The natural paradise called the Canary Islands
Holidays and work don´t usually go together. In fact, one normally excludes the other, because when we are laying on the beach under the sun, it´s hard to imagine ourselves being productive or focused in something that is not a margarita. However, remote workers strive to find the perfect balance between these two apparent antonyms, and no one knows more about remote workers than companies that outsource parts of its business to outsourcing providers.
If your company is looking to outsource some of its processes, or you are an outsourcing company manager looking to grow your operations, you should have a clear idea on what has been happening (and what is about to happen) in the world of outsourcing. Yes, I´m talking about trends. Past, present and future of an industry and a way of working that is constantly changing.
The market for BPOs has been steadily growing since its inception in the 1970s. However, disruption as we know it only arrived in the past decade, bringing tremendous change and showing numbers never seen before. One of the major factors that have changed during the last few years, is the fact that companies not only outsource IT anymore, they also do the same with some healthcare business processes, customer service, accounting and Marketing.
Outsourcing trends
From 2016, Deloitte has been conducting a Global Outsourcing Survey to find out what the sector had been up to. The survey showed that, while IT still tops the list as the most outsourced process (72%), Legal (63%) and HR (47%) are rapidly growing. Besides, the study by Deloitte also clarified that outsourcing is not only seen as a cost cutting tool (59%), but also as a tool to enable focus (57%), solve capacity issues (47%) or enhance service quality (31%) to name a few.
This leaves a clear conclusion: outsourcing is a flourishing industry that keeps growing, and that’s good news if you’re a provider in that arena, and it’s also an interesting business move for companies looking to optimize their costs while enhancing quality and compliance of their business processes. So, the what is clear, but what about the how? Well, it turns out that the where has a great
impact in it.
Let´s take the Canary Islands as an example. Not only is the weather fantastic all year long, but the archipelago also offers the lowest income tax in Europe (at 4%), foreign speaking qualified workers (over 10% of the population are expats and universities and vocational schools generate more than 1.000 STEM graduates every year). This would mean your company is cutting costs, reducing the turnover rate and contributing to longer lasting relationships with employees by providing them with the possibility of a superior quality of life.
The crucial decision of where locating your outsourcing operations
Another important part of your strategy should be to not get caught on what outsourcing has been; it´s just as important to guess where outsourcing is going to be.
The Global Sourcing Association (GSA) in the UK produced a study in 2016 about what the outsourcing industry will look like in 2020 and beyond. In this study, we learn that 70% of current outsourcers plan to make more use of it, while 0% plan to decrease the amount they currently outsource. Another resounding figure: only 4% of service providers expect the outsourcing industry to get smaller, whereas 83% of them expect it to grow significantly.
One last remarkable conclusion drawn from the study is that there is a strong expectation that some changes to contracting will occur, like contract values being based on outcome, procurement becoming more important and notice periods becoming significantly shorter. Now that you have a more comprehensive picture of what the outsourcing industry was, is and most likely will be, it´s time to make an informed decision about it.
Remember, where to locate your outsourcing operations is as important as why you are in the outsourcing business itself.
Are you worried about foreign hiring? The turnover rate in the archipelago is one of the lowest in the world!
Maybe your concern is on the skilled workforce department. Well, 5 universities, 22 Official Schools of Languages and 180 Professional Training Centers should put you at ease.
We almost forgot, you may also be losing sleep about a little something called taxes. Worry no more, the Canary Islands boast the lowest income tax in the whole of Europe at a whopping 4%. It´s pretty clear to me folks, outsourcing is a healthy industry and the Canaries are the place to do it.