Latest news with #PranavDalal
Forbes
05-08-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Remote, Global, Scalable: A New Staffing Playbook For SMBs
Pranav Dalal is the CEO and founder of Office Beacon, a global outsourcing firm that serves clients in various industries worldwide. When you run a small or midsize business, every hire feels like a personal bet because each salary hits the P&L like a line-item vote of confidence in your future. You want the agility of a startup, the polish of an enterprise and the runway to pursue the next big idea, all while guarding cash flow. Increasingly, founders are seeing those benefits through building global remote teams. Not as a temporary band-aid, and not simply to shave dollars off payroll, but as a deliberate way to expand capacity, widen expertise and unlock the hours their onshore talent needs for high-value work. Why Global Remote Staffing Is Gaining Ground With SMBs Video calls, cloud-based task management and real-time communication make it almost irrelevant whether a teammate logs in from Manila or Minneapolis. For companies with under $50 million in annual revenue, this means you can recruit talent anywhere in the world, pay rates that fit your budget and keep work moving around the clock—advantages that once belonged only to corporate giants. Two forces are pushing founders toward global remote teams. First, top talent juggles multiple offers, often from companies with budgets an SMB can't match. Looking overseas puts equally skilled people within reach at rates that fit a smaller balance sheet. Second, geography has flipped from obstacle to advantage. A 12-hour time difference now feels like a relay race—your global crew grabs the baton when the local team signs off. This setup helps businesses run 24 hours a day without anyone logging overtime. Founders who once worried about cultural or language barriers are discovering that if your workflows are clear, an ocean between teams is less daunting. From Cost-Cutting To Value Creation When outsourcing began to boom, companies paid lower hourly rates, skipped benefit costs and called it a win. That playbook is outdated. Today's founders see offshore partners as accelerators. The right question isn't 'How cheap can we make this?' but rather 'Which partner already knows how to solve this problem so we can grow faster?' That mindset reframes everything. Rather than tallying saved dollars, you measure additional revenue. For example, a global remote quality assurance team that trims two weeks from a release cycle lets you capture revenue sooner. A follow-the-sun support desk improves net promoter score, which feeds referrals and renewals. In other words, the value shows up in top-line metrics, not on the expense report. Furthermore, some global employees have the same KPIs as their onshore peers. Many SMBs even tie performance bonuses to shared outcomes, such as customer satisfaction scores, first contact resolution and on-time delivery. These make geography irrelevant and keep the focus on accountability. How To Structure Remote Teams For Long-Term Success Early stumbles with global staffing rarely stem from skill gaps; they stem from either unrealistic or vague expectations. The cure is structure, not micromanagement. Begin by mirroring your existing tool stack. If your global group uses a certain software product, your offshore developers need identical access and permissions. Next, to help your team work together more smoothly and efficiently, establish a daily time slot when everyone is online and actively working. This shared overlap is most effective when scheduled during typical working hours for all team members. Even just two hours of collaboration can be incredibly beneficial. This allows teams to conduct quick check-in meetings, briefly review ongoing work and get instant answers to questions. As I discussed in my previous article, this can clear up any confusion right away. Finally, map a career ladder that crosses borders. Global teammates are more likely to stay when they see a future, such as progressing from junior to senior, earning company-funded certifications or mentoring the next hire. Global remote staffing has proven its worth. When transactional workflows are overseas, your core team wins back the time to refine product-market fit and pursue the moonshots that set you apart. Give your global remote partnership the same attention you give to any strategic hire: clear objectives, shared culture, transparent metrics and an eye toward long-term contribution. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Forbes
25-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
BPO: How It's Reshaping Business Operations (And How To Leverage It)
Pranav Dalal is the CEO and founder of Office Beacon, a global outsourcing firm that serves clients in various industries worldwide. The conversation around business process outsourcing (BPO) used to be limited to customer service. Fast forward to 2025, and BPO has grown to reshape how companies operate. With the global BPO services market projected to surge from around $367.64 billion in 2024 to a staggering $861.45 billion by 2033, according to Astute Analytica, business leaders are wondering if they should jump on the BPO bandwagon. As the CEO of a global outsourcing firm, I believe the short answer is a resounding yes. Here's why (and how to do so successfully). Understanding Today's Expanded BPO Landscape It's hard to let go of old images, but BPO is no longer confined to young agents in matching headsets. In fact, customer experience (CX) outsourcing alone already generates about $123 billion of the market, and a remarkable 65% of that comes from non-voice channels such as chat, email and social media. But the real story is how BPO has edged its way into core business functions that include everything from strategic finance to AI-powered data analytics. Companies can now outsource to leverage specialized expertise that can deliver new insights and free up internal resources for critical initiatives. According to Astute Analytica, healthcare BPO, for example, stood at around $55.88 billion in 2024, supported by telehealth support and medical billing outsourcing. Supply chain and logistics BPO has also ballooned to about $32 billion, supported by the e-commerce boom and outsourcing of real-time tracking and analytics. What's more surprising is the range of services now on offer. Many providers now offer strategic counsel, advanced software solutions, and, in many cases, entire teams of AI-trained professionals. The race is on for specialized, tech-savvy partners capable of driving true business transformation. Scaling Smarter With Global Talent Every executive wants to scale in a way that doesn't cause a migraine, and BPO is one way to do it. I've seen nearshore outsourcing to Mexico become attractive for U.S. companies, partly because time zone alignment makes collaboration more seamless than trying to coordinate across a dozen time zones. India has long been a heavyweight in this game, while the Philippines and Vietnam are catching attention as well. The common thread is that businesses can gain specialized skills—whether in AI, software development or voice support—at a fraction of the cost they'd incur by building the same capacity in house, which can keep overhead from ballooning. Additionally, a well-coordinated global team lets you optimize your work around the clock. How Key Industries Can Leverage BPO You might be wondering how all this growth plays out on the ground. Recently, some insurance players have announced plans to outsource functions such as those of their "data, operations and change departments." Construction, on the other hand, might not be the first industry you think of when you hear 'outsourcing.' It turns out that companies can now work with partners to manage fluctuating labor schedules, materials procurement and complex back-office tasks. Finance and accounting present yet another strong case for BPO, as companies can outsource tax compliance, accounts receivable and other back-office functions that can devour time and resources. Some outsourced professionals may be able to streamline financial workflows, reduce errors and ensure faster reporting cycles. How To Get Started With BPO The first move toward improving efficiency with BPO is a granular process audit. Chart each workflow by volume, error rate and cycle time; the high-volume, rules-based tasks are usually the prime candidates. Next, define what 'good' looks like in numbers so success is measurable. Only then should you shortlist providers and move on to piloting one discreet workstream for 90 days. Furthermore, due diligence must go deeper than price. Verify certifications that map to your risk profile. Interview frontline supervisors to gauge attrition rates and training spend. Insist on a joint governance model that pairs weekly operational huddles with quarterly strategic reviews, and align the vendor's bonus plan to the business metric. Nevertheless, expect friction in the initial stages, as with any other new efforts. It's an open truth that knowledge transfer stalls when documentation is thin, so require a process playbook before transition. Conclusion BPO in 2025 has grown far beyond the realm of call centers and quick-fix solutions. It's a thriving, interconnected ecosystem of specialists and innovators who collectively can help drive industries forward. Industries can quickly shift from calm to chaotic, and investing in strategic outsourcing is one tool that can help you engineer a stronger ship altogether. After all, in 2025, the most dangerous move is staying on the sidelines, watching others sail by with their global teams—and perhaps a little less stress. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
