There are many reasons and articles about why companies outsource activities, sometimes to cope with growth, lower costs or allow access to expertise that they themselves cannot gain from. Whatever the reason, or the size of company there are several challenges businesses will consider when thinking about outsourcing.
The usual list of discussion points includes things like the level of investment and impact to cash-flow that is required to deliver the new services or the lack of transparency of having a partner and that may hide true performance or when things go wrong – because let’s be honest, they do! Sometimes, it is just about whether a company can find someone ‘just like them’ to do their work, someone who is flexible, adaptable and offers great value.
Whatever the discussion points, one thing that is not often mentioned when considering outsourcing is the impact on the company culture and the existing team. The fact that activities, jobs, and roles are outsourced are sometimes ignored, knowledge and experience seemingly forgotten.
Fortunately, it is not the only way to outsource activities, our approach is to create and build an extension of our client’s teams. Working closely with our clients, our UK based team work to understand the business, how it operates, the metrics and ways of working. In addition, they gather a detailed understanding of the activities and processes that are being outsourced, using the existing team and subject matter experts to help develop the training and development material for our Cape Town based team. We’ll also work through how the team will work together, finding ways they can continuously improve the ways things are delivered to enhance the customer experience, reduce costs, or increase efficiency.
Our aim is truly to provide an extension of the UK team in Cape Town, a single team, across continents that delivers for our clients’ customers. As Aphiwe Manqoyi, outlined in one of our recent blogs, we have an intentional culture, it is intentionally focused on the small things, for example the daily calls with the UK based team or thanks for helping with something, even across a few thousand miles. Our collaboration doesn’t stop once we have gained a client, but continues throughout the relationship, and like any relationship we’ll work through the difficult times and celebrate the good ones!
Sadly, if there is nothing else, we have learnt from the last couple of years that being apart is hard, but with effort, a positive attitude and (obviously) some technology, we can be together in a way that builds understanding, trust and a relationship that delivers for the business and its customers. Our approach is straightforward, we have an experienced team in the UK and South Africa, who are capable to delivering great results for your business, building, and developing an extension of your team – we are flexible and ensure that you know exactly what is going on in your Cape Town operation (until you can see it for yourself!). With no set-up costs or long-term contracts, we are removing more barriers for businesses to access our services, if you want to find out more information, please contact me or visit www.amplify5.co.uk for more information.
Written by guest writer Keith Andrews.
