The COVID-19 pandemic puts businesses in a tight situation, but it also provides opportunities to virtual work settings and collaborations that put a premium on offshore outsourcing, particularly with developing countries like the Philippines. Many companies put outsourcing and offshoring their work as an effective and efficient way to reduce costs and streamline their operations.
But what exactly do outsourcing and offshoring mean? These terms are confusing, and not many people know that a combination of two is available and what makes them different. What advantages can offshoring and outsourcing do to your business?
These questions are what our clients ask us. So, we discuss here their differences and pros and cons you should be alert off. Keep reading on, and you will also learn more about the benefits of offshore outsourcing.
Outsourcing versus Offshoring - What’s the Difference?
In most cases, using the terms is interchangeable. Let’s know what makes outsourcing different from offshoring.
- Outsourcing involves contracting out jobs regardless of whether a third party is in a foreign country or not to perform such tasks. The work sent to the virtual healthcare assistant does not have to be offshore to outsource it. One example is a company located in North America may hire local accounting companies to manage its bookkeeping rather than letting its staff members get the job done onsite.
- Offshoring is when a business moves several operations and employees abroad. They often pick underdeveloped nations with cheap labor and resources. In the absence of outsourcing processes to a third party, a business can start its operations offshore. A good example is a company may move its call centers to India to cater to customers in northern America.
As you figure out your offshoring choices, look at each of the offshoring advantages and disadvantages listed below to know what impact each item would have on your business.
Advantages of Offshoring
Lowers Labor Costs
An advantage of offshoring is that businesses can save money when hiring overseas employees to perform the same tasks with a much lower labor cost than wages in Northern America. The management team at Phoenix Virtual Solutions saves you money and saves you time recruiting and training remote employees to fit your needs.
Establishes New Markets
When a company has an offshore setup, its scope of customers widens to other countries. You can connect with contractors to gain access to other potential customers and sources of revenue. Likely, time is on your side, and you may get to expand your product lineup and distribute more than usual. Warehousing might no longer be a need, and you could let go of manufacturing in-house.
Enhances Knowledge of Overseas Markets
Employees that do remote work understand the regional trends, markets, risks involved, and cultural norms in their country than employees working in northern America.
Offers Alternate Tax and Regulatory Benefits
Some countries offer tax breaks and monetary benefits to attract companies abroad. You will enjoy various incentive programs if you are offshoring work to a developing country like the Philippines, and these can also stimulate more overseas investment.
The Advantage of Offshoring Over the Disadvantages Myth
Has Different Regulations
Yes, foreign laws and risks may hinder usual business practices in Northern America. But offshoring reduces problems from regulations, licenses, and unions. What’s more, your business can refuse to accept responsibility for many issues that are hard to control in-house. The cost of entry is when you start a business in another country, and if this cost is lower, the incentives of offshoring to a specific location are higher.
Varies in Time Zones
When you work with offshore employees, they align their work schedule with US business hours even if it is not a regular daytime work schedule in their country. For example, in the Philippines, virtual staff are adept at adjusting their time with US work schedules as working at night is a typical shift to offshore employees in the country. Hence, time zones are not an obstacle to a good working relationship with offshore staff. We at Phoenix Virtual Solutions synchronize schedules with USA time and are well trained to work at night to align with clients in the US.
We ensure your customers receive effective and efficient services like onsite staff on a reliable timeline. Time zones and holidays will not hinder our HIPAA compliance certified virtual staff in aligning their work schedule with US time and calendar.
Affects Exchange Rates
The value of the currency for the country providing offshore services is usually lower than the US dollar. Hence, the difference is among countries that offer offshore is a currency exchange and, more importantly, the quality of service. It has always been proven that the best virtual assistant comes from the Philippines, and Phoenix Virtual Solutions Healthcare Virtual Staff top the list. You will be provided by offshore staff that gives you around 60% savings in labor costs and has excellent oral and written English communication skills. They are also HIPAA-certified and trained by the top executives with about 75 years of combined healthcare experience in the US.
With a Filipino healthcare virtual staff, you can pay a fraction of the rate of a full-time onsite worker. Plus, work-from-home virtual assistants can do the same tasks as the latter. You can keep the key employees in your office and manage the crucial projects in-house. Our remote virtual assistants will not replace your onsite employees but are an extension to your team.
Therefore, particularly in this new normal of living with the pandemic, having a support virtual staff from Phoenix Virtual Solutions is the best solution to optimize savings and enhance your business productivity.
Advantages of Outsourcing
Frees Up In-House Resources
Businesses can concentrate on ways to develop and improve when an external resource takes part in the workload. Nothing to worry about as we ensure that your offshore staff from Phoenix Virtual Solutions can take charge of your back-office work. You can think about the utilization of resources and marketing techniques to help grow your business.
Decreases Operational Costs
Another advantage of outsourcing is that contracting out work lowers overhead expenses. Also, adding more in-house employees is no longer a necessity.
Provides Access to Outside Expertise
Companies also have the chance to hire a virtual healthcare assistant specializing in a skillset that their company does not have. Hiring the right virtual staff with the matching experience and skills based on the position’s job description offsets the needed learning curve of new virtual staff, thus ensuring a much easier onboarding and training process.
Yields Faster Service
A task gets completed right away and efficiently when the offsite virtual healthcare assistant has the expertise, talent, and resources. We at Phoenix Virtual Solutions got your back, and we provide you with access to that expertise. Our virtual healthcare staff is on top of the game, and we have experienced and well-trained HIPAA-certified specialists.
Debunking the Apparent Disadvantages of Outsourcing
Increases Security Risks
When you entrust sensitive company information to an overseas firm, there is apprehension on data security. We at Phoenix Virtual Solutions ensure your privacy and your company’s security as our Healthcare Virtual Staff are HIPAA certified and use data security technology.
When dealing with this risk, we ensure that the contract has a protective clause or includes a separate legal agreement or a non-disclosure agreement that guarantees parties will not disclose any information considered confidential.
Losses Control
When you delegate an offsite virtual healthcare assistant with responsibilities, monitoring progress and ensuring quality control become challenging, and you lose the freedom to control those tasks. To manage this outsourcing risk, we at Phoenix Virtual Solutions suggest things we see fit for your business as our healthcare virtual staff are trained by top executives with combined 75 years of healthcare expertise in the US.
Lacks Institutional Knowledge
An external organization does not have the in-house insights of the company, so its interests do not align with the company. We at Phoenix Virtual Solutions align 100% with the requirements and expectations of our clients, from choosing the best qualified virtual staff to meet your needs to aligning with your daily business operations. We value the task you pass on to us, and thus we provide both savings and optimum performance from all our offshore staff.
We have constant weekly and team virtual meetings where we can discuss the expected quality upfront describing the company services and including limits of the scope of service. It avoids problems from further escalation and resolves any issues right away. It also facilitates knowledge sharing and transfer.
Exposes Intellectual Property
When a third party receives ideas and data, intellectual property becomes hard to protect. To prevent this outsourcing risk, all tasks delegated to our virtual assistant are confidential. In transacting business with Phoenix Virtual Solutions, we provide due diligence to mitigate these perceived risks. Our team has 75 years of experience in the healthcare industry in the USA, and we practice protection towards data, intellectual property, and privacy.
What is Offshore Outsourcing?
The combination of outsourcing and offshoring is one way to experience their potential advantages. It results in an increasing reduction in expenses. Offshore outsourcing means assigning a third party to do specific tasks if in a remote area.
Benefits of Offshore Outsourcing
Cost Savings
If a company knows how to use less overhead and lower expenses in foreign countries, they could cut costs.
Territorial Knowledge
A helpful skill is leveraging a workforce out of the country that knows about its homeland and markets.
Global Competitiveness
More companies from northern America expand operations in other countries. Offshore outsourcing ensures their continued viability in world trade where competition is high.
Final Thoughts
Offshoring, outsourcing, or offshore outsourcing has various advantages. Before you outsource or offshore any component of your business, you must understand the pros and debunk the cons that it brings.
Want to learn more about offshoring, outsourcing, or both and whether your business can take advantage of it or not? Feel free to contact one of our representatives anytime to help you get the best virtual partner for your business as you experience the Phoenix Virtual Solutions advantage.
