Value at the heart of outsourcing for SMEs — DOXA Talent

TALENT OUTSOURCING for small- and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) has grown to lean toward value-adding over the typical notion of high-volume, repeatable tasks, according to an industry player.

“Small business owners historically have been really underserved in this market,” David Nilssen, chief executive office of DOXA Talent, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a briefing.

“And they don’t need someone to deal with standardized tasks,” he added. “They need skilled workers who can actually add value in lots of different areas of the organization.”

Survey findings from Clutch, a global marketplace for business-to-business service providers, showed 83% of small businesses look to maintain or increase spending on outsourced services last year.

It also recorded marketing (27%), IT services (22%), and design (21%) as the top areas for new outsourced providers.

Mr. Nilssen noted the growing priority for valueconsciousness over cost-consciousness, especially among SMEs with limited resources, which the company primarily serves.

“It is an important distinction, so it narrows the size of the market that we can address, but there’s still infinite opportunity as well,” he added.

The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said in a Monday briefing that it hopes to exceed the two-million mark in industry headcount by 2025, citing the competitiveness of the Philippine workforce.

“The IT-BPM (information technology and business process management) industry continues to grow. We ended last year with 1.7 million direct jobs for Filipinos, up 8%, and we generated well over $35 billion in revenue for the economy,” said IBPAP President Jack Madrid.

Last year, Mr. Madrid said that the industry is targeting 7-8% growth in headcount and $39 billion in revenue for 2024.

“Companies must gear up as we are seeing a demographic shift in the workforce with more offshore talents helping businesses thrive, which is also providing a tailwind to the BPO industry,” Mr. Nilssen said.

DOXA Talent has also partnered with an artificial intelligence (AI) training firm to develop the skillset of its employees to better serve small business clients.

“It is a threat to anybody who doesn’t embrace it,” Mr. Nilssen said on leveraging new technologies for improved services.

“You’re going to start to see the BPO industry have to shift from the traditional model and evolve to sort of embrace new modern work trends,” he added on an industry outlook.

“That is remote work, AI, and career development — three things that you have not seen historically done well in the BPO industry anywhere.”