More and more companies are turning to building offshore development teams for a number of back-end processes. Often, the practice of setting up an offshore team is left to big companies that are mostly in the financial, telecommunication, banks, and insurance industries. However, many of today’s small and medium businesses have also established offshore development teams to perform a more efficient work at a lower cost.
Most of the time, these teams are outsourced in different parts of Asia, including China, India and the Philippines. If you are seriously considering building an offshore development team composed of highly skilled Filipinos, here are good reasons on how your tech startup can benefit from it.
Reason #1: Labor Cost in the Philippines is Low
As compared to Australia, US, several European countries and other Asian countries, the Philippine labor costs are much lower. In fact, it would take tech startups only about 50 percent of the total onshore costs to operate and manage an offshore team in the country.
With the country’s total labor costs representing a small percentage of the total cost of labor in the US, starting an offshore development team in the Philippines allows startups to save thousands of money per month in payroll.
Reason #2: Filipinos Have Diversified Skills
One of the most challenging parts in creating an offshore development team for a tech startup is filling the vacancies with highly flexible and diverse employees. Every business owner desires to fill every organizational role with the best talent . Hiring the right people will mean the difference between a successful and a failed startup.
With a 40.1 million active labor force in 2014 and a 95.9 percent literacy rate, the Philippines offers a bounty of talented individuals who can handle a variety of diverse tasks — from help desk support, data entry, and blogging, to booking flights, managing customer service and everything in between.
After having great success in the BPO Industry, Manila is now becoming the place to seek high quality developers. This has become a specialist area for Manila Recruitment, the “go to recruitment agency” for the hard to fill technical roles, Manila Recruitment have helped many start – up companies build their development teams in Manila. As expressed by one client:
“Manila Recruitment spent time to understand our requirements and perfectly executed the plan to hire our first Web Developer, Designer, PHP Programmer and SharePoint Expert. We have since used Manila Recruitment for several other positions, including iOS and Android developers as well as a Frontend developer and another PHP developer”. All done with care and understanding of our needs. They also provided business advice on how to establish and maintain our offshore team in Manila”. – Greg Mitchell, Managing Director, Cirrena Pty Ltd (Perth)
Assembling a development team in the Philippines with the help of a seasoned recruitment firm enables you to hire talented individuals at a fraction of the cost of creating the same team onshore.
Reason #3: The Philippines has Cultural Affinity with Western Customs and Markets
Culturally and linguistically, the Philippines is ‘much closer to the U.S. than other choices,’ said Master Software Developer founder, Steven Smith, in a Quora discussion.
On top of that, the country’s primary language of business is English. Hence, in building an offshore team in the archipelago, communication is never an issue.
Reason #4: Building a Team Abroad May Spur Innovations and Changes
Having a Philippine-based offshore development team means having fresh sets of eyes and new perspectives. Your team may provide nonpartisan feedback and inspire positive changes within your company.
Reason #5: Work Continues Even While You Are Asleep
Despite the time difference between you and your offshore team, work can continue no matter what the time of day (or night). If you have been mulling over a design all day, for instance, you can simply forward it to your Philippine offshore team during night time, and they can continue to fix the issue, while you get a night rest.
However, the time differential issue will require various levels of communication and a work schedule that works for both you and your offshore team. With an effective process and good coordination, you can leverage the different time zones for an operation that runs around-the-clock.
Reason #6: You Retain Control of Your Work Processes
Some entrepreneurs think that when you create a team offshore, it would be difficult to manage work and the employees. Paul Russel of SoftwareSeni mentioned how building an offshore development team still enables startup owners to retain control over his business even when it’s across the globe.
I see a high correlation between the level of involvement of the product owner and the smooth running of the build. For startups, this means you can retain control of all aspects of the work while taking advantage of the lower cost. This can leave you with additional funding to make post-launch adjustments, cash that would otherwise have been eaten up in the initial build. (source)
Reason #7: You Will Have Work-Life Balance
Today, the work life balance is burning business owners out with not enough time to spend on social activities and family.
For startups, creating work-life balance is demanding and requires huge amounts of energy, time, and attention. Building a development team in the Philippines makes it possible for you to have a joyful life outside your work.
In a nutshell, the offshore team will do all the tedious work, while you focus on growing the business. That way, you spend time working on your company, not in your company.
Are you interested in building an offshore team in one of the top-ranking outsourcing destinations in the world? Get in touch with Manila Recruitment today.