Offshoring Inc.
Offshoring Inc. or Offshoring Incorporated, formerly known as iWebmasters.com, LLC, is an American-managed outsourcing company with offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Philippines. It was founded in 2004 as iWebmasters.com, LLC by American IT executives. Offshoring Inc.'s business model involves leasing employees to international clients for prices that are drastically lower than in the United States. Employees offered for leasing GeneRally have highly developed IT skills in SEO, Web design, Programming, contact centre operations, among others. The company is the first in the Philippines to offer outsourced staff-leasing services.
History
Formation and early years
In 2004, American IT executives with extensive outsourcing and offshoring backgrounds founded iWebmasters.com, LLC, a staff-leasing services provider. iWebmasters started operations in its Philippines headquarters at Antel Building, Makati City on December 17, 2004. Later, the company also occupied another building in Chatham House in Salcedo Village, just a block away from their original office in Antel. Initially, they handled less than 20 accounts, which primarily employed Web designers and programmers. Meanwhile, the office in Atlanta handled sales functions for iWebmasters.com, LLC, which involved convincing prospective clients to outsource to the Philippines to keep their costs down while maximizing their investment. Low-cost investment and higher productivity are the typical selling points of offshoring and outsourcing businesses.
Angelito A. Cruz was appointed Chief Operating Officer on May 2005. Cruz responded to the lack of structure and system in operations by creating basic rules and regulations that gave more stability to the company. He also initiated the creation of policies that gave employees a number of benefits. After the establishment and separation of the Recruitment Department from the Human Resources Department, iWebmasters.com, LLC was able to hire more than 200 employees, prompting management to transfer to bigger headquarters. Tycoon Centre Condominium along Pearl Drive at Ortigas Center, Pasig City was chosen because of its spacious floors and offices. Employees moved into the new headquarters in batches until the transfer was completed in the third quarter of 2006.
From iWebmasters to Offshoring Inc.
The websites iWebmasters.com and Offshoring.com are both owned by the founder of iWebmasters.com, LLC. The name "Offshoring Inc." was soon preferred over "iWebmasters.com, LLC" however, because of its excellent potential for SEO. iWebmaster's tagline "Be a Master" was changed to "a leap to endless possibilities." Today, Offshoring Inc. is the official name of the organization and the management occasionally refers to the company as "Offshoring Incorporated" or "Offshoring."
Headquarters
Offshoring Inc. has two offices, one at Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and the other at Tycoon Centre Condominium along Pearl Drive in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. The bulk of the management and operations are done in the Philippine headquarters while the Atlanta office is currently reserved for accounting purposes, although it used to handle sales. Offshoring Inc. primarily occupies two floors in Tycoon Centre, the 27th for administrative functions and the 5th for operations.
The 5th floor of Tycoon Centre features a spacious office housing hundreds of cubicles furnished with computer sets. In front of the operations office is the company's own pantry where meals are sold at lower prices compared to prices outside because the canteen concessionaire doesn't have to pay for their stay, water and electricity. There's also a large swimming pool, which employees can reserve for personal functions. In addition, the company has a multi-purpose hall furnished with entertainment and sports equipment. The spacious room is used to hold events like aerobics and kick-boxing sessions by employees and spa parties for birthday celebrators, among others.
The 27th floor houses administrative departments of Offshoring Inc., including the Employee Care (human resources), Talent Acquisition (recruitment), Sales, and Accounting departments. The IT Department is located on the 5th floor, so they could easily access employees. Some of Offshoring's clients also occupy their own offices in the building.
Business Model
As the name suggests, Offshoring Inc.'s business model is derived from offshoring, which is the act of relocating a business process from one country to another primarily in order to reduce costs. The idea behind the process of offshoring is that if some people can use their skills more inexpensively than others, those people have the comparative advantage. Offshoring is supported by the idea that countries should freely trade the items that cost the least for them to produce.
Offshoring Inc.'s business model is broadly categorized into five different steps.
Consultation
Prospective client talks to Offshoring's local Sales Department to discuss job descriptions, requirements, and other specifications. Needs of the client are clarified during this stage as Sales enumerates possible solutions which Offshoring Inc. can offer.
Recruitment
Once a deal is struck, Offshoring's Talent Acquisition Department proceeds to hire Filipino professionals for the client's business. Applicants are all screened and tested (sometimes trained by Offshoring or the client, if necessary) to get the best candidates for the positions available.
Installation
Offshoring Inc. provides employees with all the tools and equipment they need to perform duties assigned to them by their clients. The company has an expert management staff who oversees the work of employees, ensuring that all the clients' needs and expectations are met or exceeded.
Security & Delivery of Output
The non-compete clause in Offshoring's contract with its clients guarantees that all of an account's files are secure and that only authorized personnel have access to these. Throughout the client's contract, his offshore employees deliver output to him, reporting daily or as required. The client is regularly contacted by Offshoring's management to learn if there are any concerns AbOUT his staff and if there are any additional needs that need to be addressed.
Development & Expansion
Due to the lower cost of operations, Offshoring's clients are able to save money, which could later be used for investment to another business or an expansion of his current account. Clients may then discuss with Offshoring again regarding recruitment of more staff and other details.
Services Offered
Offshoring Inc. leases staff with sufficient to advanced skills in different IT-related fields. Employees work full-time in either morning shift or night shift. Morning shift is from 7 am until 4 pm GMT+8. This shift, which runs from Sunday through Thursday in the USA, starts at 7 pm until 4 am Eastern Standard time when it's not daylight savings time and 6 pm until 3 am when it is. Night shift is from 9 pm until 6 am GMT+8. This shift, which runs from Monday through Friday, starts at 9 am until 6 pm Eastern Standard time in the USA when it's not daylight savings and 8 am until 5 pm when it is.
- SEO/SEM Specialists - Offshoring offers SEO/SEM Specialists of different levels. Senior and Master levels can perform virtually all types of SEO/SEM techniques while Link Builders can perform a limited array of strategies to boost a client's search engine ranking.
- Web-content Writers - These are writers specializing in online research and creative/technical writing for website content. Writers typically have paid professional writing experience or communications and journalism-related educational backgrounds.
- Web Designers - The company employs Web Designers skilled in different markup languages, style sheet languages, client-side and server-side scripting and other technologies. Aside from Web designers, Offshoring Incorporated also offers the services of 3D CGI Production artists, cartoonists, and graphic designers of other niche skills.
- Programmers - Offshoring Inc. offers the services of programmers fluent in a wide variety of programming languages.
- Media Managers - These are professionals skilled at handling various types of online media. Their skills include video encoding, watermarking, video editing, and complete production.
- Support positions - Since some clients of Offshoring build teams from the staff they're provided with, support positions like Quality Assurance Staff, Quality Control Programmers, Systems Administrators, and Data Entry Specialists may also be needed.
- Contact Center Agents - Offshoring has contact center agents who can assist with customer service, information, and sales through calls, live chat, e-mail and other means of communication.
Quality of Staff
All of Offshoring Inc.'s employees are graduates of higher education, and most are carriers of four-year advanced degrees. Some also have practical experience in the workforce and have been working for the company's clients for a considerable period of time. Since these employees have significant educational and professional background, they are highly skilled in their fields. One of The Primary reasons for the Philippines' growing relevance to the BPO industry is the widely spoken english language in the country. In addition, the Philippines has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. At 93.4%, its literacy rate is higher than India (another top choice for BPO services), China, Malaysia, and Qatar.
MyWeb
Offshoring Inc. uses an ERP-based online system called MyWeb to process most of the company's resources. Through MyWeb, paperwork is eradicated and all Offshoring's departments can update and transfer information to each other in real time. MyWeb is currently being developed to address all the needs of clients, employees, and the management.
Employee Packages
Offshoring Inc. pays top industry salaries to its employees based on their level. Aside from this, the company also offers a wide array of benefits, which includes:
- Mandatory Benefits - Social Security System (SSS) benefits, Pag-Ibig housing loans, PhilHealth, sick leaves and vacation leaves, maternity/paternity leaves, night differential, and overtime pay according to law.
- Cafeteria of Benefits - Every 25th of the month, regular employees may avail of incentives such as Sodexho gift certificates and reimbursements for sacks of rice, mobile phone load, Internet connection fees, medical fees, tuition fees, gadget and tools, fuel, gym or sports membership enrolment, and Medicard.
- Other Benefits - The company holds several celebrations throughout the year, including company excursions, birthday parties, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas, and more. The Employee Care Department also spearheads events like film viewing and Jammin' Mondays, a mini-concert held inside the company's pantry.
Publications
Offshoring Inc. has several publications, which provide information on the current developments inside and outside the company.
- Offshoring Source - Newsletter sent to clients and prospects every 15th of the month, containing news about the company, latest offers, and the larger BPO world.
- Offshoring Ink - Employee newsletter e-mailed every 1st of the month, detailing company activities and featuring art works of employees.
- Offshoring Hub - The official blog of Offshoring Inc., where tips on SEO, Web-content writing, Web Designing, Programming and other related fields are discussed. The blog is written by Offshoring's Web-content writers.