the consultation. I’m just going to discuss certain aspects such as outsourcing is a win-win. And the history of outsourcing and then I’m gonna quickly go over the different sections the modules that follow over the next six weeks as I said this is a consultation. But in today’s world so much so much information out there. You can get for free. So, what I’m doing is sharing the key aspects of this information. And if you find this interesting and if you feel that this can add value to your business then I would suggest looking at taking the consultation because this is where we can really tailor a strategy specific to you and where you can get enormous insight into specific activities of outsourcing that can benefit you and your business. Okay. So, I’m super excited by this. Let’s get into it if you need any notes of this. Then go to our show notes which is as always at outsourceaccelerator.com/52. Let’s get into it.

Okay. So, the first aspect I want to discuss in this introduction is the core concept that outsourcing is a win-win for everyone involved. Okay. We, Outsource Accelerator are actually now writing a white paper on this very subject and I will release that and let you know when that has been written. As soon as it’s off the press. I am a passionate believer in the outsourcing is a win-win. But also, there is an inevitability about outsourcing. It is going to happen. And you know we might as well embrace it. So, outsourcing allows you and your business to concentrate on core functionalities and core value adds and key functions in your business account by delegating all of the non-essential things and by having these done at a cheaper cost. Frees you up and frees your company up to concentrate on the higher value activities so that you can concentrate on the strategy of growing and executing that growth for your company. Increasing profits, increasing growth, increasing innovation means that you are growing a stronger company. It means that you can continue hiring more people and it means that the people you hire. Increase in their skill levels. Okay, so there will be a change in dynamic of employment. But it is not the case that outsourcing is bad. I believe that you can benefit. Your company can benefit, the stakeholders can benefit and the community around your company will benefit. Okay so that is a key message I’d like to get across and it is one where everyone really can prosper from this. As I said with the white paper we do go into this in more depth and you know we can illustrate fact this for you. But significantly I want to remind you again that there is an absolute inevitability about this and consider outsourcing as a different form of outsourcing manufacturing. Now we know that manufactured goods have been outsourced for 20 to 30 years in China for example and that is now happening more and more with the services but also don’t just consider human outsourcing as being something that is changing the job and employment landscape. Consider also machines and computers and robots. These things by far are changing the employment landscape as opposed to the migration of jobs overseas. Okay what we are facing is a seismic shift in how things are done. If you imagine how many people that would have taken to push a cart along then obviously these are replaced by horses and then now by cars and automation and you know obviously to build cars. It used to be people. Now it’s robots there is a huge amount of automation which is changing the job environment. There is going to be more change to come. This isn’t something I think people can be fearful of and try and stymie. I think this is something to celebrate through abundance. It will bring more wealth and opportunity and a higher quality of living tool. So, you know again just reiterating I’m super excited about this future and I believe outsourcing is a win-win. So, I’ve talked about the home country of the company but also significantly it is a win-win for the Philippines or whoever you are outsourcing to. This is obviously because it helps a developing country become even more developed, even more educated and more people employed on gainful income. So super exciting for everyone, anyway, moving right along.

I just briefly want to touch on the history of outsourcing. Outsourcing has been happening in the Philippines for 20-25 years now. The Philippines alongside India was one of the world’s first in outsourcing and it really happened in the Philippines because of its close historic ties to the U.S. and the U.S. certainly at the time was one of the more innovative countries in the world. And they figured when there was a lower cost base in the Philippines could they not get jobs done there. So, this happened firstly to big international conglomerates and it was enabled because these conglomerates had large departments of maybe hundreds or thousands of people doing one specific particular task or process. Okay. And that is why when this sector started they called it business process outsourcing or BPO and that is because these huge conglomerates had huge departments, let’s say accounts receivables where they would have thousands of people doing highly repetitive tasks over and over again. Okay. So, in a big conglomerate it’s obvious that these processes could be cut out of the U.S. and transplanted to another country such as the Philippines. Now what also enabled this was technology. Okay, before affordable transfer of information through telephones, this was just not possible 25 years ago telephony became affordable and also error and bug free. So, you began to see call centers pop up in the Philippines and backend offices that can be mainly managed through telephony and then of course you had the Internet come along and not only not just the arrival of the internet but its effectively the broadening of bandwidth, speed and capacity of the Internet that further then enabled the deepening of roles that can be outsourced. Okay. As the Internet got more and more powerful and small things we’re doing through a computer interface. The Philippines and outsourcing meant that they could do more and more of the heavy lifting and more technical work. Okay. So, as things evolve it means that first it started with telephony. It started with the very basic call center operations and then as technology advanced the skill sets of the outsourcing are going up and up and up. Okay so outsourcing is climbing the skills ladder. And also, more and more tasks can be done through an outsourced process. That means that almost all of an organization can now be outsourced and run from a remote location. Okay, and to put it in context if you do anything in front of a computer and it’s not directly connecting with the client then in theory this can be outsourced. And as you probably appreciate now in most offices, most office environments the vast majority of things are done in front of a computer. So, the spread is huge. And also, the upskilling is huge. So, to put it into context the Philippines this began 25 years ago and everything was really very fresh back then. Now 25 years later the BPO industry employs about 1.2 million people and there are actually suspicions or estimates that there’s about another 1 million people that are temporarily employed in the Philippines through the great markets of platforms such as Upwork and freelancer.com etc. So, it really is a huge industry now.

There is also another perspective in terms of the history of outsourcing. As I mentioned it was the big conglomerates that began outsourcing. And as per usual the big conglomerates typically have access to the most advanced things in the world. They have bigger budgets to be able to develop infrastructure to try things and believe me 25 years ago the infrastructure required to set up outsourcing would have been phenomenal. Whereas now everything is a lot lighter obviously because of technology because of you know Amazon Web Services, different cloud service. A BPO can be thrown up in a matter of days and all of the infrastructure is there for you and also the Internet can carry what information you need without any real great engineering feats. So, and so all of these things have been enabled by technology more and more outsourcing serviced providers have opened. There’s a plethora of BPOs was in the Philippines and across the world. Now this also means that more and more businesses. Okay so, the clients of the BPOs can access outsourcing affordably. This is in effect a democratization of outsourcing. Now it is not just the plaything of the huge conglomerates. It is now accessible to the SMEs and the startups of this world. So, as we see many things the big businesses at first, they get to enjoy the huge cost savings because they do things on scale. But now all of this is accessible to SMEs. So that is super, super exciting. And I believe that if as a start up on SME you aren’t considering outsourcing then, you really need to rethink your strategy specifically if you are a startup why not consider how can I build this company from day one with an outsourced backend. Okay. As many of your operational functions as possible. Should and could be started from somewhere such as the Philippines. So super exciting and what it means is a strategic mind shift from needing everyone in your office from your hometown to how can I best source the most efficient workforce from the worldwide pool that is available. Okay. So huge opportunity there.

Okay. So, now I just want to outline the next six episodes that we’re gonna go over. Okay, so these episodes effectively trace the core modules of the consultation program that we offer so we’re giving away a huge amount of information here because I really believe in outsourcing and I feel that everyone should be outsourcing.

The module 1 looks at laying out the framework for outsourcing in your organization, obviously with the consultation we can look at your business specifically and we do actually look over your business plan and we look over an org chart and then we discuss with you outsourcing options specific to your needs. But next episode we’re gonna look at this module in a more general application and we’re going to discuss the ideal tasks to outsource that can boost your productivity immediately, how to ease into outsourcing so that you get some immediate wins. And with that the best strategy to approach outsourcing. Okay. And part of that is looking through your business plan and org chart to identifying non-core activities and nonprofit generating activities and also very time consuming and repetitive activities. Okay. So that’s what we look at in Module 1 which is laying out the framework.

Module 2, we talk about engaging the right provider. So here we will discuss the different types of outsourcing providers. Okay. There are freelancers. There are agencies there are seat leases and there are full-service BPOs. So, we explore these different types of service providers the pros and cons of each of them. And then we also go over what to look at when contracting with these service providers. Okay. So that is module two.

Module 3. We look at training and skill development. So, this is effectively once you have engaged with your BPO provider. It is effectively how to onboard a Filipino workforce. So, we look at specific functionalities there. This is assuming that you are building a team of you know kind of one to three people with a view to growing that team. We also discuss and this is huge in the Philippines. KPIs and key metrics that would drive the performance of your virtual workforce. So, it’s really important not only to set objectives but how do you measure those Okay and how do you keep an eye on those. So, we explore in module 3 all of the onboarding recruitment training and skill development of your virtual workforce.

So, Module 4 is managing the Filipino workforce. And this is effectively exploring the key elements of working with the Filipino team. The Filipinos are different to wherever you’re from. Okay. And you know this is not disparaging. It is just essential for you to acknowledge that there are cultural differences between where you are from and the Philippines. Okay. And it’s not just cultural differences so that you don’t offend people. It’s actually to get the best out of people. And it’s noticing little things such as the workforce in the Philippines might not know the layout of the property. Okay, might not know little nuances about your business. So. These are things that we go over in the module four when managing the Filipino workforce. We also discuss how to best reward and train and engage with your team.

Module 5 is the exponential expansion of your business. So, we learned here how to take outsourcing further. So, we initially prescribe that you get one or two basic functions done first and then you expand the functions that you do. But still keeping them fairly basic. So, once you have built this then we look at the process of expanding these functions so that not only you are doing more functions in the Philippines or outsourcing but you are doing higher skilled functions. But also, you are doing things that then not just of managing the back end of your company but things that can propel your company forward. And this is when it really gets exciting because it’s not just about cost saving. This is when it is about the competitive and strategic advantages that you can gain through outsourcing. So, this is where it gets super exciting. So, module five, as I mentioned is exponential expansion of your business.

And then the final module which is module six, this is where we delve into the potential the blue ocean thinking for outsourcing. And I see this a huge number of times when people gingerly business owners coming over to the Philippines start outsourcing. They’re full of apprehension, full of unknowns but then they get the bug and they get super well they get comfortable and then they get so excited by the potential of outsourcing. And I wanna share with you in module six the exciting opportunities that I see in outsourcing and that people see once they begin this journey. So, as I mentioned it’s not just about cost savings. And in module five, we look at how you can gain competitive and strategic advantages. But in module six, I concentrate more on the unbridled potential that outsourcing can do for you and your business. So, it’s basically the rocket fuel to your business and then it can go beyond the basic business walls of your business. It can transform your business it can take you into new markets, it can help you build new products. So, it’s super, super exciting. And this is really where outsourcing you know gets quite compulsive.

So those are the six modules. And I look forward to spending the next six weeks with you going over these as I mentioned this is the Outsource Activation Consultation. It is a paid consultation but we are giving away most of this information for free. So, I’m super excited about sharing this with you over the next six weeks.

So, you might ask why it is worth paying for the activation consultation if I’m giving away all of this information for free. Well. There is so much in store for you for the full consultation. Okay. We have things like expert interviews. We have virtual BPO tours. We have a network of key players within the outsourcing industry of the Philippines that we connect you to, if you are a part of the activation consultation you also get into a closed mastermind group. So, you are sharing with outsourcing experts but also people that are on the journey with you. And this of course the one on one consultations so that you get one on one time with myself and Outsource Accelerator. So that we spend time looking over your specific needs so that we can help you either with very prescriptive advice or just the support that you need to take the next steps. If you feel that outsourcing is right for you, so just confirm you’re probably a busy business owner. Possibly you haven’t had outsourcing on your mind prior to this. So, I’m here to convince you that outsourcing is a game changer. And I am here to help fast-track your knowledge in outsourcing so that at the end of either these podcasts or by looking on our website or by taking the full activation consultation you are a semi expert in outsourcing. And you know exactly what to do, exactly when to go, exactly who to speak to and how to implement outsourcing to your business quickly. So super exciting.

So just wrapping up this is episode number 52 if you want any of the notes, go to our show notes at outsourceaccelerator.com/52. And I look forward to going over these next six episodes with you to introduce the activation consultation. And of course, as always if you want to ask us anything then please just email us at [email protected]. See you next time.