Global Expansion, M&A, AI & Future of Outsourcing – with Mike Larcher of Outsourced

We find a familiar face on today’s episode with Mike Larcher, CEO of Outsourced. The Outsourced brand has grown, encompassing not just Philippine talent but now also sourcing from an additional five countries. 

He and Derek discuss Outsourced’s recent developments, the logistics of global expansion, and the implications of a growing AI presence in outsourcing. 

Outsourced’s updates

Outsourced is an offshore staff outsourcing company. It’s been operating in the Philippines for about 13 years now, but has recently added new locations internationally. 

“We did an acquisition of a business with some staff in India. So that was our first step into becoming a global provider. 

This year my goal is to open up in four more countries. We’ve started that in Colombia, Malaysia, Argentina, and Vietnam.” 

Mike credits their M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) systems with this, saying that it sped up the process.

“It’s certainly possible to do it ourselves and we can set up entities in each country and start winning clients and building the culture. 

But it gives us a headstart when we can go in and partner. I say partner because that’s the way I see the M&A working, partner with someone who has a footprint there already.”   

Outsourced mainly specializes in the professional services roles, including web development, graphic designers, video editors, and accountants. They also have some staff in CX (customer experience). 

The company has had a successful year, evidenced in their employee number growth, as Mike recounts. 

“We just recently hit 1,300 staff, so about 30 percent growth on last year. And I think we did 30 or 40 percent the year before that.” 

He’s looking forward to this year, anticipating further growth. 

“Just from natural growth I’m expecting another 30 percent. But we are looking at doing some M&A. We’ve got some interested parties that want to consolidate and join forces with us to take over the world.” 

Expanding to new locations

Outsourced’s global expansion efforts have enabled it to offer a wider range of talent to its clients. 

“A lot of the people do come to us specifically looking for stuff in a certain country, and some countries do provide specialties in certain roles.” 

Mike gives an example. 

“The benefit of being in more than one country gives us that flexibility. We had a client come to us recently looking for Spanish-speaking staff in the Philippines. 

We actually explained to them that we could hire those staff in LatAm, in Colombia or Argentina.” 

When asked about whether the staff are office-based, Mike says that it depends.

“In all the regions we expanded to, we want to offer office space. But we want to leave it to the client to decide if they want that or not.” 

With so many new locations, Mike has adopted a system that ensures proper cultural communication and logistics.

“Our sales team is global and we’ve trained them on how and when to recommend different countries and their benefits. The way I’m managing it at this stage is having a client success manager per country. 

I think it’s important for the person to be living in the country where the staff are so they can understand them culturally.”  

Opinions on AI in the industry

Mike has been thinking about AI staffing a lot, saying that it’s very relevant to their industry.

“We’re one of those categories [where] our whole business model is reliant on the world wanting and needing staff for employment.”

He acknowledges that AI will come for certain roles, but will also create new ones. 

“A hundred percent there’s going to be categories and roles that get wiped out. But I’m super positive about the fact that there’s going to be more jobs created.” 

He’s not taking the trend lying down, however, and has set programs in place for his employees to upskill. 

“We’re actually coaching all of our staff at the moment on AI and how to use it in their day-to-day roles.” 

He points to how ChatGPT has been integrated into current work processes. 

“ChatGPT has been out for over a year now, and I’m certainly not spending half my day sitting on a beach. I’m almost busier than I’ve ever been because I’m generating more information quicker.

So super interesting time. But at this stage, all I see is job creation.” 

To learn more about Outsourced, you may visit its websites for its Philippine branch and its global branch.

If you’d like to reach out to Mike personally, you can email him here or find him on LinkedIn.