Background. Remote Reliance, an outsourcing provider company registered by Warly Guerra in the US in January 2009, is an offshoot of an earlier online collaboration team by the same name, formed by Manolito Sulit on a popular outsourcing site. Originally with a general membership of mostly Manila professionals, it has been closed down since then, so the present team can focus on Ibaan fellows who will be trained to become outsourcing providers.
To define, outsourcing is the “transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management of a business process.” The term is relatively unfamiliar to the majority of people in the Philippines. It has got introduced to us by way of the call centers and the acronym BPO, but outsourcing remains largely unknown. Yet it doesn’t mean that there is less outsourcing activity in the country.
In fact, in a 2008 report, oDesk.com, a leading market place for outsourcing buyers and providers, identified the Philippines among the top 7 countries including Canada, India, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States (watch the report here). Filipino providers have grown exponentially in numbers. We are not as organized as our Indian counterparts, though, and this is where Remote Reliance seeks to play a vital part.
Organization. Remote Reliance is designed to become a community-based outsourcing organization. It envisions a community of providers in Ibaan with a developed set of 21st century skills, getting sub-contract jobs from our company and working from the comforts of their own homes. To ensure that there will be enough homegrown skills to fill in a growing demand, Remote Reliance seeks to establish a provider education center right at the heart of Ibaan, which will offer TESDA-accredited virtual assistant courses and admit non-Ibaans as well from neighboring towns and cities. Work priority, however, is given to Ibaan skills. This has already been started, in principle, with its “enablement program,” a free virtual assistant training meant to introduce remote work and Remote Reliance altogether.
Presently, as part of an internal awareness campaign, we enlist associates with ready skills now numbering 20, five of which join the Development Team that is responsible for project management. It holds office at the so-called Providers Hub in the property owned by the Guerras downtown. Sulit acts as the head of this team and the general manager and direct liaison of Remote Reliance.
Core competency. To begin with, the Development Team has identified key functions to form the basis of the company’s core competency. These are project management, web development, multimedia content creation, online marketing and search engine optimization, which are also important units in building online awareness for a business or a product/brand. This is not to ignore, however, the opportunities in administrative and e-commerce support with demands for individual skills such as data entry, hr/accounting/bookkeeping and email/voice support.
The Development Team has opted using online communication systems to initiate the development of online culture among Remote Reliance users. Meeting, brainstorming and group study are conducted on a web conferencing utility. Project data and output are kept in a project management site, together with contacts, tasks, targets and milestones. Documents, reports and presentations are created using online applications. Our website utilizes live help desk and ticket submission for customer service/support. Remote Reliance is also beta testing a community board to start networking with the larger Internet public via PH Online.
