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The Philippines has quickly become one of the top and preferred outsourcing destinations in the world. Many of our clients have expressed how outsourcing to the Philippines has improved the way they do business. Meet one such client…Daryl*.
Daryl owns a medium-size store in Alabama that specializes in women’s designer clothing and gets a large amount of business around the globe from his online e-store. He changes his website weekly to reflect new arrivals or designers and also has an informal blog where people can ask questions or questions about clothing care or accessories. Darryl outsources his entire website maintenance, design, updating, credit checking, shopping-cart oversight, social media monitoring and content uploading to workers in the Philippines.
Daryl was kind enough to share his thoughts about his outsourcing experience on our blog. Here’s what he had to say:
What do you like most about outsourcing jobs to the Philippines?
Well that’s an easy question for sure. I’m paying 20 cents on the dollar for the work I’m having done offshore. With savings like that, I can buy more stock, give my customers better sale prices and make a better profit. I also can pay my sales help, shippers, bookkeepers and tailors a better salary because I’m getting such a deal on so many other business services offshore.
What do you like least about outsourcing jobs to the Philippines?
That’s a tough question. So far I’ve only had a very positive experience with my workers offshore. I mean what’s not to like when you get your technical and office work done in a timely, professional manner and at one-fifth the price of the average American worker. I’m American all the way, but paying five times more for the same work is not always good for my business, my customers or my American employees. Currently I employ 35 workers who make a good living from working at my store. They’ve got health insurance, a 401K, plenty of time off for family emergencies and every Friday I treat everyone to ice cream. Seriously though, because I can save some money by outsourcing some jobs, I’m able to give my workers a large enough salary and commission to keep them gainfully employed and able to pay their bills. Oh, and they like their jobs too.
What other benefits have you realized from outsourcing jobs?
One thing I never thought about in depth was what would happen if one of my online customers ran into trouble in the middle of the night with either entering their credit card information or checking out in general. Since I have customers from all over—Canada, France, Spain and even Australia and Argentina—people are shopping every hour of the day. However, my IT guy quits at six and we don’t see him until morning.
Well it happened. I lost a huge sale because of a credit card issue. If I’d had a Philippine worker available, he or she could have contacted the company and maybe prequalified the shopper or could have broken the order up into smaller amounts. Instead I ticked off the shopper and she hasn’t been back since. Now I’m ready. By having my Philippine web workers along with a few local IT guys, my customers are always able to get phone help and online help, and it doesn’t matter what time of the day or night.
Any disadvantage of the time zone difference with your offshore workers?
The only disadvantage I can think of is they forget what time it is here and sometimes call me on my cell and wake me up. I’m also known as a micromanager, so sometimes I just wish I could hang over their shoulders and see what they’re doing but my operations manager in the Philippines ensures that the work is completed and looking out for the best interest of my business. Overall, I have to say my outsourced workers care as much and do as good a job as the crew here, and that’s quite the compliment.
*Name changed at the request of the client.