Author Archives: Admin

1. 6 Best Apps to Increase Productivity for Android and iOS

   April 16, 2014 1:16 pm Leave a Comment

   

    

   It’s easy to be deluged by the noise, distraction and confusion that the mobile world bring. Thankfully, apps geared to make people more efficient were invented to offer some relief. A little further in this blog, I’ll give you a selection of some of the best apps to increase productivity of users with Android or iOS-powered smartphones.

   In a lot of sense, we’re definitely entering a new digital milestone.In no less time we’ll witness how mobile device usage will overthrow desktop usage. If you’ll ComScore,they’ll give you the answer when.

   On what mobile users are making use of their devices, meanwhile, a research from Flurry showed that gaming app will continue to gobble up mobile users’ time.Productivity apps, however, only account for a mere 4% of time spent on iOS and Android-powered devices.

    

   Apps vs. Applications

    

   While sharing the first three letters, apps are a different beast compared to applications. You call an app an app only to digital tools with one-off capabilities. Apps, for example, can help unlock your car, manage to-do lists, schedule social media posts, and more of the like.

   Applications, on the other hand, offer more capabilities that allow users to do real, productive work using their mobile and tablet devices. Applications have a full-fledged, multi-faceted tool features set.Applications for mobile make you feel like working using standard computers.

   With thousands upon thousands of solutions out in the market today, we combed through a sea of options to bring you some of the best productivity apps for Android and iOS to help you get even the simplest of things accomplished.

    

   Check out below our listing of some of the best apps for Android and productivity apps for iOS for maximum business productivity:

    

   Microsoft Office Mobile

   While Microsoft Office for Android devices has been around for a little while, the app has made a belated appearance over the Apple App Store to cater to iOS device users. This was a welcome move that Microsoft cloud services users feel happy about having the means to access their documents anytime, anywhere.

   Documents that you viewed using your PC will be available on the Microsoft OneDrive cloud, apart from your other collections that are already available over there and its siblings like OneDrive for Business and Share Point.

   While this app is perfect for making documents using Word, Excel and PowerPoint, the Microsoft Office Mobile, it also allows you to read documents on your desktop computer or tablet where you left off. Google’s Quick office now gets a competition in terms of features and capabilities.

    

   Download Microsoft Office Mobile at Google Play

   Download Microsoft Office Mobile at iTunes

    

   focus@will

   Finding the focus you need while completing a very difficult task is difficult to achieve these days. The app focus@will, which streams scientifically-curated music, helps a lot in boosting concentration.

   It says on its website, the focus@will team worked with neuroscientists at UCLA to understand how music, which types of songs, playlists and genres, actually help people become more productive.

   Songs san vocals or saxophones were carefully selected and playlists are curated to ensure that people actually get into the flow of working without distractions. The app offers its services for free for up to 60 minutes while premium accounts cost a mere $4 per month or $35 annually. This app is available for both iOS and Android mobile platforms.

    

   Download focus@will at Google Play

   Download focus@will at iTunes

    

   Google Now

   Google Now is a business productivity virtual assistant app that’s obviously made exclusively for Android platforms. You’ll be surprised by the genius of this app for its ability to mine data and tie it out of your current activities.

   It displays information in cards and learns more about your preferences based on which cards you choose to be most relevant. Restaurant suggestions, what TV shows to watch or even airport routes free of traffic jams are just a few of the things it can offer you.

   Google Now is usually pre-installed in most Android devices and free of course.

    

   Download Google Now at Google Play

   Download Google Now at iTunes

    

   Buffer

   Marketers who maintains social media presence of their brands can find great use to this very efficient social media management business productivity app. Comparison with Hootsuite ends where Buffer is only focused on publishing content and not about managing various feeds.

   Among its useful features include automatic URL shrinking and a smartly-designed scheduling interface. Individual use of Buffer costs nothing but enterprise users can opt to get a premium account that starts at $10 per month. Buffer is available for both Android and iOS platforms.

    

   Download Buffer at Google Play

   Download Buffer at iTunes

    

   Due

   Sometimes, all you need is someone poking or reminding you what to do first in your long list of tasks to do in a day. Yes, they can be pretty annoying and irritating, but come on, you need to be organized and systematic. For now, this productivity app is available for iOS for as little as $4.99, but it will keep you reminded of isolated tasks you keep forgetting.

   Due lets users set a reminder to every minute or every hour. A quick access button allows you to add few more minutes or hours to complete your tasks and beat your deadline. Very intuitive and easy to use.

    

   Download Due at iTunes

    

   Final Thoughts

    

   Business productivity apps are unique addition to not only help you accomplish more as you regain focus and concentration. They also help you achieve more efficiency, which in a lot of ways can help you pile more savings.

   However, it’s not also worth mentioning that mobile productivity apps, in a lot of sense, have their own set of limitations. Editing your spreadsheet on an iPhone is one example. It’s not only a nightmare to be editing documents using some apps on your mobile, there’s the clunky keyboard and small screen size to deal with.

   But it’s not fair to avoid using mobile apps entirely because developments are progressing forward. I am just citing some realities that need mentioning here, to arrive at the moral of our blog: to be more discerning when selecting the right app for your need, especially before splurging some dollars when purchasing some business productivity apps.

   Choosing the best apps to increase productivity start with an open mind. Seek out recommendations from friends or colleagues who are already using apps. https://www.bigoutsource.com/blog/best-apps-to-increase-productivity-android-ios/Then ask them for which apps are making them more productive, most frequently using, spend their time most of the time, and most happy. Finally, the apps that receive the most positive feedback from those people you asked might be a good bet.

    

2. Top 5 Benefits of Outsourcing Social Media Management

   March 19, 2014 7:15 am 1 Comment

   

    

   There’s almost nothing that you can’t outsource these days, including your social media works. And if you’re planning but still not sure, here’s an article to provide you with additional insights on the most available options, risks and critical benefits of outsourcing social media.

   And I will not hide the mixed reactions people throw against outsourcing. As many remark about the good, the negative impressions grew even further with regard to social media management.So we’ll now take a look, one-by-one what are the remarkable benefits of social media management.

    

   Soaring Global Consumption of Social Media

    

   

    

   Call centers are receiving flak lately from customers who’ve grown tired and have bad experiences from unhelpful agents. As customers sought for more accessible means to voice their sentiments and queries, online customer services suddenly emerged as a plausible option.

   A 2011 survey by ComScore backed the realities of call center gaffes and misgivings, adding where 82% of the world’s online population are turning to these days – social media. These users apparently spend a fifth of their online time clicking the pages of their fave social networking pages.

   On Facebook alone – which now accounts to 15% of the entire world’s population – 1.1 billion are said to be active on a monthly basis. Hence, the extend of potential customer reached through social media cannot be discounted as irrelevant.

   With these, companies – big and small – are turning to social media platforms to engage their customers with quality and compelling brand message. It’s costly, of course and time-consuming also. Composing a message, creating photo covers and responding to comments can really be demanding of your and your existing staff’s time.

   Thanks to outsourcing, someone can now manage social media pages for you as you wait for your efforts to yield both tangible and intangible benefits for your business.

    

   Should I Hire A Social Media Manager or Assistant?

    

   

    

   We belong to an era when social media has dramatically changed the way small businesses engage their customers.Today, it’s also no longer just the big, resources-rich brands who can dominate the realm of advertising and marketing to better engage their customers.

   Almost anyone with big ambition, commitment and strategy can make their social media presence utterly compelling and engaging. Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are pretty making it easier for small businesses to reach their business goals and grow more edgy in facing the giant brands of the marketplace.

   Small- to medium-scale enterprises can only succeed if they can grasp the most desirable options to seize the benefits of social media management. You also need to answer to a couple of questions either a “Yes” or “No” to common perception and notions about outsourcing your social media brand presence:

   • It’s too risky to outsource to others the management of your brand image.
   • The one and only individual passionate about serving your customers is you alone.
   • You know your business too well and no one else as you do.

   Although these can be counted as pretty valid reasons (excuses!) for not hiring or outsourcing a social media manager, I will entertain a more flexible and lenient answer. I, for one, would give a “Yes” for an answer but under certain conditions.

    

   Outsourcing Benefits of Social Media Management

    

   The benefits of social media management outsourcing are just too hard to ignore and sacrifice. But considering whom to outsource your social media must be properly address to be effective.

    

   Time Efficiency

   

    

   Some costs are intangibles like time and energy. By outsourcing the responsibility of social media management, you could actually be effective in achieving time efficiency.

   Just imagine how much outsourcing your social media management saves you or your team: it can be an hour a week that can add up to 52 hours comes the end of the year. This extra week can be utilized to more profitable endeavors of your venture.

    

   Save Costs

    

   While hiring a third party service provider means you’ll be required to fork some cash, it’s all worth paying for someone who’ll be responsible in managing your social networking accounts, however.

   Listen out. When you divide your time to your core and non-core business processes, isn’t it frustrating to realize that you didn’t really accomplished much? Even how much you project you’re getting or saving, the truth will just boomerang to you its resounding siren: “No!”

   This feeling of getting to overwhelmed with the thought of accomplishing much will eventually take its toll. Unfortunately it will weigh down your revenue and profit margins. So here’s one very important benefit of hiring an outsourced social media expert.

    

   Access to Professional Marketers

    

   Today, you can hire someone who’s knowledgeable enough to provide engaging content marketing for just a fraction of the cost it takes to pay a local social media marketing expert. You can also expect your outsourced staff to manage responses and keep up with the evolving social media platform.

   As a small business, hiring an in-house full-time social media professional other than your marketing staff can be an extra burden financially. So far, it’s outsourcing that’s your best option.

    

   Increased Posting Speed

    

   Operating in a 24-hour real-time world is much different than it were during the pre-Internet and social media eras. To engage your customers a bit faster, you need to keep an always-on mode to reach out to them. Messages need to be sent faster.

   When you publish at a faster rate, you’ll be able to gain more retweets and shares faster. Outsourcing your social media works can help you achieve this goal. Being your speedy best will allow your fans to click the share button almost simultaneously as well. The outcome is more people getting to read your message in less time.

    

   Louder Voice

    

   One particular benefit of outsourcing your social media is a more empowered brand voice. This is better because you get access to each of your vendor marketer’s platforms, fans and followers. https://www.bigoutsource.com/blog/top-benefits-outsourcing-social-media-management/The more of these resources become available for you, the louder your brand voice becomes.

    

   Final Thoughts

    

   It’s hard to simply ignore the benefits of outsourcing your social media now you know its impact to your overall business. If you presently feel ill-afford to hire or outsource during a financial slump, just remember what you’re missing: peace of mind.

    

    

   Related articles across the web

   • Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Web Development Projects
   • 10 Practical Tips on How to Outsource Effectively
   • Does Hiring a Virtual Assistant Makes You a Lazy Businessman
   • 10 Tips on How to Hire an Effective SEO Agency in the Philippines
   • 10 Steps to Get The Best Accounting Outsourcing Services

3. How to Setup A Call Center in the Philippines

   March 13, 2014 10:05 am 153 Comments

   

    

   Whether you’re into the business of providing customer care or someone looking at operating a telemarketing hub in Manila, operating your own call center is not an entirely bad idea. Here’s a few insights and a couple of tips when you set up a call center in the Philippines.

   Pretty sure at this stage you’ve conducted your initial research and feasibility analysis about call center processes and operations.Now that you’re more inspired to build your own call center office, it pays to give closer focus on your business goals.

   One absolute fact about setting up your own call center is the huge investment needed to launch even with an initial five customer care representatives. There’s also a hearty of commitment required and tons of bold risk-taking involved when you open up one.

   But even if the idea comes off with a couple of risks, challenges and negative impressions, things have gotten a lot easier now.With more streamlined processes and technology, it’s least expensive to invest in opening a call center.

   When you setup a call center in the Philippines, you’ll definitely be in to seize the critical benefits on customer satisfaction, and ultimately too, to your business bottom line. Just take the time to do the things right the first time you embark on your call center journey.

    

   Planning Your Call Center Operation

   

    

   Is it easy to set up your own call center in the Philippines? We’ll show you why it is in the affirmative and help you gain from the expert level of service often reserved for the more affluent, well-budgeted organizations.

   After learning what it takes to open your own call center, you’re on your own to decide whether to push through or simply hire a call center outsourcing firm to handle your calls. A couple of benefits come with employing an outside call center provider.

   A typical example of advantage is cost savings in the process of letting some third party service provider handle your telemarketing and sales activities or the customer service responsibilities in your behalf. With more time left for you, you can run your business better and make your customers happier.

    

   

    

   Now to help you prepare for your call center endeavor, follow these few steps when you’re at the early stage in setting up your call center:

    

   Start with the End in Mind

   
   Bug yourself with the this question, “Why do I need a call center?”, “What’s my purpose for setting up a call center?”, “Why setup a call center in the Philippines?”

   Knowing the answer to these questions is not only essential, but critical to your success. Is it generating sales that you’re after or making customers feel they’re your No. 1 priority? Once set, you can now determine your secondary goal.

   Once your goals and objectives – the primary and secondary ones – are set, you’ll have a much clearer path to thread or benchmark to measure your future successes.

    

   Physical vs. Virtual Call Center

   

    

   Sort of a reality check about which call center setup is feasible for you. If the benefits far outweigh your investments for a physical call center setup in the Philippines, don’t hesitate to push through with this idea.

   However, if a virtual call center with remote customer representatives would be fine initially, go for it.

    

   Determine Physical or Operational Limitations

   

    

   Can you simply integrate existing telephone system with the ones you’re planning to purchase? How about checking first with your client their needs and demands, which can influence your call center choices critically, before making any decision to buy systems.

   In short, discover if you really need to buy brand new or upgrade to the latest model if pre owned equipment would do.

    

   Determine Your Budget

   

    

   The perfect time to set a budget is when you’re about to start with your call center setup planning.

   Make it a point to map out possible minimum and maximum expenditures very early into the project. When you get this ready, you can determine how many agents can be hired and what kind of PABX or VOIP solutions can be used.

    

   Assemble the Best Team for Your Goals

   

    

   Partly, this will be determined by the goals you seat early on. If it’s generating sales that you’re after, then you’ll surely need a solid team of call center agents with strong sales expertise.

   Best of all, you will need to establish a team of college educated, fluent in the language your customers speak, polite, and professional agents.

    

   Define your Call Center Business Processes

   

    

   Get your processes documented or mapped right away. Make sure you get these aspects of your operations factual, accurate and effective.

   It’s highly likely you’ll benefit from getting this difficult process right because of the time you’ll be able to save from training and cutting uncertainties.

    

   Have a Future-Proof Plan

   

    

   While you may be setting up a call center for the now in the Philippines, planning for the future shouldn’t escape you. It’s important that you scale your business for future growth and such need to be seamless whenever changes in the market occur.

   Typically, customer demand is a big challenge among call center operators. Hence, make sure you know what to do whether or not adding new call center agents would help or not you achieve success.

    

   Have a Ready Management Information System

   

    

   While setting up a call center will obviously entail that you make logistics and processes readied before you start, don’t forget that you’ll need to keep track of everything you put or established.

   Is your information current, factual and easy to follow? Help yourself by ensuring a lot of your management information, live monitoring and key performance indicators are available. Getting these data available will help you improve your existing processes to achieve maximum potential of your investments and capabilities.

    

   Evaluate Success of Your Call Center Operation

   

    

   Once you’re operational, it’s likely you’ll need to make sure you’re making a stride in your business. One way to examine whether or not you’re progressing is by looking over your key performance indicators (KPIs).

   This way, all possible causes of problems can be analyzed before you can give the right solution and determine the perfect approach to optimize your performance.

    

   Final Thoughts

    

   It may be daunting to start your call center, but if you’ll follow these steps when starting to setup a call center in the Philippines, you’ll gain fair advantage over those who thought the whole process of opening a center is merely a game.

    

    

   

    

    

    

4. Why Your Website Should Be Mobile-Ready with Responsive Design

   March 3, 2014 3:20 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Pop quiz! What web-enabled device are you using when viewing this article?

   If you’re not using a desktop PC, you’re definitely browsing with your mobile device, right? Why your website should be mobile-ready is not only important, it’s essential, especially to business.

    

   Research-Backed Evidence

    

   The Web has gone truly global as people are visiting web pages from their laptops, tablets, phones and smart televisions. And maybe, not too soon, even more ways will be invented that would allow for netizens to pay a visit to your web presence.

   Right now, we’re seeing wearable devices and the so-called Internet of Things grounding up and slowly making a dent. In the numbers department, we’re already seeing that twenty-percent of all web traffic are accounted to mobile-based consumers.

   And there’s no sign that mobile adoption statistics are slowing. Plus, people are growing impatient of websites that give poor mobile experience. Users are more demanding but never forgiving of complicated sites that are also difficult to use.

   Today, more than 4,000 different screen sizes of mobile devices saturate the market, which do not yet include computer monitors and TVs. And now it’s a wonder how a site can look good across different platforms.

   Thankfully, the emergence of responsive web paved the way for a new way of web browsing. But what is responsive design?

    

   

   What is a mobile friendly website?

    

   Responsive design is a recent web innovation that has truly improved web viewing because pages are easier to read and navigate. In effect, responsive web is the equivalent to having a mobile-friendly website.

   Responsive design has caused quite a ripple and has recently been embraced by some of the world’s leading website brands. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have the budget scales of the big players because getting responsive design can be affordable.

   But how does a website become mobile friendly or responsive? According to its proponents, responsive design enables a website to recognize the device and present it at the correct screen resolution and format for your smartphone or tablet.

   There is no magic potion available to deliver a responsive design. It’s through a combination of layout and scaling images and reflowing content that do the trick in switching your site’s responsiveness.

   Benefits of Mobile Friendly Site

    

   Of course you need to know the key benefits why certain practices have to be adopted. First, let’s consider why you need to pay attention. Smartphone owners use their devices for a couple of very important reasons.

   Among plenty of common reasons, these mobile phone users:

   • View your website
   • Send inquiry or email to you
   • Send text messages to you
   • Pay you after checkout
   • Donate funds to you
   • Access web forms
   • Telephone you

   Anytime, anywhere smartphone owners perform the above-mentioned functions using their handheld devices.

   Hence, if you’re mindful of your business or the brand experience you give, it’s a wrong move to simply discount how important these people are.Even say those of your avid audience who view your webpage through traditional platforms like desktop computers or laptops.

    

   Why make your site mobile responsive?

    

   

    

   Around 90% of websites built or designed for viewing in desktop and laptops do not work within the viewing screens of smartphones and many tablets.

   Unlike personal computers, touch-based devices use fingers to activate a link, not mouse cursor. Websites not optimized for mobile when viewed on these devices also require users to pinch and zoom too much to read a site’s content.

   You can just imagine how it felt viewing a whole site that’s intentionally designed for a large screen desktop PC reduced in a 2.5 inch space: text that are too small to read and all link buttons become nearly impossible to select.

   The overall experience is not only frustrating for users who’re already used to the environment of mobile. It’s also equally unpleasant and perceived to be dragging the productivity of users.

    

   How to Make Your Site Mobile Friendly?

    

   The first step usually entails understanding how much traffic is coming from mobile devices. Check with your Google Analytics account how many of your users are accessing your webpage through mobile. If data yields a bigger percentage, then don’t tarry long. It’s critical that you consider whether or not you need to right away detour into responsive web for a mobile friendly website.

    

   Here are some lessons to get started on how to make your site mobile friendly.

    

   Responsive Design and Mobile Design Are Different.

   

   Once your planning starts, consider that while responsive design may be making your site mobile-friendly, it’s definitely the panacea to solve all your mobile woes.

   The basic idea behind a responsive design is simply to make your website perfectly render or respond to various devices and screen sizes.

   Designing to make your website responsive to difference monitor might mean taking drastic steps like stripping your site of its great user-friendly options that will only work for non-mobile options.

    

   Address Site Navigation Early On.

   

   As much as possible, remove navigational dropdowns if it can be possibly be avoided and built a much simpler and cleaner nav. One level navigation and disabled for mobile solutions may quite solve your mobile problem.

    

   Use Grid.

   While not a novel idea, using or applying grid to design a mobile friendly website can make a lot of difference to ensure that the layout for your site’s content is proportionally scaled.

   If you’re retrofitting an existing desktop-designed website, using a grid system will help you embark on a whole new layout work.

    

   Mind Your Fonts and Font Styling.

    

   It’s not only the layout that should be responsive when designing to make a mobile friendly website. The font type should too. Carefully select font types that respond to multiple devices, especially on smaller smart phones.

    

   Prepare Good Quality and Optimized Images.

   Consider the image quality and quantity when designing a mobile friendly website. A website with some very bad images can quickly reduce you to the land of forgetting. Optimize the images with special consideration to the bandwidth limitation of your users’ mobile connections and devices.

    

   Mobile Ready Website Is Here to Stay

    

   So live with it. Mobile isn’t going anywhere and we might be just starting. https://www.bigoutsource.com/blog/website-mobile-ready-with-responsive-design/If you’re keen on seizing the vast opportunities offered by the web, never underestimate what mobile friendly website can do for you.

   Hope you get to learn from the insights I shared with you on the importance of mobile friendly website with responsive design. By understanding it fully, you can make your site a lot helpful and user-friendly for your new and avid users.

    

   

    

    

5. How Do Call Centres Work?

   February 26, 2014 10:59 am Leave a Comment

   

   If you’re planning to operate a call centre business, it must be very overwhelming just knowing where or how to start. Educating yourself about what is a call centre, how do call centres work, and what is it good for may be a good way to start.

   Let’s begin.

    

    

   What is a call centre?

    

   If you’ve ordered your new shoes or inquired about your Internet network charges over the telephone or the web, one way or another, the company you or who contacted you is operating a call centre.

   Simply, a call centre is a communication hub with centralized method of accepting, handling and dealing with customer’s incoming calls and queries. That purpose may be ordering of books or booking a flight.

   So here’s where ‘inbound’ and ‘outbound’ call centres enter the picture. The inbound call centre operates to handle incoming messages while its counterpart outbound call centre handles only outgoing messages or a combination of the two.

   The person or people who man a call centre are often dubbed as call centre operators or ‘agents’. They’re also sometimes called customer service representatives or CSRs.

   Through simple or advanced application tools, call centre operators are able to perform their tasks to ensure customer queries are logged, responded to, and completed orderly and efficiently.

   Agents are trained to use these tools and adhere to customer relationship best practices depending on the industry or market to ensure utmost satisfaction of customers.

    

   Who Can Use Call Centre Services?

    

   Modern call centres are companies that operate or sought to improve customer-related services while scaling down overhead costs.

   Sophisticated technologies and faster telecommunication network connectivity paved the way for many companies to setup their own centralized area to respond to queries and request for support about their products and services from customers.

   Another key use of call center is to provide a front line marketing facility for agents. For businesses offering products and services, call centre agents can be tasked to contact regular or loyal customers to ask if they need additional goods or want to upgrade to a service promotion.

   The need to address customer demands and ride out market competition are critical reasons that will compel companies to outsource call centre services, if they’ll not setup a communications centre themselves.

   Companies belonging to the banking, health, technology, insurance and financial service to manufacturing sectors are markets being served by call centres. The derived benefits of a call centre for these firms include increased efficiencies and competitive edge.

    

   How Call Centres Work

   

    

   There’s no secret formula on how call centres work but only different approaches.

   You’ll realize this reality once you’ve started talking to a vendor and learn that different call centre outsourcing companies have their own unique approaches in servicing customers. Just try it.

   Search for vendors about outsourcing customer support if you’re seeking a long-term call centre outsourcing partner. Then familiarize yourself about how call centres work to take advantage of the benefits.

   Once you signed with a service provider a call centre agreement, that’s the start of your account. Your line will be opened and your agents will be ready to receive calls. When a call comes in on your line, you’ll start hearing, “This is XYZ Ventures, how can I help you?” humming at your office.

   Those familiar with the system will tell you what call centres often do when a call comes in. These calls are routed automatically to “the floor”, which is another term you’ll hear often and only means the staff.

   At most call centre outsourcing offices, anyone on staff can answer that call. Is that good?

    

   The Big Outsource Call Centre Difference

    

   With Big Outsource, our approach takes customer relationship to another level. First, we make sure our professional agents of 4 to 8 operators attend to your account to render customer support. We add teams of employees for larger accounts.

   Since we’re committed to ensuring not only swift and accurate delivery of response, we are also passionate in resolving customer dilemmas without sacrificing brand experience.

   In order to maintain the quality of calls, we provide agents with all your business and industry detail. Our clients don’t feel exploited because we don’t charge them to learn about their business and brand.

   To ensure proper and careful handling of client accounts, we also conduct role-playing with them. This is to ensure that we meet customer expectations and specifications. More importantly, the purpose is to ensure that our operators don’t mispronounce your company name or ignorant of any facts about your business or market sector.

   We also require call centre operators to be available to work for you at your required time for them. If you want staff to be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., you’ll find them there, and will always be the same people.

    

   Tips When Outsourcing Customer Support

   

   Customer support outsourcing is perhaps the better option if you’re looking for an affordable way to ensure that all your calls are answered, no matter the time of the day.

   This service also needs to be provided by your outsourced professional customer care representatives who understand your sector and can explain your product well to your customers.

   Outsourcing your customer support should be based on the following factors:

    

   • Flexible service and contract terms are offered. This is necessary when your company requires to expand and to adjust your requirements without penalty.
   • Scalable and on-demand call centre operator resource that will allow you to pay only for the consumed time your agent performed customer support for your business.
   • Experience of your market sector, including other service types and industry, which means more flexibility in handling service inquiries and technical support needs.
   • Capability in handing simple to complex aspects of transactions.

    

   Call centre outsourcing is a strategy that more and more small businesses are adopting to improve efficiency and bring down the cost of overheads. However, it pays to first learn the basics of the approach, from learning the definition to understanding how does call centre work. In the end, it’s your business that’s going to benefit out of gaining the focus to respond to the challenges businesses these days face.

    

6. 10 Practical Tips on How to Outsource Effectively

   February 11, 2014 1:31 pm Leave a Comment

   

   In this blog, we’ll help you gain more insights on how to outsource effectively. Because even with plenty of successful attempts cited, confusion still abound about perfecting the process of outsourcing.

   All along, there’s been an almost endless debates and talks whether or not outsourcing is a boon or a bane.

   For the uninitiated, outsourcing is a strategy in business where you get a skilled external consultant to accomplish your work for less money. Here is where you’ll often hear familiar success stories of cost savings and efficiency.

   For example, it’s now common to hear stories of outsourcing success gained by small businesses out of their outsourced payroll processing to a Manila-based offshore firm like paying only a fraction of the cost they will be charged by a local talent.

   But it’s not all success there is to know about outsourcing. There are also risks attached to it, and a dash of confusion sometimes.

   That’s our hint to come up with this blog about smart and practical outsourcing.Our aim is to help business people avoid the hassles and confusion involved when outsourcing for the first time.

   By following our tips and learning the ropes on how to outsource effectively, you’re on your own to boost the real value of your small business, to heighten your outsourcing knowledge, and to grow your business more effectively.

   Now to our list of tips on how to outsource effectively with a third party service provider:

    

   1. Clarify Your Statement of Purpose.

    

   Set your project purpose, specify your needs and estimate a realistic schedule before you talk with any prospective outsourcing partner.

   This might come off as an obvious tip, but you’ll definitely find this need imperative during your search for a competent and perfect outsourcing partner.

   By giving clear, accurate and complete information about your project requirements, you are helping your service provider come up with a realistic proposals and a fair price quote.

   You can also cite your schedule requirements, which can draw huge impact on the cost of your outsourcing contract.

    

   2. Weigh All Sides When Evaluating Your Outsourcing Provider

    

   When choosing the right partner to trust your outsourcing works, engage your prospects by asking important questions like you’re hiring a full-time employee.

   Experienced companies in outsourcing would tell you that it’s like hiring a full-time employee where you ask the most important questions about their capabilities and qualifications.

   Add the process of checking your prospective partner’s references and independently calling former clients for feedback. As much as possible voice your concerns to avoid encountering problems the moment you signed a partnership contract.

    

   3. Test Your Partner With Sample Work

    

   Merely hearing your vendor speaks about their capabilities and skills sure aren’t enough to rely on when choosing a partner.

   And even after you’ve viewed your provider’s portfolio and reach for references to check competence, you’re often still feeling a bit tense about trusting the work to your outsourcing partner.

   One way to test their skills and qualification is by asking your vendors to do a simple mockup design or application.

   But you should definitely not do this just to get a finished work for free. Make sure to compensate fairly your prospective vendor.

    

   4. Price Shouldn’t Be Your Determining Factor

    

   We asked some companies about their tips on how to outsource effectively and they have something against making a decision based on price alone. It’s tempting right?

   Looking for the highest-priced bidder and simply wait for the best to arrive is wrong. And don’t expect paying for the lowest-priced service will be any better.

   Top companies advised to seal a deal with a vendor that can offer balance of good value ad quality service, but never between any of the two extreme price offers from vendors.

    

   5. Experience Matters.

    

   When looking to outsource your tasks or project, it’s perfectly normal to expect them to have gained experience relevant to your line of work. For complex projects like mobile software applications, it’s highly critical factor to expect your vendor to be expert in the mobile development field.

    

   6. Start Small.

    

   Besides giving out a test project, here is one of the tips most companies experienced in outsourcing give: start with small project with your vendor. This is especially applicable when working with a service provider for the first time.

   Once convinced of your outsourcing partner’s capabilities and process, that’s a signal you can start giving more difficult projects.

   You can start offloading your company’s more critical projects to your vendor.

    

   7. Negotiate Ownership of Project Up Front.

    

   We’ll never end this collection of advice on how to outsource effectively without touching on the legal side of things. Copyright or ownership of the finished product or service must be spelled out the first moment you meet with a vendor.

   Both parties must agree on the terms of use of the deliverables and up to what extent the respective parties are accountable. Often this is more complicated when the project is bound for reselling.

    

   8. Tie Payments to Project Milestones.

    

   Besides crafting a well-defined project scope, take note also that you’ll need to draft clearly defined milestones. There’s another purpose for this – having a scheduled milestone – to help you beat deadlines and meet quality assurance standards.

   You can then tie to these milestones your payment to your outsourcing company partner. If you have 3 or 4 milestones, you can use these to tie with your payment modes to your partner.

    

   9. Put Everything in Paper.

    

   Every bit of change or modification must be written or documented to ensure that you and your vendor have a reference point when you need to settle something or recall a decision made.

   Getting everything written comes handy everything, including changes requested by your outsourcing partner or whether or not you gave your go-signal for a specific recommendation.

   If exchanges were made online, make sure to keep a copy of your email conversations.

    

   10. Ask Your Partner for Support Availability.

    

   Ask whether your service provider offers continuing technical support after your project has been completed. For your protection, this must be ensured and specified to get the most out of your investment.

   Providing technical support can be specified through a warranty or support clause under your agreement with an outsourcing company.

   This tip draws from our own collection of advice on how to outsource effectively and definitely deserves to land in our top 10 lists. The time, money and frustrations you save out of a good agreement are actually important.

    

   Final Thoughts

    

   There you have it, folks. Done right, outsourcing is a very effective strategy that small businesses can count on during difficult times.

   With more time for you to focus on your core business functions, the higher chances for you to grow your business. And you’re definitely fine if you can get all your goals accomplished for less money.

   At Big Outsource, we have the solutions to cater to every possible outsourcing problem that companies encounter. Our range of IT and call center outsourcing can help fill your talent gap and productivity woes at truly affordable rates.

   Follow our advice on how to outsource more strategically and the opportunities to seize are endless.

    

7. Building the Next Breakout eCommerce Web Design for Small Businesses

   January 28, 2014 1:22 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Many people’s notions about building an online business are not true. As a result, many entrepreneurs either postpone attempts or totally abandon their dreams of one day launching their ecommerce web design.

   Thinking deeply, opening an eCommerce business is a strategy that must be taken without hesitation. If you’re a startup business wishing to reach a bigger audience, you should not think twice considering what ecommerce can do for you in the long-term.

   Serious and focused entrepreneurs only need to be equipped with the right thinking, more courage, a lot of vision, and planning when starting their online business. At least that’s what you need right now to get started.

   Here we go. We’ll breakdown this primer into different sub-sections, from defining terms, designing with your customer in mind, choosing the best platform or ecommerce web design, to some examples of beautifully-crafted ecommerce web design websites.

   So this blog will help you, the dreamer, convert your billion dollar ideas into the next breakout eCommerce web design, attract visitors and convert them into your paying customers.

    

   What’s an eCommerce web design?

    

   We may skip this part – the definition of terms. But it’s just not fair for those who lacks the knowledge when starting. So we’ll start here.

   Ecommerce website design may be the platform where sellers and buyers conduct their transactions.

   It may also be about the design side – the qualities and attributes of layout, usability and user interface – which all has to play its part in ensuring that customers shop and checkout successfully.

   If you are outsourcing ecommerce web design, this then becomes a type of service you pay for or hire a third party designer to perform for you. Of course at a cost.

   Overall, the goal is and will always be about delivering for you a well-designed ecommerce shop. This shop should be a unique and user-friendly place where users get the best impression and pleasant experience of using your web shop.

    

   Who should use eCommerce web design?

    

   We’ll focus on the two levels of the intended users of your eCommerce business – the seller and buyer. If you’re the entrepreneur, you are the seller and your customers are your intended market.

   If you’re the seller, the business website should let you post products, prices, discounts and promos. It should also give you the ability to track the type and numbers of orders placed by your customers.

   The use of ecommerce is not only confined to retail industries. In fact almost all sectors can use this platform to offer their products and services. Restaurants, hotels, coffee shops and bars, publishing, and music sectors can all take advantage of the platform.

   In your ecommerce website, customers should have the ability to place orders, obtain discounts or promos and make a checkout. The site should also provide functions that can let customers browse and search products, change or cancel orders before cash out, and other shopping options.

    

   Designing your business website

    

   

    

   Now, our step-by-step guide will help you design your eCommerce carefully. And even if you’re not the one in charge of designing your ecommerce design, understand the process is vital when you’re outsourcing your ecommerce web design.

   And it’s critical that both you and your outsourcing company share the same page, from planning to implementation of your ecommerce web design.

   This way, you’ll avoid common design mistakes and costly repetitions but ensure that your eCommerce is actually converting visits to paying customers.

    

   Make the products visible.

   If average websites that demands less design thinking ensures usability in all aspects of design, the more should ecommerce make this property a must.

   With usability-centered website, you make your product visible for your audience. You will need to consider the preferences, wants and likes of your users. Do they want to see full details or just a few information about your product?

    

   Showcase the products well.

   Ultimately, the aim here is to keep your customers buying your products and not gazing at them with your design.

   There’s art and science in presenting your products well, from adding high resolution product photos and there is no other distracting embellishments or decorations in the photo.

   Keep in mind that some examples of the best ecommerce website designs have a review section because they know it’s effective.

   Customers find customer reviews to be useful.And they refer to these feedbacks before deciding to buy a product. For your own purpose, reviews can keep you abreast about aspects of your products that customers find inferior or needing improvement.

   Call-to-action buttons or words such as “add to cart” is one way ecommerce website designs use for conversions. Words such as ‘”discounts” or “promos” are also another perfect way to showcase your product well, especially when they’re added to the deal.

   So take advantage of this marketing elements by adding or integrating them in the main sections and parts of your eCommerce website.

    

   Selling the product.

   This is one of the crucial aspects of your design that shouldn’t be neglected. This encompass providing audience with an easy and faster means, not to prolong, their registration. Nothing frustrates customers more than the unnecessary processes they have to go through before making their purchase.

   If possible, don’t force the customers to register just so they could buy products from you. Instead, make sending money or checking out convenient and fast.

    

   Choosing the Best Platform for eCommerce Web Design.

   Critical to the launch of your eCommerce website is the so-called content management system (CMS).

   That’s why it’s important that you select the best and the most suitable platform to manage your products and content of your eCommerce business.

   And one of the most popular platforms is Magento, which has really cool and useful features, including theme designs that are clean, professional-looking and gorgeous.

   If you are planning to use or you’re already using WordPress, no problem. You just only need to integrate a Magento plugin called Magento WordPress Integration to open your online store. But if you don’t want to be limited to WordPress, of course, there are a lot of other Magento themes that you can choose and use for your eCommerce project.

    

   Final Words

    

   By this time and after reading this article, we expect you’d already retire some of your old assumptions about building an eCommerce website design.

   And because websites like eCommerce not only demand careful planning and more design thinking, having the right knowledge is vital when creating a breakout commercial business website.

   In the rest of this piece, we’ll show you some examples of beautifully crafted eCommerce web design websites for inspiration.

   You’ll also get acquainted with a few functions that an eCommerce web design needs to include to be effective, from these given examples.

   1. A Book Apart
   2. Hiut Denim
   3. Starbucks
   4. United Pixel Workers
   5. Suit Supply

    

8. 10 Steps to Get The Best Accounting Outsourcing Services

   January 21, 2014 3:30 pm 4 Comments

   

   There are hellish pressures facing small and big business financial departments to improve their business performance. In their search for effective approaches to ensure quality and accurate performance of financial and bookkeeping tasks, accounting outsourcing is gaining popularity.

   Decades ago, there was reluctance to delegate to a service provider this critical business function. But after big businesses started hiring accounting services from onshore and offshore locations did small businesses follow suit.

   There’s a lot that outsourcing can do when you are embarking to optimize your business performance through the timely and accurate delivery of tax and salary computations and other related financial documentations with government bureaus and agencies.

   From hiring a virtual administrative staff, outsourcing bookkeeping and payroll services, and now to accounting outsourcing, the immense impact of the strategy on the growth and productivity of small businesses are now success story examples.

   Later in this article, we’ll introduce you to this specialized business function called accounting services, the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing accounting functions and how you can take advantage of the benefits.

    

   What is Accounting Services?

    

   Accounting functions that keep businesses operational are classified as accounting services. This services include managing the accounts receivable and payable, payroll processing, calculating and filing regulatory and federal taxes, financial statement preparations, and more of the likes.

   Financial accounting processes, however, are constantly changing. This constant changes in the system or process are major concerns for companies, especially coping and responding to any abrupt change in reporting finances and income.

   Responding to such change can be done proactively or its reactively. The change can easily be implemented based on these proactive companies’ situation, timeline and schedules. And with accounting outsourcing now possible, these companies are in to seize the biggest benefits.

    

   What Are the Advantages of Outsourcing Core Accounting Services?

    

   When it comes to accounting services outsourcing, businesses have the option to outsource all or portion of the accounting processes important to keep the business operational. With a reliable accounting services provider, small to big corporations can reap the advantages associated with making the best use of resources available to their businesses.

   Below, we’ll list down the obvious advantages for small and medium-sized enterprises using accounting outsourcing:

   Smaller businesses will most often be found outsourcing simply because it’s the most cost-effective way to address limitation in resources. The practice of hiring full time accountant or bookkeeper may be too expensive to shoulder for them compared to hiring a reliable accounting services agency.

   By outsourcing an accounting services firm, small businesses will only have to pay fewer salaries and employee benefits. Even the problem with absenteeism will be a big headache buster and ease the worries of delayed posting of payments or getting payroll released in a timely manner.

   With this benefit, small businesses earn extra time and resources to focus on improving the production process or mapping through to the implementation of product improvement strategies, and a whole lot more.

   Middle-sized companies might also gain from the same benefits that small businesses can derive out of outsourcing accounting works. Other cost-cutting benefits include substantial decrease in office supplies or equipments expenses. Most outsourcing firms also hire trained accounting professionals, which can boost efficiencies and improved business bottom line.

   In other words, accounting outsourcing can free up your valuable time while getting accurate, timely and reliable financial information about your business. But, no matter how good the benefits may be, outsourcing to a third party provider can also be counterproductive.

    

   What Are the Disadvantages and Risks of Outsourcing Accounting Services?

   

    

   Most of the disadvantages of outsourcing your financial and accounting services may have something to do with carelessness, laziness and sloppy decision.

   If you fail to conduct a careful research of your prospective outsourcing partners and still decided to outsource to sub-par accounting firms, you will be in for some big troubles.

   When you hire an incompetent agency, expect late delivery of financial information and calculation of employee payroll, taxes and benefits. Worst, you are simply waiting for federal tax agencies to hound, haunt and penalize you.

   In turn, you are not only wasting valuable money to receive unsatisfactory accounting services, you will soon lose the trust of your very employees and your clients might transfer to your rival agencies.

    

   How to Hire the Best Accounting Outsourcing Services

    

   By this time, you might already be convinced that outsourcing accounting services to a third party provider can elevate your business performance. Here then are some qualities to look for the best and top quality accounting outsourcing companies:

   1. Industry Experience and Certified Staff. Make sure you are hiring an accounting and payroll agency with expertise and specialized knowledge of your industry. Keep in mind that some of your functions may be unique only to your sector and when an inexperienced accounting services will be asked to perform would take longer to accomplish at low quality standard. Your accounting services provider can only provide what you want if they have trained and certified bookkeepers or accountants.
   2. Cloud or Web-Based Service Architecture. Find an accounting agency that can provide you with immediate access to your own financial data anytime, anywhere using any devices. Remove from your shortlist the offshoring firm that does not offer this capability because you never can be sure what else they’re incapable of doing to perform for modern businesses like yours.
   3. Metrics for Quality Assurance. The main reason you are hiring a third party accounting outsourcing agency is that they offer core functions that you lack. Take for example staying current on best practices in finance, accounting and payroll or the most recent tax law and regulatory changes. Look for an agency that can fill the gap for your financial and payroll accounting needs.

   Beside the three mentioned above, there are other conditions that you should look when qualifying an accounting services outsourcing company. Among others, the agency should be flexible to match their clients specific requirements.

   The point of contact is another important consideration when you hire accounting outsourcing because this will be helpful in addressing concerns that need urgent response or answer between you and your outsourced agency.

    

   Final Thoughts

    

   Accounting outsourcing is one of the best ways to obtain accurate and timely financial information but it can also fall short when you hire the wrong offshore agency. By knowing what qualities to look for when engaging a third party service provider from the Philippines, you can be sure that you’re spending your money wisely.

9. Does Hiring a Virtual Assistant Makes You a Lazy Businessman

   January 14, 2014 2:31 pm 2 Comments

   

    

   Outsourcing lets business owners hire an offshore agency or virtual assistant to perform tasks or projects. Well, yes, this sounds good and a fact that almost everyone already knows. But recently there have been claims that the downside of hiring virtual assistant services is a surge in numbers of businessmen lazying or slacking off.

   The popularity of outsourcing has really taken off with the advent of modern technologies, which then enables real-time communications fast, cheap and accessible. Tools like Skype have become very ubiquitious in the performance of businesses and outsourcing in a globalizing world.

   A couple of decades ago, it’s unimaginable for businesses based in New York or London to manage a team of remote virtual assistants. The realities we have now are only but just a dream and visions found in paperback sci-fi books.

   So before we answer the question we left earlier about the alleged downright impact of outsourcing virtual assistant services, we’ll first look into what virtual assistants do that small businesses can outsource, the benefits of having a virtual assistant, and steps to finding the right virtual assistant and taking advantage of a transaction.

    

   Wanted: Virtual Assistants

    

   The high demand for virtual assistants have increased over the years as entrepreneurs started to realize the powerful impact that outsourcing can deliver on their growth, productivity and efficiency.

   Not only Manila virtual assistants cost only a fraction of the labor expenses they’d normally pay for a local talent, these staff can be very hardworking, dedicated and loyal. In most cases, these virtual assistants working now are former professionals who ditched their day jobs to become freelancers.

    

   What types of tasks are best offloaded to virtual assistants? Here, we’ll name a few and they include:

    

   • Repetitive, Lame Tasks. These are often less savory but there are virtual assistants around who are willing to do this job for you. Small businesses are leveraging this type of stuff from accounts payable, data entry and shipping inventory.
   • Specialized Tasks. Your accounting system may need an IT support to manage and maintain these tasks even on a part-time basis, then these could be the types you can outsource. Other examples include SEO analysis, data science tasks, online and mobile marketers, and more.
   • Executive level. Some executive type or level jobs can be outsourced to a virtual assistant and you might be in for the biggest surprise of your life if you’ll simply have someone provide you with financial analysis or ensure that your financial and bookkeeping works are being handled well.

   The more that you leverage skills and expertise of your outsourced staff, surely you’ll seize much of the benefits of having a virtual assistant. So the option for you, if you are a small business, is to actually outsource everything that drain or consume your time and energy.

    

   Risks and Perils of Outsourcing to Virtual Assistant Services

    

   The real share of outsourcing is helping companies, especially start up entrepreneurs, to minimize the opportunity costs that come with doing mundane and lame tasks. This is likely the consequence of halting off the high-impact jobs that you’re supposed to be doing just because you also perform the non-core side of your business processes.

   Beside the critical role that outsourcing plays in ensuring success to your enterprise, some real risks present themselves when your virtual assistants, who are third party outsider, perform the key aspects of your company’s future success.

   Unless the virtual assistant is the best fit and fully absorbed to your business goals and missions, some virtual staff may have a very different agenda or mission. When the motives are different with yours, expect works being rendered sloppily or messed up.

   So it’s not advisable to just outsource everything simply because you don’t want to do it. Especially if that piece of work you are avoiding to do are inherent to strategies and core competencies of your business. And it is in this case when businessmen can really turn out lazy.

   As a consequence, you might be in for a big business failure. And here’s why finding the right virtual assistant to perform your tasks or jobs is critical to your outsourcing success and business in general.

    

   How to Find the Best and Right Virtual Assistant Partner

   

    

   Here to help you find the right remote staff for your business are our tips, which include:

   • Careful due diligence. Research over the Internet for prospective virtual workers and conduct a background check on their capabilities, clients, success rate and testimonies from former clients. Do this until you come out with your short list
   • Decide the Tasks to Outsource. By taking a hard look at your business and finding out which are your strengths and the values you engender at your firm, you’ll arrive at a better selection of virtual asssitant to outsource. So if you’re main concern is product development, don’t simply outsource the stuff simply because you want to save.
   • Arrange a meeting. The meeting can be done using web conference or through Skype with the video call opened. This is the best way to gauge the extent of experience your shortlisted virtual assistants currently have. Ask questions related to the job or task that you will offload to your virtual staff and choose the ones who’ll satisfy your needs.
   • Negotiate the Cost. Remember not to be easily tempted by a very cheap labor cost that it appears too good to be true in the surface. In any transaction you’ll surely get what you paid for. But also don’t believe the notion that expensive is par excellence. Be watchful of sales presentation that only appear to be exaggerating and over inflating the positives.
   • Look for Virtual Assistant Who Care. If you’ll fall for a virtual assistant that offer a good cost deals but lacks the appreciation or care to your company’s unique culture, you should never compromise or settle for anybody not fit to your strategy or business culture.

   Final Words …

    

   The emergence of virtual assistants should help move your company to even greater heights and not serve as a lame excuse to slouch at your desk simply because you already have someone competent to do the work for you.

   Outsourcing is a strategy that can surely help your small business cut the budget and at the same time lets you focus on the essential aspect of growing your business. Done right, the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant can help multiply your profit potential and satisfy your customers with even better products and services.