THE GLOBAL ECONOMY IS FALTERING

Many businesses have been forcibly shut down.

We’re now navigating through one of history’s most extreme black swan events. The repercussions of economic suppression are severe, immediate, and ubiquitous. Even if
COVID-19 is eradicated tomorrow, no one knows how long it will take for the economy to recover. And no one knows when COVID will be gone.

Businesses are like a human heart – they need to keep beating. You can’t just stop business, and start it up again in two months’ time. You need to keep your business ticking over.

Experts suggest the economy will either have a ‘V-shaped’ recovery or a ‘U-shaped’ recovery (‘V’ meaning a sharp bounce back, or ‘U’ meaning a slow climb out of recession). The world may be facing its worst recession ever. Even once Corona has gone, the economy could take many months or years to rise from the ashes.

However, we will conquer this. The human race is bigger than this, and it will prosper – eventually.

COVID-19 DEMANDS A NEW BUSINESS STRATEGY

Within any down-market, there are some incredible opportunities. We can already see an uneven distribution of the impact from this pandemic:

• The health, delivery, and food sectors are struggling to keep up with demand – they need people and resources, now
• Online SaaS and WFH tools are booming – Zoom is trying to keep up with demand
• Home fitness apps and remote personal trainers are booming
• Governments are spending unprecedented sums of money to support and stimulate the economy
• The travel industry has been all but decimated Different parts of the lending/loan the industry may either do well or collapse
• Warren Buffet will no doubt find an opportunity in this

SEQUOIA CAPITAL’S
BLACK SWAN

On March 5th, Sequoia Capital, the preeminent
Silicon Valley venture fund, raised an early
alarm for businesses to be vigilant, stating:
“Coronavirus is the black swan of 2020.” A
‘black swan’ is an extremely rare event with
severe consequences. It cannot be predicted
beforehand and can cause catastrophic
damage to an economy.
Sequoia’s sober message: “Having weathered
every business downturn for nearly fifty years,
we’ve learned an important lesson — nobody
ever regrets making fast and decisive
adjustments to changing circumstances. In
downturns, revenue and cash levels always
fall faster than expenses. In some ways,
business mirrors biology. As Darwin surmised,
those who survive “are not the strongest or the
most intelligent, but the most adaptable to
change.”

They highlight six areas for close immediate attention: Cash runway, fundraising, sales forecasts, marketing, headcount, capital spending. They encourage all businesses to guard their cash, reassess the fundamentals,
and focus on the product (adaption, evolution). Some people will come out of this looking better than others. However, before there’s any rebuilding, most businesses will first have to cut costs and adapt.

How are you cutting costs? How will you adapt? How will you rebuild it? Will you find the opportunities amongst the threats? Every business playbook and every situation is different – but amidst COVID-19, 100% of businesses will be tracing these next three steps: (i) slash costs, (ii) adapt, (iii) rebuild. This is the new imperative for business in 2020.

SLASH COSTS, ADAPT,
REBUILD

Business is hard enough – even in good times.
However, in the hard times – to add insult to
injury – you have to do more, with less. You
have to evolve and be creative, there is no
other option. You either sink or swim.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
When businesses are successful and
economies are fat with profits, companies can
become comfortable and complacent. Now
that the tide has turned, only the tough and
Innovation will survive.

No one has any choice now but to:

• Slash
• Adapt
• Rebuild

ADAPT

Once you get ahead of the curve with costs and
you have bought yourself some space, it’s now
time to adapt to the new reality. Quickly. This
even means a complete pivot if necessary. Don’t
rule anything out.

Ironically, it takes time and resources to adapt,
explore, and pivot. Now is not the time to
experiment – but there is no choice.

• Canlis, one of Seattle’s most acclaimed fine dining
  restaurants now sell take-out burgers
  and fries
• A Chinese SaaS company has done a
  complete pivot and started offering food
  deliveries
• Conference and expo companies are moving
  into online webinars and chatrooms
• Zoom is adapting its pricing model to
  accommodate and encourage the new flood
  of users

REBUILD

When the time comes, you will need to rebuild. Resources will be scarce, and you will need to make the most of what you have. Your recovery might even be harder than the previous stages – but you have no choice.

Business is tough now, but as the world emerges from this crisis there are undoubtedly incredible opportunities awaiting the agile and bold.

Fortune favours the brave. Use your adoption phase to prepare for the rebuild. Pivot, test and reiterate; test and reiterate again.

Be ready with a new business and be ready to double-down on what’s working as the world emerges from its malaise.

Offshore staffing, also referred to as outsourcing, provides you with the powerful second option. The middle ground. You can have the staff you need, yet slash costs and save money. If you have sufficient human resources (i.e. people), then you can overcome any obstacle.

Outsourcing is counter-cyclical, the industry can thrive in market-downturns when Western businesses are forced to cut costs. Recessions cause a spike in demand for outsourcing services, and their expertise, for good reason:

• Offshore staffing allows you to save up to 70% of your staffing costs.
• It enables you to slash your costs whilst maintaining the team necessary to rebuild your business
• It gives you space and resources you need to adapt and rebuild your business
• Business owners are now forced to (re)consider all cost-saving measures
• Offshore staffing isn’t about replacing your local staff with overseas workers – it’s about giving your business the breathing the room it needs to adapt to the new environment and start the recovery.

O F F  S H O R E   S T A F FI N G  I S  A  F L E X I B L E

B L E NDE D  S O L U T I O N.

Depending on your cash position, you can have a mixed team of offshore and local, or you can build entirely offshore teams.

When faced with financial collapse, salaries have to be cut. Yet, people are essential –
they are the lifeblood of any company. Thus,
you are faced with a paradox and a difficult choice. Keep your staff and try and evolve,
or slash your staff, and have no means of rebuilding your company.
Businesses are faced with this painful Catch-
22. Remove your staff and paralyze the business, or keep your staff and bankrupt your business.

OUTSOURCING CAN SAVE YOUR BUSINESS

There are profound reasons why offshore staffing can profoundly help your business, today:

• Cost savings – save up to 70% on staffing cost
  This cannot be overstated – Offshore staffing can save you serious money! you can slash
  costs, Whilst still maintaining a workforce who can operate, and grow your business. Cash
  is king right now, and offshore staffing allows you to save 50%-80% on your all-in staffing
  costs.

• Work-From-Home (WFH) enabled remote workforce
  The world has had to quickly adapt to the new WFH environment. The outsourcing
  industry typically works from centralised offices, but it is fully WFH enabled and
  optimised. The Coronavirus has shown the world that there are alternatives to traditional
  local-staffing in-office solutions. Remote, outsourced, and offshore teams are a powerful
  alternative.

• Instant teams – easy access to core & auxiliary staffThis cannot be overstated – Offshore staffing can save you serious money! you can slash costs,
  Whilst still maintaining a workforce who can operate, and grow your business. Cash is king right
  now, and offshore staffing allows you to save 50%-80% on your all-in staffing costs.

• Flexible & Scalable workforce  Offshore staffing can provide a flexible scalable workforce, quickly. There is less employment
  regulation, and you can have the people you need for the time that you require. You can avoid all of
  your local employment red-tape and bureaucracy. You can focus on your core business while the
  staff is taken care of.

• Affordable external expertise  Draw on the experience of the BPO industry to help get your processes set up quickly and running
  efficiently. Outsourcing is not just about low-level back office support roles. You can access the
  expertise you require to take your business to guide you through the challenging times. Sales,
  marketing, technical, and leadership roles are available.

• Highly qualified, dedicated candidates.
  The Philippines has a population of 110m people. There are 650,000 university graduates every year. English is the primary language of the country, and they are a catholic culture. The current
  generation of Filipinos grow up using Netflix, Youtube, Twitter and learning from the same online
  resources as their US/UK, Australasian counterparts. They are highly culturally aligned.

Charge Forward

TAKE CONTROL OF THE SITUATION NOW

It might sound counter intuitive to explore ‘hiring staff’ in a crisis. But this is a strategy that helps you slash costs, yet
take action, be proactive, respond to the environment, and
start to grow or rebuild your business.

Moving offshore doesn’t necessarily mean the long term
loss of domestic onshore jobs. Many businesses which have
a strong and healthy balance sheet are able to actually
increase their onshore staff once their offshore staff has
helped stabilize the business and increase its profitability.

Reach out to Global OfficeWorks now to have a discussion about how we can help you slash your staffing costs and grow or rebuild your business.