IT Outsourcing as a Beneficial Strategy During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic substantially affected everyone – from small businesses to large corporations, and most especially, employees worldwide. Work schedules, office setups, and other factors have influenced the productivity of the workers.

Although companies are digital transformation drivers, they also faced several challenges during the pandemic. They overcame the hindrances they encountered through the form of IT outsourcing. One of the struggles they faced to this day is the drastic change in interaction. Physical meetings, for instance, are still strongly prohibited in many areas along with other kinds of gatherings, even in the workplace. This led to a lot of employee-related challenges.

Another concern is the customers—generally, the public chooses to stay at home. This is mostly possible thanks to the proliferation of mobile applications. People can shop, bank, and do other things that they used to do physically. But despite heavy use by the market, tech giants and large-scale enterprises were not exempt from the pandemic’s effects on their business.

Non-face-to-face (NFTF) tasks such as e-commerce is a case in point. Even with its advantage during the pandemic, some problem points need addressing. Non-tech natives usually struggle with the app-centric setup, and small-scale merchants also face a steep learning curve.

Working around COVID-19 Hindrances

Dealing with certain business problems requires solutions — one such option is hiring outsourced IT support.

IT outsourcing is the process of entrusting a specific task, usually specialized IT services, to a third-party team or agency. It allows companies to redirect resources to more pressing objectives. In addition, it can reduce operational costs in the long run.

Companies can mitigate some overhead by saving on local taxes. Hiring an overseas third-party business or organization can lower labor costs this way. Also, due to complications brought about by COVID-19, it’s even more fitting today as many companies haven’t fully recovered yet.

If availing of IT outsourcing services from countries like the Philippines, Singapore, or Vietnam can help businesses cut costs and focus on other priorities, then hiring IT outsourced solutions should be considered.

Cases That May Require IT Outsourcing

• Customer Service Jobs

Before the 2020 pandemic, people were able to move and work freely. However, COVID-19 did more than paralyze mobility: it caused us to be wary of exposure from face-to-face social interaction. This resulted in customer service jobs taking a massive hit.

People shifted to working, studying, and doing other activities indoors, which would constantly require stable internet access. Technologically advanced countries do not experience this problem, but the challenge is true for emerging economies where demand for broadband internet is tremendously increasing, even before the pandemic.

The Philippines, for example, struggles because of slow internet connectivity. It ranks 6th out of the ten member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), where Singapore, tops the list with the fastest broadband speeds.

Despite the pandemic’s effects, customer service companies were able to adapt their products in many ways. One example is full-time virtual assistance, which is effective given how consumers are mostly online today. Another product that surged in popularity at the height of the pandemic was online banking. An example scenario can go like this: if many customers encounter technical problems while transacting online, they may flood the bank with calls and troubleshooting requests.

An outsourced Member Service Specialist could ease the situation by taking on some of those requests, filtered from the online ticketing system of the outsourced web application development company. A successful outsourced CSR project will give breathing room for the bank’s operators, which eventually translates into smoother processes and savings.

The intense competition also merits competitive customer response as fewer complaints mean higher client satisfaction. Companies that have tried outsourcing before also stand at an advantage versus first-timers, as their experience gives them the edge in negotiation and relations with service providers.

• Company Payrolls

Managing employee payroll can also be a complicated task during a pandemic like COVID-19, but outsourcing can relieve such pain points with ease. Some businesses, especially Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) must adapt to the pandemic’s economic effects, and innovating their payroll system will greatly benefit their organization.

Outsourcing the payment process to a third-party agency is a lot easier than hiring local employees for a limited time; the hiring process can consume time and resources that MSMEs may not have the spare resources for. Outsourcing payroll services enable MSMEs and even larger companies to manage payroll transactions better as service providers usually have experts and specialized software dedicated to such functions.

Conclusion

Maintaining a business during a pandemic is a tough job and may require implementing more than just one effective strategy. IT outsourcing is a viable alternative solution for some companies with web-based operations.

Organizations needing IT outsourcing services can rely on experienced providers such as Frontline Mobile Pte Ltd, a mobile app development company in Singapore.

We are specialized in web-based solutions and have a team of experts that you can trust for your digital transformation initiatives. Reach out to us through: https://www.frontline.com.sg/contact/.