If you want to streamline business costs while also maintaining your commitment to quality, South Africa is the option you’ve been looking for.
For many people, business process outsourcing has been seen as an option for larger corporations. The likes of BT, Barclays, Microsoft and many others have all sought to streamline their costs by offloading many of their job functions overseas. For small and medium-sized businesses, however, this option has often been seen as being financially or practically unworkable. In South Africa, though, SMEs see new opportunities in which businesses of all sizes can potentially capitalise on the opportunities that outsourcing offers.
Outsourcing for SMEs
Traditionally, outsourcing can save money, but it also requires a substantial upfront investment. Any business interested in outsourcing would need to find a way of managing those employees. More often than not, that either meant setting up a legal entity in that country in the form of a subsidiary or engaging the services of a specialist BPO company.
These often worked at scale, which made them unavailable for businesses requiring small numbers of employees. The BPO company also tended to be the direct employer for outsourced staff, which gave the hiring company limited control over the working relationship. Call centre staff were assigned to an outsourcing client and given basic training.
While this might have been adequate for a large faceless corporation, small and medium-sized businesses depend on high-quality customer service led by operators with an in-depth understanding of the business and its customers. The personal touch is important for businesses of all sizes, but for SME’s it’s a vital way to differentiate themselves from larger competitors.
While a larger company could accept the trade-off in the quality of customer service, due to their size, smaller companies could not. A large electricity provider, for example, could accept a poorer customer service outcome in return for lower operational costs because their customers still need electricity. An SME that depends on customer retention and long-term business relationships cannot.
The common complaints about outsourcing, such as poor communication or customer service, could be a problem for a large corporation, but they would be mission-critical for an SME. Traditionally, therefore, outsourcing was something that SME’s might tend to avoid, despite all the business benefits.
South Africa’s outsourcing offering
South Africa offers a slightly different take on outsourcing, which makes it ideal for small businesses. Although it does offer cheaper labour than in the UK or Europe, cost isn’t the be-all and end-all. South Africa has forged a niche for itself thanks to a focus on quality, communication and a diverse range of skills.
English is widely spoken with a clear, easy-to-understand accent, making it ideal for customer-facing operations such as call centres or IT support. In a world in which good quality service is becoming a must-have, making yourself understood is crucial. It avoids alienating customers, improves customer retention and can also help build an ongoing relationship that enhances the revenue from each customer interaction.
South Africa’s education system is also churning out skilled professionals across all industries, which also means they can provide more detailed technical services such as IT support. Fast internet connectivity enables solutions such as remote computing, which means they can directly analyse faults on a computer even if they are not in the same country.
Outsourcing for freelancers
One of the most lucrative options for SMEs can be found in the freelance market. South Africa is churning out highly talented professionals, but the economy is still struggling to provide them with enough jobs. That means a good supply of professionals across sectors such as software development, content marketing and web design.
Working with these contractors can be quick and simple. You can handle the working relationship online, with work being submitted and followed by an invoice. Freelancers look after their tax affairs, so there is minimal admin for you to think about.
This can be a great way to widen your talent pool. Most SMEs are limited by their location and their resources. In areas such as software development, experienced professionals can be in short supply and come at a high cost. Getting the skills you need to achieve the rapid digital transformation necessary to keep you competitive can be extremely challenging.
Outsourcing in South Africa is a way to plug the gap with highly experienced professionals at a fraction of the cost. Of course, this is nothing new. Businesses have often outsourced roles such as marketing or content writing to places such as India. However, without a reliable supply of professionals with fluent English, the quality is often poor.
South African professionals offer a much higher level of service while still enabling you to optimise recruitment costs.
With the rise of remote work, video conferencing and instant messaging, it is now possible to collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams based in many different countries.
Recruiting your team
Building that team can be complicated. Pretty soon, you may be working with many different professionals via different types of contracts. Some may be occasional contractors working on an ad hoc basis, while others may be full-time employees. As the workforce expands, managing it can become an increasing administrative burden and regulatory risk.
Working with a locally based company, such as an Employer of Record, can help you avoid any unintentional compliance problems and streamline your operations. The EOR serves as
the legal employer of all your South African-based staff, which means they have legal liability for complying with all regulations. That means you’re protected in case anything goes wrong.
They can manage duties such as onboarding, worker classification and managing all legal and tax obligations.
Because they are the legal employer, you also do not need to set up a legal entity in the country with all the costs and admin that would entail. It’s a fast, convenient and, above all, safe way of doing business.
For SME’s they remove many of the barriers that might be preventing you from truly capitalising on the opportunities of outsourcing. They can help you access new markets, find new talent, while also optimising your operating costs.
