New Beginnings…
Our first blog entry!
So, I thought it’d be a good idea to start off our blog by talking about how EKAADA came to be, and why we are doing this.
As a group, we have worked together for a number of years, in a few different roles, and between us we have migrated many processes and departments offshore to outsourced companies. Generally, the principal reason for outsourcing has been for cost efficiency. The overheads locally were high, and we had pressure to get cost out of our P&Ls. The major cost of call centres and service departments is headcount. There is only so much you can save by reducing colour printing, getting rid of pot plants, stopping the NZ Herald delivery, buying cheaper coffee and tea. The fall out of some of those ‘rats and mice’ is that the working environment starts to become a little less enjoyable too and the team less engaged. So, we made the difficult decision to outsource some processes to enable us to save on headcount cost. By not replacing those that had left through natural attrition and unfortunately some by restructure, we could build a remote team.
We quickly built a few departments remotely and treated the teams as if they were our own. This is a key formula to outsourcing – although they are a supplier, the level of engagement and effort is far higher when you treat the remote guys as part of the team. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of other steps to getting it right – preparation and getting your own processes clean and documented has to be your starting point, and then making the effort to be clear about expectations, goals and behaviours is next. If you make the effort to set it up right, the transition (as far as customers are concerned) is seamless and the ongoing performance can far exceed previous experience.
We’d began to notice that outsourcing seemed to only attract bigger companies, or larger scale process migrations. There seemed to be few companies that decided to outsource only 1 or 2 roles, and we wondered why that might be. Maybe smaller businesses didn’t think it was viable or even ‘do-able’ . Maybe it was too much effort for a smaller saving/return? The idea was born at this point that maybe there was a place in the market to help make this happen. By using our collective expertise and experience, as well as connections and knowledge of the outsourcing process, we might be able to facilitate outsourcing for smaller businesses too.
So here we are. Looking to help companies, supporting them by offering solutions they perhaps had thought weren’t available on the scale they might need. The beauty of outsourcing is being able to leverage our business partners’ size to our clients’ advantage. We can facilitate 1 FTE or 100+ FTE. The thought process is pretty much the same – although the 100 FTE might take a wee bit longer to set up! The possibilities are limitless, and we can grow or scale back as quickly as needed.
We’re always exploring new opportunities, be it new processes, projects, web development or just helping clients to grow in a cost-effective way. So, if you are wondering whether this might be something to look into, don’t hesitate! Pop us a message on our website, an email or phone call to start that discussion.
We will do our best to create a solution for you. Whilst we are based in Auckland, we can work with clients globally with the modern wonders of connectivity, so look forward to hearing from you, regardless of location in New Zealand.
Alan Patmore
www.ekaada.com
[email protected]
+64 211 166 206
+64 274 302 006