They are two different things, although closely related.

The Difference Between Efficiency and Productivity

Efficiency is about producing the same output using fewer resources, while productivity is producing more output using the same amount of resources. 

• Efficiency is about working smarter while productivity is working harder. 
• The first is about quality, the other is about quantity.
• Efficiency is about saving money. Productivity is about making the most of it.

Why Efficiency and Productivity Are Important

Business organisations generally aim to spend less and produce more. We want to control costs and get the bang for the buck, value for money.

Example

Let’s say, in a given period, ABC Company produces 120 units while XYZ Corporation produces 100 units of the same product. 

In the process, ABC spends $120 while XYZ spends $50. 

So while ABC produced more, XYZ spent less. 

ABC inputted $1 for every unit, while XYZ spent $0.50 per unit. Therefore, XYZ is the winner in productivity.

If both companies will sell their products at $1.50, ABC will earn $60 while XYZ will earn $100 – a difference of $40.

Now, let’s say that the reason why XYZ only spent $0.50 is that it used inferior materials. That would mean their products are actually of lower quality. 

That means either of two things: first, XYZ could not possibly sell its products at the same price as ABC’s, or second, XYZ could have more rejects or returns. 

You may argue that XYZ can still earn more than ABC. Yes, maybe for a month or two, but in the long run, XYZ’s reputation will be affected and customers can start ordering ABC’s higher-quality products instead. 

In such a case, ABC will become more efficient than XYZ.

How to Achieve Maximum Efficiency and Productivity

Here are a few tips on what companies can do to become more efficient and productive at the same time.

1. Get feedback

Listen to your employees. Conduct simple surveys. Check-in with your teams at least once a week. Utilise meetings to hear from the people in the trenches. 

Their inputs are essential since they are the ones in close contact with how things are done daily. They may have ideas on how to save costs or increase productivity.

In the process, you might also identify people who can become your team leaders soon.

1. Train people

Invest in your human resources. Train them in new approaches and techniques in doing their jobs. 

Encourage them to sign up for short, practical courses within their fields. Allow them to join professional associations and network with their peers.

You can also create a mentoring program where new staff will be guided and taught by more experienced ones.

Support every opportunity for learning and knowledge enhancement. It will not only lead to more efficiency and better productivity but can also boost your employee morale.

1. Improve processes

Keep up to date with modern techniques and approaches. Look for and use tools and apps that can immediately save time or money.

Automate where possible. Maximise the use of technology, from the simplest to the most complex.

Some companies have learned to outsource some of their business processes and found that this has improved their efficiency and productivity.

Outsourcing and offshoring

Profitmaster is an expert in outsourced work and offshore employment. It has helped companies save on cost, hire offshore more efficiently, and also improve productivity by guiding them in outsourcing. 

If you would like to know how you can benefit from this too, send a message now and step on the road to maximising efficiency and productivity.

Impact of Communication on Management

At Profitmanster, we recognize the fact that management relies heavily on communication. To be successful, any type of business must have efficient processes and systems in place. Communication is essential for making those systems run smoothly.

Communication can be formal or informal, but the most effective method is holding regular meetings with staff members. This enables everyone to discuss issues face-to-face, as opposed to dealing with misunderstandings that arise when messages go unspoken or are misinterpreted by employees who are too busy to have follow-up conversations.

Effective communication also entails ensuring that everyone on the team has received clear instructions on how to do their job every day; this will keep things running smoothly while freeing up some time to focus on other aspects that are critical to the company’s success.

Communication—A Tool in Outsourcing

Outsourcing has become a popular practise for large corporations like Profitmaster that want to delegate various tasks to a different company—usually one located overseas. Communication is critical in outsourcing because it affects project success. For example, if there is poor communication between the client and the service provider, it may result in project delays or, worse, failure to deliver what was expected of them.

Communication is important because it allows clients and service providers to better understand each other’s needs and expectations. This way, both parties are clear on what is required to fulfil a project or role; whether it’s about an agreed-upon deadline or project specifications, effective communication prevents confusion from arising during communication processes like the ones mentioned above. If this is not done, it can lead to trouble because misunderstandings frequently occur when people do not know exactly what information needs to be shared with whom and when.

Why Philippines?

We became aware that, in the event that we decided to outsource some of our work, we needed to have a quick and easy way to communicate with our local counterparts. Because of this, outsourcing to the Philippines was the best choice as the country has a high ranking when it comes to English comprehension and competence. It certainly comes as no surprise that the Philippines has quickly become the capital of the outsourcing industry in Southeast Asia.

Given that there are many talented Filipinos who have a strong command of the English language, both verbally and in writing, remote management becomes much less complicated. As previously stated, communication is an essential part of management because it allows us to lead our team members and ensure everyone is on the same page. Due to the distance, we sometimes have to work with them via video call or email. Communication keeps everyone on task and ensures that everything is completed on time. Such effectiveness in remote management is only possible when there is clear understanding by both sides, on both ends.

Communication and Culture Compatibility

Another factor that contributes to the success of Philippine outsourcing is the cultural compatibility that exists between Australian teams and their Filipino counterparts who are currently employed in the Philippines. A majority of Australians and Filipinos hold many of the same values, including kindness, consideration, honesty, and self-reliance. This allows our managers and supervisors to communicate effectively with Filipino students and employees because there tends to be a higher level of mutual trust.

The Role of Communication in Productivity and Efficiency

Communication is a critical component of our company’s productivity and efficiency. We understand that it plays such an important role because it allows us to resolve issues as they arise. It also enables us to delegate tasks more effectively, saving time that would otherwise be spent managing each individual employee.

Communication is important for efficiency because it allows our business to run smoothly and prevents problems from spreading throughout the organisation. Furthermore, communication enables employees to perform their duties without constant supervision from managers or other executives—which means less stress!

Know More About Us

When a company like Profitmaster doesn’t have the manpower or supplies on hand to finish a particular project, outsourcing is a great solution. Experience the transformative potential of open dialogue for yourself by becoming a part of our community. Learn more about us by clicking or tapping here.

The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) projected the outsourcing industry’s global market revenue to reach US$230 billion and full-time employees to increase to 7.4 million in 2022.

According to Forbes, offshoring has become a viable option even for the largest companies worldwide. The shift to outsourcing has been attributed to factors such as faster business growth, staffing flexibility, and the availability of top talents in BPO companies.

The ideal outsourcing destination

For many firms, the Philippines is the outsourcing location of choice. Its outsourcing industry has grown phenomenally since it began in 1992. Experts predict that Philippine outsourcing industry revenues will hit US$29 billion and full-time employees will grow to 1.4 million in 2022.

Why do companies outsource in the Philippines?

1. English Fluency 

English is widely used and is one of the official languages of the Philippines. In 2021, the Philippines was 18th in English competency among 112 countries (2021 English Proficiency Index). Consequently, the Philippine workforce boasts a high level of English proficiency.

This also helps the communication between the professional firms and outsourced employees. Breaking down the gap and barrier to work efficiently and effectively. Filipinos are also known to adapt to different languages and even accents. 

2. Top-Rated Skills

Outsourcing companies also attract top-rated talents in information technology, accounting, sales and marketing, customer support, and administration. Many are university-educated, certified from foreign standards to adapt  and outsourcing companies have in-house training programs.

3. Great Attitude & Work Ethic

Filipino workers are sought after in other countries for their excellent work ethic. They have been described as responsible, hardworking, polite, respectful, and friendly.

Philippine outsourcing company staff have the same great work ethic, can work well under pressure, and are able to coordinate excellently with teammates. BPO companies further instill corporate values like integrity and service.

4. Cost-Effective Rates

Working with outsourcing companies is more cost-effective than hiring local staff. The cost of an outsourced accountant for your bookkeeping, for example, is much lower than hiring an in-house employee.

Aside from direct cost savings, outsourcing allows in-house personnel to focus on tasks and processes that are more important to the firm. Operational expenses will also tend to be lower when outsourcing than for doing everything within company facilities.

5. Robust Government Support

The Philippine government has put support policies in place, such as the Special Economic Zone Act (Republic Act No. 7916), which provides fiscal and non-fiscal benefits to outsourcing companies located in special economic zones.

The Telecommuting Act (RA 11165), the Data Privacy Act (RA 10173), the Department of Information and Communications Technology Act (RA 10844), and similar laws also help advance outsourcing in the country.

How to outsource in the Philippines

If you want to find out how you can outsource, Profitmaster can help. Our Australian-founded company allows businesses to outsource administrative, IT, and other services.

You can get a free consultation today without commitments, so you can find out how offshoring can work for you. Click here to send us a message

With the Christmas and new year period just coming to an end you want to make sure you are organised and ready to get off to a great start.

The Tasks Your Virtual Assistant Can Do For You

• Management of your Email/Filtering/Spam
• Answering Customer Service Emails / Chat Support
• Sending of Greetings eCards, Event Invitations, etc.
• Reminder Services
• Setting up Autoresponders (e.g. MailChimp)
• Creating a New List in Email Marketing Software (e.g. MailChimp)
• Adding and Removing Subscribers from Lists
• Creating and Scheduling Broadcast Emails to Promote Content
• Editing Follow-up Emails and Auto-responders
• Creating Email Newsletters
• Editing / Proofreading Emails
• Setting up appointments
• Following up with clients/customers
• Receptionist duties (answering your calls)
• Calendar Management
• File Management/organising files using Dropbox etc.
• Database building/updating email or contact lists on your CRM
• Researching certain topics for blogposts, newsletters or others
• Running Personal errands (purchasing gifts for loved ones / family members online)
• Organising Travel Arrangements and Planning/Hotel and Flight Bookings
• Transcription (transcribing voicemail, video or audio, podcasts etc.)
• Taking down minutes of meetings
• Creating basic reports (reports on weekly tasks, deliverables, sales)
• Preparing Slideshows (PowerPoint Presentations)
• Liaison between you and other team members
• Recruitment (source for other team members like writers or graphic artists)
• Set-up Social Media Accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube)
• Manage and update Social Media Accounts
• Answer inquiries and Messages on All Channel & Profiles
• Manage your Blog
• Publish posts on your Blog
• Filter and reply to comments on your blog
• Participating in discussion forums or message boards (more promotion!)
• Dropbox / Google Drive Organization
• Data Entry in Word, or Google Docs
• Creating / Managing Spreadsheets
• PDF Conversion, Splitting and Merging
• Transcription of Video and Audio Files
• Simple eBook Layout / Formatting
• Preparing Online Meeting Minutes
• Report Creation
• Forms Creation
• Document Template Creation
• Online Research
• Data Mining & Development / Lead Generation
• Receptionist Duties
• Voicemail Checking
• Sending Client Invoices
• Basic Bookkeeping
• Personal Errands (Purchasing Gifts Online, etc.)
• Project Management & Training Tasks
• Project Management Between You and Team members
• Preparation of Training Materials
• Training of New Virtual Staff
• Deadline / Deliverables Tracking

Click here to find out a little more about a Virtual Assistant than contact Profitmaster today who can help you find what you are looking for.

I have had the privilege of employing a PA for most of my career and this has enabled me to not only leverage my time through the availability of an additional resource, it has allowed me to achieve a greater balance in both my professional and personal life.

My awesome PA lives in the Philippines.

If you are wondering why your to-do list is almost always never finished, and why there is just not enough time in the day, look into hiring an Awesome Personal Assistant in the Philippines.

Only a few years ago, the idea of an offshore PA was impractical. The problems of time zones and distance were insurmountable. Nowadays, things have changed. With the availability of high speed internet, VoIP and conference communications, as well as highly educated English speaking staff who work in the same time zone, it has never been easier to achieve massive increases in productivity. With a few tweaks in your processes, working with an offshore secretary is just like working in the same building, even on the same floor.

There is almost nothing an onshore PA does that is not capable of being done by an offshore PA.

Your offshore PA is like having another you. From keeping you on schedule to delegation of tasks and a myriad of other opportunities, engaging an offshore PA allows you to keep the trains running while you focus on the big picture. Truly, an investment in yourself!

When you are looking for an offshore personal assistant (sometimes called a virtual PA, although personally I do not like that term), a perceived stumbling block is to find the right person who really fits into the job. Looking for that x-factor in a person physically located in another country can be arduous. By using an experienced and professional offshore outsourcing company like Profitmaster BPO, you can find the Awesome PA you have been looking for.

In the world of offshore business, administrative assistants are spread all over the world, mostly in Asia. In fact the Philippines is the largest provider of offshore personal assistants to Australian businesses. As a strategy, this caters for client connections across multiple time zones although most outsourcing companies in Philippines provide administrative staff working in the same time zone as their clients.

However with all the intricacies in the relationship between a boss and his offshore personal assistant, the requirements of the work and communications between the parties needs to be open and balanced.

So here are 10 ideas to help you leverage your Awesome PA to get back more time and massively increase your productivity:

1. Give your offshore personal assistant the complete A-Z lists of the project. Communicate appropriately, ensuring both of you fully understand not only the project lists but the project itself. If you give the right A to Z lists, you will get the precise 1-2-3’s for the completed project.
2. Freedom with wisdom. Of course, your personal assistant does not want to be baby-sat like a toddler while fulfilling their work obligations. Let them do their job with the assurance that their knowledge and skill is enough to get the job done. Spoon feeding is the last thing you want. It’s the same with your assistant.
3. Get organised. None of us wants to be called “office airhead“ but losing just one piece of information is a total wreck! Let your offshore assistant organise the to do list along with priorities based on your requirements. Help them understand brilliant ideas like “Do It”, “Diarise It” and “Delete It”.
4. Delegate your inbox to your assistant. As the boss, how much time do you spend in reviewing your emails? Reading, deleting, responding, flagging and repeat requires much of your time. Hooray! an assistant can reduce your burden of email management. Just knowing when and how to delegate email management will make a huge impact on how you and your assistant deal with your day-to-day communication.
5. They assist, you invest. Just because you have an offshore personal assistant, you still only want them for the help you need. Like in any other relationship, this is two way. You have to invest in education and training of your skilled PA. In my own case, my PA comes to Australia twice per year. Not only for training, but to meet clients, other staff, suppliers and the like. Doing this cements the relationship between my PA and I. My clients and staff get to meet my assistant. This is a most dynamic way to leverage myself to the other people I do business with.
6. Responsibility develops capability. Your assistant is your eyes and ears in the company, even offshore. Your assistant is involved in the day to day business of the company, acting on your behalf. Their roles can be demanding. Delegating responsibility is a training ground for them. As they get used to it, it will be like a walk in the park.
7. Meet. I meet regularly with my offshore personal assistant every day. We hold meetings by Skype or phone. As much as possible we meet by video link. This creates a much more personal interaction. Meetings are important for they provide real communication time. It helps you and your assistant become familiar. Work conversations become smooth and easy going.
8. Teach work attitude in your absence. Congratulations, you have finally hired your offshore Awesome PA. This journey is all about work disposition and attitude, even over long distances. When you have a great work attitude happening, you can begin to enjoy a glass of wine with family and colleagues without worrying about the office.
9. Show appreciation and feedback. Anyone can do their job knowing the end result is a salary. However, the passion and hard work stems out when being appreciated. Filipino Awesome Personal Assistants love to be appreciated. They don’t just crave for the pay cheque, like all your staff they need recognition and encouragement!
10. Last but not the least, Incentives work!. Come on, be realistic! Your offshore Personal Assistant not only needs verbal appreciation, they need something more than that. Just like an onshore assistant, maybe more so. It is another way of saying “thank you, you did a great job”.
    

No matter what your company does, improving the productivity of you and your work force ends at the bottom line. People are the most important single factor contributing to the success for your company. Engaging an offshore PA has been a great experience for me, one that has given me more time for work and other things as well as increased my productivity where I can get more things done.

The biggest secret of startups or entrepreneurs who are highly productive and successful – they don’t handle all the tasks by themselves. They hire virtual assistants for a specific role who will handle the job more efficiently and effectively.

There’s never a shortage of tasks when you’ve created a solid business plan. These tasks must be completed in a timely manner to ensure the success of your business. The most common tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant include online research, data entry, diary management, database creation, appointment setting, business presentations, newsletter creation, email management and data mining. Other complex tasks must be outsourced to a personal assistant who is equipped with the appropriate skills sets or specialisation. VAs are indeed fast learners and can do almost anything you ask them, but it is best that you let them handle specific tasks where they are good at.

Types of Virtual Assistants

To know more about the types of personal assistants that you can hire online, continue reading to understand what kind of virtual assistants you should be looking for who can help your business grow.

Admin / General Virtual Assistant

A general virtual assistant or virtual personal assistant is more than just a secretary. They are in charge of doing repetitive, administrative and secretarial duties such as replying to emails, organising meetings, booking travel flights, drafting email newsletter, answering phone calls, creating database, and many more.

Virtual admin assistants are experts in using desktop and cloud-based applications such as Microsoft Office, Excel, Power-point, Outlook, Google Docs and other data processing related apps. Contact us and know more about the benefits of having a dedicated admin assistant for your business.

Virtual Accountant/Bookkeeper Assistant

If you are looking to hire a virtual assistant who can help you with record keeping and managing accounts for your business, then you should definitely hire a certified public accountant not just a general VA. You definitely don’t want to take the risk of 0having errors with your business financial records that’s why it is always the best choice to hire a CPA with years of hands-on experience working with SME’s who have done a lot of accounting and bookkeeping transactions.

Your virtual bookkeeping assistant will be the one doing all the tax records, prepare financial statements, process accounts payable/receivable, business activity statements, year-end reports and ensure bank records are complete and accurate.

Having a virtual bookkeeper can also help you with other accounting related tasks such as budgeting, payroll, preparing general ledgers and invoices, reconciling bank and credit cards statements.

Most virtual bookkeepers who provide bookkeeping assistance are expert in the following system: QuickBooks, MYOB, XERO, FreshBooks, Saasu, Zoho Books, Reckon, Wave, OneUp, Sage One, AccountEdge Pro, and similar accounting software. You can also read our article about having good accounting system for your business.

Digital Marketer/Online Strategist

These types of virtual assistants specialises in improving businesses’ online presence to get more visitors, sales leads and potential clients. Digital marketers have broad set of skills and strategies they used to grow an online business. Strategies such as content marketing, search engine optimisation, social media , email marketing, pay per click advertising, viral campaign, etc.

The field of Digital Marketing is broad and you have the slightest chance of finding one who does it all. That’s why it would be best to only look for a personal assistant who can accomplish a specific role, as these tasks are technical in nature and would require analytic thinking as well.

Here’s a breakdown of online marketing strategies and the recommended type of personal assistant that you might want to hire for your business.

Social Media Specialist

Running a social media marketing campaign using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and/or Google Plus is one of the most effective ways to increase your business reach, although it sounds easy, it’s not that simple.

Basically, you start by creating a dedicated page or profile for your business; then you start sharing your websites’ blog articles, announcements, promo and sharing other people’s content to grown connections and improve engagement with your target audience. Your goal is to grow the number of followers/fans that you have and increase the level of engagements for your social media accounts.

You need to dedicate a serious amount of time to see some results with this kind of online marketing strategy.  Hiring a social media marketing specialist is one of the cost-effective ways to make it work.

Tasks you can outsource to a social media specialist:

• Create individual social media accounts for your business.
• Curate and post valuable content that targets specific audience.
• Reply to comment/private messages to increase social activity/engagement.
• Grow Fans/Followers base from niche/target audience.
• Analyse and interpret Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics.
• Analyse the best time to publish content based from your targeted audience time zones.
• Manage Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter ads campaign.
• Design visually-appealing graphics for social media posting.

Search Engine Optimisation

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is an internet marketing strategy used by business owners to drive tons of free traffic to their site by gaining higher ranks on SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) of Google, Bing, and Yahoo for keywords related to their products or services.

The concept behind SEO is that you need to boost your website’s authority in your particular niche/industry, by creating valuable content, that is beneficial for your audience. These could be a product, a service, or a piece of information that is worth sharing. The more websites linking to your business, the higher the authority your site will become. Search engines will recognise this and will prioritise your business in search engine results page.

Easier said than done, the whole SEO process would require talented and passionate SEO virtual assistants to make it happened. This internet marketing strategy requires a solid plan, and a dedicated team who can execute SEO marketing campaigns effectively and efficiently as the tasks required for this is really time-consuming. Patience is needed in this kind of marketing strategy as it would take several months before you can see the results of all the work done by your SEO team.

Here are some tasks that you can outsource to an SEO VA

• SEO Copywriting
• Keyword Research
• Competition Research
• On-page SEO
  • Title and meta tags optimisation
  • Improve site loading speed
  • Mobile responsive design
  • Sitemap creation
  • Fix 301 and 404 page not found errors
  • Image alt tags
  • SEO-friendly URL structure
  • SEO-friendly file naming
  • Internal linking
• Off-page SEO
  • Local directory/Business citations
  • Content marketing
  • Press Release
  • Interactions in forums and blogs
  • Partnering with other business-related sites

Search Engine Marketing

SEM or Search Engine Marketing is another form of Internet marketing strategy that shares the same objective with SEO, which is to drive traffic to a website, but this time, using paid advertisements.  Implementing paid ads to a website can be done using either Google Ads or Bing Ads.

The concept behind SEM is that you will bid for your target keyword and set a daily budget. Once the ad campaign is successfully set-up and active, Google/Bing will display it on the front page of search engine results. Position of your ad may vary depending on several factors such as the amount you bid for the keyword, quality of the ad, and quality of mobile landing page experience.

Every time your ad is clicked by a user, you will be charged for a certain amount depending on the daily budget that you have set.

Unlike SEO, SEM can deliver results immediately. As long as your campaign is active, you will see instant traffic to your website.

SEM tasks you can outsource include

• Determine business goals
• Create/Improve landing page
• Analyse and research keywords to target
• Create attractive ad copies for your campaign.
• Create irresistible attention-grabbing headline
• Bid on target keywords
• Set daily budget for PPC campaign
• A/B testing methods.

Content Writer Virtual Assistant

Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to improve your brand awareness online. The problem is not all business owners have the time to write content for their site on a regular basis. That’s where the help of a content writer comes in handy.

Hiring a professional SEO copywriter or content writer is the best option to have well-written content on your website. Experienced writers can come up with engaging and informative content that will spark the interests of your customers.

Most content that were outsourced online are blog articles, product descriptions, press release and services page. Finding a virtual assistant that can meet your specific requirement will prove to be a challenge.

Web Developer / WordPress Virtual Assistant

VAs in this category are experts in setting up websites using either hard-coded/readily-available templates or the WordPress platform. They can help you build websites from scratch, buy domain names, set-up web hosting accounts, to the customisation of your site. These professionals are the ones you should be looking for if you want to start doing business online.

WordPress VAs are good at choosing the right plugins for your site. They also perform site backups, speed up website load time, schedule site maintenance, optimise databases, and even customise existing templates according to your specifications.

Graphics Designer Virtual Assistant

These types of virtual assistants create amazing graphics such as company logo, infographics, and templates that can be used for web content, social media marketing campaigns, and other promotional materials. Experienced graphics artists can easily understand brand concepts and can redesign existing ones of a client.

VAs under this category are experts in using photo editing tools such as Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, Illustrator, CorelDraw, and almost any other software related to editing graphics or image files.

E-Commerce Virtual Assistant

Order fulfilment tasks can become overwhelming when your online store starts to get busy, as you need to process sales order and monitor inventory to avoid delay. You also need to answer questions or enquiries, because customer service is very important to have a successful business. Doing this by yourself is extremely difficult, that’s where an e-commerce virtual assistant comes in to help you manage your online business.

When you hired a virtual sales assistant for this specific role, you will be able to avoid sales order problems as inventory is regularly checked. E-Commerce assistant can process new orders, answer customer questions, create order invoices, handle returns and products exchanges, and transact with your suppliers.

More experienced e-commerce VAs run special offers/promotions, update/add products, write SEO-friendly product descriptions, and with the right training, do bookkeeping for your store.

Customer Service Virtual Assistant

These types of online assistants are very important for your business success. They can handle sales enquiries, provide technical support, provide quotations, and answer billing-related questions. Not just they are good at answering customer enquiries, but they can also help retain your existing clients by providing quality service to them.

Majority of customer services support used email and live chat for ease of communication. Other online businesses are taking phone calls, and using social media platforms to answer queries. Others have set up a help desk where customers can go to this help page, search for their concerns from their database, and scan various information where they can get answers to their questions.

Conclusion

Finding the right virtual assistant for your business can be challenging, but once you have found the right one, you will see huge improvements in your business workflow.

Let us know your requirements, and we can help you find the VA specialist that will be perfect for your company.

‘Outsourcing’ simply means shifting portions of business operations, administrative tasks, or processes to a third party provider rather than performing them internally. As a business strategy, outsourcing is proven to reduce overall costs and increase efficiency.

What’s the Real Score?

There are numerous benefits of Business Process Outsourcing circulating the world wide web to justify convenience and advantages. Here are some of the obvious factors of outsourcing that entrepreneurs and business owners can profit from.

• Cost Advantages – outsourcing reduces operating costs. Same quality workforce at a lower cost.
• Improve Focus – essential to a company’s core business ideology. Leaders and managers can focus on the main mission when they are able to hire highly skilled experts from outsourcing to cover defined processes. Companies can then use internal sources to function for other purposes.
• Efficient and Better Service – BPO companies provide expert staff ensuring excellence and outstanding quality of work as a priority goal.

To Outsource or Not?

Outsourcing sounds simple but on the other hand, it is wide, broad and complex depending on the needs of the company. Outsourcing permits organisations to be more efficient and versatile while reducing cost. Adapting to major change and improvement, presents an enormous opportunity  to see benefits of outsourcing across multiple decentralised economies. The Business Process Outsourcing industry has made a great contribution to Globalisation. It is accompanied by diversity and convergence. We see it as a huge opportunity to include new business partnerships with flexibility to deliver exceptional, world-class service. Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister of Australia once said, “My guiding principle is that prosperity can be shared. We can create wealth together. The global economy is not a zero-sum game.”

Of course, business is a risk. From a newly opened small-scale business to an emerging multinational corporation, risks are always present. It’s just a matter of determining on which one is worth the squeeze.

So if you’re planning to start or grow a business, you might want to look at the possibility of entering the Business Process Outsourcing industry.

Offshore staff can be trained and managed in the same way their Australian counterparts do. They can work the same hours, be given access to the same technology and deliver the equivalent work productivity. It has been proven to be a good cost improvement strategy and an effective way to expand one’s business.

Factors that most businesses have considered in building their offshore teams in the Philippines:

• Filipinos are highly educated and skilled.
• Filipinos speak English extremely well.
• Our cultures are very similar.
• The economy is stable and growing.
• Working hours and holidays match up as our overseas staff forfeit their Filipino holidays and follow our Australian calendar.
• There is a huge cost advantage.
• Filipinos have a very strong work ethic.
• The Philippines has better telecommunications and infrastructure than other offshoring countries.
• The Philippines has an extremely good track record in offshoring.
• The Philippines government supports offshoring and outsourcing.

Why Profitmaster BPO?

We have a detailed focus and are dedicated to improving your business efficiency. Data processing, accounting services, telemarketing, customer service, phone answering, marketing, bookkeeping and general administration are just some of our specialties. We can help staff your business remotely and effectively, whilst saving you a huge amount of time and money.

We work with you. We do not tailor your business to our needs. Instead, we tailor our solutions to your business.

We hire the right people. At Profitmaster BPO, we recruit the best candidates to ensure our clients get the right staff for the job.

We believe in teamwork. By working together to achieve success, we build lifelong relationships with both our clients and employees.

The resulting ability to reclassify skilled resources to income earning functions is an added benefit for management strategy that demands higher profits and lower costs while maintaining positive work ethics with improved resource capability.

The Philippines is an increasingly prominent provider of accounting outsourcing services and bookkeeping outsourcing services. Profitmaster is based in the Philippines.

Despite the growth of outsourced accounting services, and outsourced bookkeeping services, there are many firms who still ask: what is offshore accounting?

Once explained, the next question about the use of offshore accountants is about the quality of work. Profitmaster’s use of degree qualified, experienced CPA’s having strong skill and language proficiencies and producing high quality work is the reason given clients why outsource accounting services work for them.

And there is the question of PI insurance. If you are in public practice and considering offshore accounting to the Philippines for your firm, it is worth a call to your PI insurer to understand your policy provisions about outsourcing accounting work offshore.

Many PI providers will not provide cover unless the outsourced accountant Philippines provider can demonstrate that they have also cover for their Australian clients.

As the industry of offshoring continues to skyrocket, the range of services provided by outsourced accounting professionals also grows in intricacy and variety. Clients have shown increased preparedness to work with these professionals and are likewise significantly prepared to claim for negligence wherever offshoring financial services agreement may have been compromised or when there is a delay or incurred losses.

The issue is important because of the significant risks being faced by accounting firms in Australia. There are many cases where firms have suffered considerable liabilities as a result of the work done by poor providers. These risks must be considered no matter whether you are considering using offshore bookkeeping services or offshore accounting services.

The Australian professional bodies have provided guidance to assist accountant understand and mitigate these risks, as does the Tax Practitioners Board. The TPB states “providing adequate supervisory arrangements is critical in the offshoring tax service business model”.

APES GN 30 Outsourced Service has been issued by Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board Limited (“APES”). APES GN 30 provides guidance for Members in Public Practice to consider when managing the risks associated with providing or utilising Outsourced Services.

Accountants utilising outsourced accounting services are required to evaluate their ability to comply with Section 130, Professional Competence and Due Care of APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.

Basically this means that accountants are required to consider the risk of potential inability to perform an engagement due to poor performance of the outsourced accounting services provider.

Profitmaster is a professional services firm providing bookkeeping and offshore accounting. This year we celebrate our third year of operation and ensuring and our compliance with all of the requirements of the Australian accounting bodies has been an essential element of our success as an accounting bpo.

Our founder and CEO is a Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years’ experience holding a practicing certificate with CAANZ. Accounting firm are assured that our professional indemnity insurance policy complies with the requirements of CAANZ and CPA Australia.

Personally, I have learned a lot this year. 

I have learned about gratitude and the importance of giving back. 

In the office it is called “pagbabahagi ng mga pagpapala” (sharing the blessings). 

Watching our team develop a program of life enhancement for those in difficult circumstances fills me with pride. 

I have learned that the gift of education must be shared and the leverage in life for those who receive the gift, as well as their families, is something that can never be overvalued.  

These are the 2 areas of focus in our final newsletter for the year. 

Looking back on the year, we have grown our people. Our team has doubled in size over the past 12 months.  

We have learned to successfully navigate through the difficulties created by the pandemic. We have moved from one single office to three offices across the Clark Center precinct. We have broadened our management team to accommodate our continued growth into 2022. 

The outlook for accounting and bookkeeping staff in the Philippines continues to indicate strong growth through 2022 and beyond, especially for accounting intermediates and seniors. We have added additional education programs to accommodate the needs for our Australian clients in this area, particularly with our accounting software training courses and our Certificate of Australian Taxation. These programmes help to ensure that offshore staff can be operational with their Australian client within very short startup and onboarding timeframes. 

Debbie and I, along with our whole Philippines’ team would like to wish you and your families the very best for this holiday season and hope you will enjoy a happy a prosperous 2022.  

By Richard Croaker, Chief Executive Officer