The offshoring team also took management of the company’s admin requirements, comprising of para-planners, accounts administrators, and loan document administrators. This article examines a successful case of offshoring and highlights the benefits of the process.

As a business grows, so too do its burdens. Costs escalate as the business hires new people and expands its office space. Some businesses also have to deal with increasing levels of regulation on top of all of those issues.

Such was the case for Tempus Wealth. Over the course of its history, Tempus Wealth has seen compliance regulations escalate enormously. The company found itself focusing too much on administrative work. This meant that it struggled to provide high-quality services.

ASW Global relieved that administrative burden with a talented offshore team.

Tempus Wealth – a Case Study

A financial company, Tempus Wealth offers a wide range of services to its clients. These include, but aren’t limited to:

Tax planning

Estate planning

Cash flow management

Debt management

Retirement planning

Each of these areas of financial planning come with their own regulatory requirements. Failure to stay on top of these regulations would damage the services Tempus Wealth offers to clients. But the work involved in ensuring regulatory compliance creates several challenges.

The Challenges

Since its founding, Tempus Wealth has seen large changes in the financial sector. Compliance burdens escalated over the course of a decade. Along with that came an increased administrative burden.

Dealing with this extra administrative work left Tempus Wealth in a difficult position. It needed to complete the work to ensure the compliance of its services. But every hour spent on paperwork was an hour not spent with its clients.

The company wished to find a cost-effective method of dealing with increasing compliance demands. This would free up time for its onshore team to work more closely with its clients.

Our Solution

Tempus consulted with us about the creation of an offshore team that it could dedicate to compliance admin. Through ASW Global, Tempus created a Vietnam-based team of 13 staff. This team took over the management of the company’s admin requirements. It comprised of para-planners, accounts administrators, and loan document administrators.

Importantly, each member of the offshore team had an excellent command of both written and spoken English. We also facilitated regular training sessions for the team. These helped to bed the offshore team into the onshore operation, which created a cohesive working relationship.

The End Result

Within one month of creating their offshore team, Tempus wrote more mortgage business than it had during the previous year. The work of the offshore team also received consistently positive feedback from the company’s onshore clients.

Moreover, the offshore team freed Tempus’ onshore team to focus on customers. Tempus improved its customer acquisition rate and was able to focus on maintaining relationships.

The savings that resulted from offshoring also allowed Tempus to grow during its relationship with us. The company moved to a cloud-based IT system. This expanded its reach and facilitates better communication between its teams. Tempus has also undergone impressive onshore expansion as a result of its use of offshoring.

Our offshoring process

Simply put, if you choose a bad company to outsource to, you receive bad work. This can damage your reputation with your clients.

Offshoring differs because it gives you full control. Your offshore team is actually a division of your business. These are your employees, which means you control the training they receive and the vision they work towards. The only difference between this team and your onshore team is the location.

As a result, you can apply your company’s quality standards to the offshore team’s work. You also know who’s working on what and you have a greater understanding of the skills each team member possesses.

Each of these areas of financial planning come with their own regulatory requirements. Failure to stay on top of these regulations would damage the services Tempus Wealth offers to clients. But the work involved in ensuring regulatory compliance creates several challenges.

Benefit #1 – More Control

The main problem with outsourcing work is that you lose some control over it. You’re relying on a third-party to complete the work to your standards. Unfortunately, you can’t always guarantee that they’ll do this. No matter how detailed your instructions, you’re still relying on a separate company. This company has its own culture and quality standards. They’ll often apply those, rather than your standards, to the work.

Simply put, if you choose a bad company to outsource to, you receive bad work. This can damage your reputation with your clients.

Offshoring differs because it gives you full control. Your offshore team is actually a division of your business. These are your employees, which means you control the training they receive and the vision they work towards. The only difference between this team and your onshore team is the location.

As a result, you can apply your company’s quality standards to the offshore team’s work. You also know who’s working on what and you have a greater understanding of the skills each team member possesses.

Benefit #2 – Cost-Effectiveness

In most cases, an offshore team can deliver talented people at a lower cost than your onshore team. Living costs and conditions vary depending on the country. You may up to 70% less to an offshore team member as you would to an onshore team member. However, you’d still receive an employee with skills that you can use to the benefit of your business.

Of course, there’s a fine line to tread when it comes to the cost of an offshore team. The cost should fall below that of an onshore team. But you also need to invest enough into the offshore team to attract talented people.

Once you’ve achieved that balance, the cost benefits of an offshore team become apparent. Lower labour costs also free you up to expand your business’ offering. The money you would have spent on onshore employees can go towards improving business processes and services. This plants the seeds for further onshore growth, all at a lower cost than a purely onshore team would allow.

Benefit #3 – Creating an Overseas Hub

Offshoring can also help you to develop a presence overseas. For example, let’s say that you have a company that’s based in Australia. But you want to develop a presence in another country. You could create an offshore office in that country. This office would initially work on whatever you need it to do for your Australian clients. However, the people you hire will also come to understand your business and your vision.

Now, you have a base in a country that you want to expand into. And you have a team of people who already understand your business. You’ve essentially created an overseas headquarters from which to base a future expansion.

Not all offshoring has the end goal of creating a presence in another country. Many businesses use it to free up time for their onshore teams. However, the process does give you the option. Plus, you’ll benefit from the talents of your offshore team while you’re in the process of planning the expansion.

Benefit #4 – Access to More Talent

There’s another major problem with keeping a business solely onshore. You only have access to the talent that’s local to your business. This can create several problems. If you have a role that the local talent pool can’t fill, your business will struggle.

Offshoring can help with this because it opens your business up to new pools of talent. As a result, you may find people overseas who can fill the jobs that you can’t fill at home.

This means that offshoring isn’t only for businesses that need a cost-effective way to complete more menial tasks. It can also be a way for businesses with specific requirements to find talented people.

Benefit #5 – Longer Operating Hours

It’s difficult to offer 24-hour services to your clients. Website technologies, such as chatbots, can help to an extent. But they’re of no use to clients who want to communicate directly with a representative.

Unfortunately, your business has to stick to standard operating hours. If you do try to offer late-night or 24-hour services, you have to deal with the costs involved. An onshore employee working a late shift often costs more than one who works a regular shift.

Customer-Service

Offshoring can help you to solve that dilemma. The more cost-effective labour isn’t the only benefit either. The fact that your offshore team is in a different time zone can benefit your business. This means you can offer customers direct communication with team members during more hours of the day.

The end result is a higher level of customer service that keeps existing customers happy. You’re providing a superior service, which also makes you more competitive in your sector.

The Final Word

Offshoring is much more than gaining access to less expensive labour. Your team becomes a part of your company. It can also offer a number of benefits that you don’t get through an onshore team or through outsourcing. These include:

Access to a wide pool of talented people who can help your company to fill skill gaps.

The ability to operate over more hours per day, which improves the level of service that you offer to customers.

A greater degree of control than you’d have with outsourcing.

The ability to create an overseas office that could serve as a hub for later international expansion.

Cost savings that allow you to grow your business at home.

Those aren’t the only benefits. Every business has its own needs and can benefit from offshoring in different ways.

ASW Global can help you to maximise the results that an offshore team produces. Contact an outsourcing provider to arrange a FREE consultation and to find out if we’re a good fit for your offshoring needs.