Outsourcing first became popular in the United States of America during the turn of the 21st Century. It basically means that instead of doing a certain process internally, companies will hire or purchase another company’s services as a replacement, usually in another country. A concrete example of this is the emergence of BPO or Business Process Outsourcing companies in countries such as India and the Philippines.
The reason behind this increase is the cost-effectiveness of the concept. American companies can hire these BPO’s at a cheaper rate than they would have done internally, and in return, BPO companies and its employees enjoy a higher pay, sometimes double, compared to local companies that give slightly higher salaries that usually base at the minimum wage. BPO’s seem to take the Philippines by storm and being a call-center agent have become the it-thing for the young professionals nowadays especially in the Philippines.
Outsourcing Internet Marketing Experts
Aside from hiring agents to sell and receive customer complaints and whatnot, many companies worldwide are now hiring internet marketers or web marketers such as Pay-Per-Click professionals, and Search Engine Optimization specialists to market their products through the World Wide Web. The jobs even extend to web developers & designers, graphic designers, video editors, and content/article writers.
These professionals are also sometimes referred to as Virtual Assistants or VAs. VAs can be directly hired by the company and they could either work in the office with a team or work independently from the comforts of their own homes as long as they have computers and internet connection. It’s easy and less hassle for both the employer and the employee and is definitely cheaper.
By being a ‘Virtual Assistant’, the employer can instruct multiple tasks from research to replying emails, from writing articles to creating Web Pages. You can also create a dedicated few to handle customer concerns, another for your website development and maybe three persons to handle your social media marketing works such as facebook, google+, linkedin and twitter. It basically rests on the concept of ‘replacement’. It means that companies would have their work be ‘replaced’ by letting the virtual assistants do it for them. The result, companies would then just supervise and give instructions, giving them more time to think of ways to improve its operations.
How to Deal With the Cons of Online Outsourcing
As good as it sounds, there is a flip-side to every coin. Yes, hiring people online could be very risky if you don’t choose your employees well. You must remember that the internet is a cesspool of bogus people that could deceive and ultimately do some damage to your business. That is why it is very important to get your employees from a very credible job site, interview them thoroughly to test their skills and train them very well. Training them would be considered the most critical part of the process since you are generally training them to be you. Soon enough, if you take care of them, your employees will definitely take care of you and your business in return.
Where To Outsource Internet Marketers
It is important to outsource to countries that have cheap labor and could speak English very well. The answer? The Philippines. You might ask, Why not India or other countries? The answer is simple: The Filipinos, aside from their cultural characteristic as being one of the most hardworking, talented and adaptive people in the world, they are also excellent in the English language. In addition, most Filipinos are proficient in Information Technology are not behind with the social networking bandwagon, making it easy to train them for online marketing. Most American companies would prefer outsourcing to the Philippines over India because Filipinos tend to be more westernized than our Indian neighbors. That means Filipinos can easily adapt to the American culture, not to mention speak in perfect American accent. If you search studies or recommendations made by American companies regarding outsourcing, they would easily pick the Philippines as their number one choice.
In conclusion, outsourcing can be very beneficial to both the employer and the employees and the perfect place to search for persons to do the work for you is the Philippines. Thousands of Filipinos are looking for a job and now is the perfect chance to make your business grow through outsourcing.
