7 Reasons Why Businesses Outsource in The Philippines

Have you been wondering why many businesses outsource in the Philippines?

Keeping up with increasingly smarter competition often requires a change in strategy, and more companies are seeing the benefits of outsourcing as a core part of their business operations to stay ahead.

Aside from providing huge cost savings, offshore outsourcing providers also build the capacity and skill set of businesses through sourcing from a rich and globally competent talent pool.

When it comes to outsourcing, the Philippines has always been a prime destination for companies who either want to expand their operations, streamline their businesses, or stay ahead of the competition.

The country has always been known for its cost-efficient labour, but there is more to this tropical paradise than just savings. We list down 7 solid reasons why companies choose the Philippines in outsourcing.

1. The talent quality is transformative

It is a given truth that businesses can save as much as 80% in overhead costs by outsourcing in the Philippines, but savings is just one benefit. The talent pool in the Philippines can even add value to any business.

Case in point, when a California-based education technology services company decided to penetrate the Asian market, they chose the Philippines as their central starting point with Emapta as their partner.

The EdTech company’s initial target was to have a hundred full-time staff in a year, but they were able to scale to over 230 staff in that period alone, filling roles like education content developers, trainers, project coordinators, and supervisors.

The company saw over 100% growth with their Philippine team despite having strict requirements and qualifications, which shows the depth and quality of the talent pool in Manila. Their team continues to thrive and add more services, making its brand felt in the market as Emapta provides enterprise-grade IT security support.

2. Gain an edge with a deep, diverse talent pool

The Philippines outsourcing landscape has evolved into a multi-skill talent market. Beyond back-office function, Manila has got a deep, diverse talent pool that can cater even customer-facing and other niche roles.

A testament to this is the unique success of Adelaide-based financial service company whose offshore team in Manila makes up 30% of their global workforce.

The firm initially wanted to fill only one role, but its Philippine team now includes engineers, salesforce developers, marketing professionals, loan support officers, document handlers, and settlement officers.

Recruitment experts from Emapta, the company’s offshore outsourcing partner, have helped them find roles that are hard to find in other countries or even in Australia.

“We have a real broad team over here in the Philippines and the skills are as good as the ones in Australia,” said their CEO, as they continue to add roles to support their expanding business.

3. Filipino work ethic gets it done

When their core team was bogged down by menial tasks related to audits, a US-based mortgage company found the solution in outsourcing, creating an offshore team in the Philippines.

It was 2020 and the pandemic was just starting to emerge when they partnered with Emapta. Despite the situation, the mortgage lender’s Philippine team persevered and delivered, helping the company achieve higher efficiency and customer satisfaction.

The company’s team in Manila helped increase the company’s capacity in many areas up to 150% while providing the local team better load balance and reduced stress – a stunning feat that shows the work ethic of talent in the Philippines.

“Emapta hired staff who are extremely dedicated and knowledgeable about the U.S. Mortgage Industry, resulting in better efficiency, comprehensive audits, and higher customer satisfaction of a 91 Net Promoter Score,” their company executive said.

4. Seamless communication and cultural compatibility

English has always been a part of daily communication in the Philippines. In fact, around 70 percent of the country’s population speaks fluent English, making them the perfect choice for an outsourcing partner.

Moreover, Filipinos have a very adaptive culture. They have an openness to integrate with any foreign firm or people – a warmth and hospitality that is unique only to the Philippines.

Emapta CEO Tim Vorbach experienced this firsthand. Moving from Australia to the Philippines, Tim immediately felt the willingness of the company’s Filipino staff to integrate and adapt to the Australian way of doing business.

“It more than just the English-speaking proficiency, which is exceptional. There’s a graciousness, adaptability, and a willingness to integrate with foreign firms and people that I’ve never come across before,” Tim said.

From having a small offshore outsourcing company, Emapta has grown into a big one in just a decade, serving over 400 clients across the globe, proof of the amazing cultural adaptability of the talent in the Philippines.

5. Philippine talent is time zone neutral

Work hours have never been a problem with the Philippines talent, as the workforce in this country has always been able to adapt to any time zone as required by the customer.

A good example of this is a Hawaii-based nutrigenomics company, whose problem in looking for specific roles within their limited talent pool pushed them to search the global market.

Not only was the company looking for niche roles such as research scientists and graphic designers for their DNA reports and products, but they were also looking for people who can do the work within their time zone in Hawaii.

Upon scouring through a list of outsourcing partners around the globe, the company found a reliable one in the Philippines with Emapta, gaining access to exceptional talent and a workforce synchronised with their business hours despite the big time zone difference.

“Emapta has been attentive to our requests, addressing any concerns my team has. We are in constant communication with their Management and they always check in to see how the team is doing,” their CEO said.

6. Data Security Is World Class & Enterprise-Grade

Most businesses hesitate to outsource because of their fear of data breach, a legitimate concern especially with companies dealing with sensitive data. What they don’t realise however, is the fact that modern technologies can already solve this issue.

In the Philippines, Emapta offers one of the most secured IT systems in the outsourcing industry, with all clients having the option to get a 24/7 fully customisable data security plan for their teams, may they be working on-site or remotely.

Emapta’s enterprise-grade IT systems gave clients with teams working from home access to its own Virtual Private Network (VPN), an additional layer of security that not only minimises the risk of breach dramatically but also boosts network speed.

Teams working at home usually connect to their designated internet service providers (ISP) abroad by hopping through a series of unsecured ISPs. Emapta’s VPN reduces hops as employees are connected directly to their designated secured ISP.

With a full suite of security tools and state-of-the-art software and hardware solutions for both onsite and remote work, you get an IT infrastructure so robust that it can be considered an ISP itself.

A testament to this is the fact that since the pandemic emerged last year, Emapta’s clients never experienced any breach or downtime with their remote teams.

7. Make Long-term Partnerships

Some businesses look to outsource parts of their operations with short-term goals in mind, not knowing that outsourcing can do a lot more than just providing back-office support to their local team.

With a rich and diverse pool of talent in the Philippines, businesses can choose to expand faster, accelerate product development, and even open new services with long-term growth prospects.

Such is the case with one of Emapta’s most successful long-time partners, an Australia-based pharmaceutical company with over 50 pharmacies across South Australia.

The medical company has been Emapta’s partner for over a decade and counting. They started with an offshore IT and accounting team in the Philippines that grow steadily up to this day.

The success of their teams has prompted them to look forward to the future by scaling up with an e-commerce online sales platform – proof that even after a decade, offshore outsourcing can still offer a lot of opportunities for business growth.

“We were prompted by the desire to gain efficiencies as our business was growing and we required additional resources. We would not be able to grow and sustain our growth without the hard work of our Philippine staff,” the company’s manager said.

In a highly competitive and global industry, not all outsourcing companies can say that they have long-term partnerships with clients. But Emapta and its Philippines teams prove that it can be done.