B3 Services


contactOffshoring FAQ

 

 

 

Q: What is offshoring? 

 

A: Offshoring is the process of taking activities and processes inside a business, and transferring those activities and processes to work teams overseas. 

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Q: Why should I outsource overseas? 

 

A: Offshoring can offer several benefits:

  • Access to a bigger pool of scarce technical talent which is very hard to find and hire locally
  • Faster deployment of needed talent
  • Increased focus by the home office on core, in-house specialties, while outsourcing lower-value, labor-intensive activities
  • Increased capacity, yet flexible head count
  • Avoiding the hassles and requirements of immigration law, since offshore teams do work in their home countries, requiring no one to immigrate. 
  • Lower costs

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Q: My company is too small to do offshoring.  Isn’t offshoring only for Fortune 500 companies? 

 

A: Fortune 500 companies have engineered the most spectacular successes in offshoring so far.  They have led the way largely because they have had the resources to explore the terrain overseas before building their own captive overseas offices from the ground up.

 

B3 Services makes offshoring more accessible to smaller and mid-sized businesses.  As offshoring has become more common among big multinationals, other organizations have captured the learning from this growing body of experience.  B3 Services helps you access that experience and lower your implementation risk. 

 

Also, some overseas outsourcing companies offer turnkey offshoring, since they already have existing, established operations in certain services like CAD design.  They enable Texas companies to launch offshore initiatives very quickly, without having to build their own overseas operations from the ground up. 

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Q: Evaluating and launching offshoring initiatives take up big chunks of management time, don’t they? 

 

A: Evaluation, researching, and launching offshoring initiatives can take up big chunks of management time.  That required investment of time often stops small to medium-sized companies from looking into initiatives that could expand capacity and turbocharge profits. 

 

B3 Services can lower that barrier for you.  We can carry much of the research, design, and implementation load so your management team doesn’t have to.   We also have a range of relationships overseas so that your initiative can hit the ground running. 

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Q: Doesn’t the language barrier usually lead to inefficiency or failure? 

 

A: Language often creates problems in outsourcing initiatives.  As consumers, we can all recall examples of overseas call centers that have created more frustration than solutions. 

 

The Philippines brings a comparative advantage to this area.  Its history as a former US commonwealth means that many of its people have strong English-speaking skills and a strong affinity to American culture. 

 

B3 Services emphasizes the importance of pilot projects as a way to manage risk.  Before launching a full outsourcing initiative overseas, we strive to create pilot projects that allow the client to test run workflows on a smaller scale.  The evaluation phase allows the client to judge whether language skills of the offshore work team are acceptable, long before the client makes any long-term commitments to the offshoring venture.

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Q: Doesn’t offshoring mean we lose creative control of our work? 

 

A: Offshoring might allow your company to take more creative control of your work.  Many projects break down into two kinds of activities:  creative work and detailed production work.  The detailed, production work is often routine and labor intensive, consuming large amounts of your organization’s time. 

 

B3 Services can take you through that analysis:  What activities do I wish my team could spend more time on today?  What activities do I wish my team could spend less time on today?  Can I outsource the latter? 

 

If your workflow organization could successfully outsource detailed, labor-intensive activities, you free the home office to focus on and keep the creative, high-value tasks in-house. 

 

At first, redesigning your workflow to send some tasks overseas does take an adjustment period.  The client may need to focus more on documented specifications and standardization.  When done right, the investment pays off very well in the long run.  B3 Services can help with that workflow design.  

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Q: Isn’t it extremely hard to manage a project halfway around the world? 

 

A: Workflows that span many time zones can present management challenges.  They can also present opportunities.  For example, at the end of business hours in Houston, the Houston team can hand off work to the Manila team just as the business day starts in Manila.  And vice versa. 

 

With its base in Houston, B3 Services can provide a local presence and responsiveness to buffer some of the project management challenges that arise when launching new offshore initiatives. 

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Q: Why don’t I just offshore to India or China? 

 

A: India has had spectacular success in outsourced services.  China has had enormous success in outsourced manufacturing. 

 

So far, China’s success in outsourced services has lagged far behind its success in manufacturing, because the English-speaking skills of its workforce has not caught up with that of some other parts of Asia.

 

B3 Services expects India’s success in outsourced services to continue, especially in software development. 

 

Certain trends, however, have caused some big multinationals to start seeking talent elsewhere in Asia. Companies like Chevron-Texaco, Dell, IBM, Citigroup, Accenture, Dallas-based Fluor-Daniel, and Houston-based AIG have launched significant offshoring initiatives in the Philippines. 

 

Labor costs have been rising in India in the last few years.  Some multinationals have concluded that having a second source to India makes business sense.  So some of them have launched operations in both India and the Philippines. 

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