The Philippine economy is continuously developing and outsourcing contributes a big portion of its success. The first part of my CEO’s Point of View featured the possible opportunities in outsourcing from the Founder & CEO of one of the top tier Outsourcing companies. Though exhibiting a huge opportunity for the country and the industry is overall very positive, outsourcing also presents several challenges.
The second part of my CEO’s Point of View story will highlight some challenges that two entrepreneurs have encountered along the way in growing their respective outsourcing company. Let’s get to know them!
Penn Camille Rallos gained over 12 years of experience in Sales and Customer Service before she started her business together with Francis Guintu 8 years ago. Virtua Outsourcing Solutions offers an end-to-service that grows your business. Virtua Outsourcing helps provide business process improvement by consistently asking — What is working? What’s not working? What can be better? It takes 100% accountability with our process and goal delivery.
Kate Ringcodan is a tenure in business development and recruitment in the Philippines. Initially, she joined CrewBloom to oversee the company’s operations. Her first-hand knowledge in developing and implementing various company processes and initiatives appointed her to join Brianna Carney as the company’s co-founder. CrewBloom is a remote recruitment agency based in New York connecting businesses with the top 2% of remote professionals. Founded in 2016, CrewBloom’s mission is to empower companies to reduce their expenses and drive business growth through recruitment innovations.
Here’s my interview transcript with the two power women in Outsourcing business.
Aileen: What are the good things in outsourcing in the Philippines?
Penn: I think, number one: what companies are most concerned about and will be most beneficial for most companies would be less operational cost. They don’t have to concern themselves regarding additional costs associated with hiring someone onshore. Very basic would be for example if the company wants to scale up and scale quickly, they would have to actually have space in their office to be able to accommodate new team members and that’s the very basic of things. There are a lot of other administrative costs that they can save on. Second, I would say that Filipinos adapt very well with different cultures because we are a mix of different cultures. We have a little bit of Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, and American in us. And we are very Westernized because the movies, the shows, even sometimes the news that we consume are all from other countries, well not all but a major chunk of it is from other countries. So when I’m talking to someone for example in a sales call, I get what their pop culture reference or whatever they are talking about because I consume the same materials so yeah, it’s a little bit easier for us to do that. Third would be, I do believe (even though that sounds like a miss universe opening) but I do believe that Filipinos have world-class talents. And we don’t have to cross borders to show that. One, we are very flexible when it comes to working hours if the client is from the US, we are graveyard, if they’re from Australia then we work a few hours before that. Second would be our English proficiency. You know there are people from other countries that actually go here and study English. There are also other people that hire Filipino tutors just to learn English. That just proves how proficient Filipinos in English. On our side, like the employee side of the Filipinos side, the good thing about outsourcing is, it has provided a lot of job opportunities for Filipinos. On career growth, I think I grew more when I was doing online freelancing or when I was outsourced, as compared to when I was working corporate only because I was able to double to other skills and have more time for myself to double on those other skills and passions and so I was able to kind of I would say round off my skills set because of outsourcing.
Kate: Yes, so as you know right, in the Philippines right we have a lot of call centers and so that is already the edge when business owners outsource in the Philippines like Filipinos have the interface with US, UK, Australian businesses, you name it and we even interface with those international accounts. it’s really very easy for us to work with those clients like we are so used to work with international clients like there’s no gap whenever we start working with them online. and communication is another as well, this is because you know we are really good at English, so it just makes sense for international business owners to work with Filipinos and outsource in the Philippines.
Aileen: Could you tell us any challenges or pitfalls that you have encountered along the way in growing your company
Kate: We had several. So if we could start with the tools, we started the business 4 years ago and if you look at the climate of remote work and outsourcing remotely, it changed drastically like more businesses are now going remote and so if you compare the amount of the resources and tools that are available or that the business could use to do their business online there are more tools right now compared to before, so that’s one. So we really have to do a lot of research, grow or dig into the tools so we could use right, to better monitor our people, to be able to know if they’re really productive or not. So that’s you know a trial and error for us. Luckily, we are able to nail that down already, we are pretty set on the tool that we are using. Second is on my side, operations in the Philippines I have to like to make a name out of Crewbloom because when we started 4 years ago we’re like what: no one really believes in online business or online job, like “No, it’s a scam!”. so that’s one of the things we need to resolve like “No, we are a legit company and we will definitely pay you out”. And for the clients, because again remote or online outsourcing is something new, it’s like a remote term, we have to explain to them you know what you have jobs in your company that you can outsource remotely or online and that is something we have to prove to them right and ensure that our online team performs really well, if not better than their domestic or onsite team.
Penn: As far as challenges and pitfalls though, number one, the technical aspect of it would be our internet speed. I mean its way better a lot better compared to when I started but I mean when I started I think we only have 2 Mbps but now about 25-50 but still, the connectivity is still not as consistent and so we have a lot of things to work on when it comes to our internet connection. Second, would be stereotyping. This has happened to me a couple of times already when some people would think that since I’m outsourced or team is outsourced or it’s an offshore team that they are not going to get the same quality of service. It has happened where people are asking to be transferred to an American agent or someone in the headquarters. And sometimes you know we also belittle because you are an offshore team. I did also have some experienced where I needed to change my name to sound more American just to kind of avoid that situation altogether and that is not good because I mean we can get the same quality of service. I’ve just been lucky because most of the clients that we have when that happened to me, they have my back on it and defended me so I’ve been very lucky in that aspect but its one of the challenges, being stereotype. Lastly, I would think as Filipinos sometimes were too local and our thinking when we’re outsourced we are actually competing on a global scale. And sometimes that happens sometimes people sell themselves short when it comes to salary. I understand if you would accept a salary much less if you are a beginner on that scale or you just want to learn the rope but you cannot stay there. You just can’t stay there. Filipinos have to think bigger. We are competing in a much larger scale when we are outsourced. And I think once we do that, how we give our service is going to be a lot different than just going through day to day.
Aileen: Lastly, how is the demand so far during the pandemic crisis?
Kate: Some businesses are thriving, some aren’t. It is unfortunate that we lost some of our client partners but at the same time we are also gaining more partners from some of our business partners who are lucky enough that this pandemic has impacted them positively, so, for now, the impact isn’t that great but we are bracing ourselves for potential losses of clients especially on the next month or so.
The Philippine outsourcing industry may be facing uncertainties and risks continuously, but the country is still one of the most cost-effective outsourcing industries in the world. With that said, stay tuned and keep learning more about digital marketing and outsourcing landscape in the Philippines in our future posts.
Below is the video interview with Kate Ringcodan and Penn Camille Rallos.
