JAMES DEVENNY: The right approach to make outsourcing successful

James Devenny, co-founder of Devenny Payne, chats with us about the firm’s experience when they first tried outsourcing, the lessons they learned, and how these put things into better perspective and helped them build a better offshore team the second time around. Devenny Payne focuses on helping clients run their business more intelligently through a holistic approach to achieve growth. The practice is based in Victoria, Australia.

TOA Global Podcast · James Devenny: The right approach to make outsourcing successful

Topics

Positive work culture and equal treatment for onshore and offshore team
Business and hiring philosophy
The right way of measuring success
Advice for those who want to set up an offshore team

Quotes

On what Devenny considers a mistake when his firm started outsourcing:

Our first try with outsourcing was in India. The mistake that we made early on was we looked at our offshore team as a resource. Then we realised, ‘Why have we not created the same career path for them as our onshore team?’ They were in their 20s and 30s and just as thirsty for knowledge as our team in Australia.

On training their TOA offshore team and being open with clients:

It took us about 12 to 18 months to train them. But it’s all worth it because we’ve seen how they made such huge progress. We’re also very open to our clients and proud of the fact that we have a team from the Philippines. And received great feedback from them!

On his philosophy when it comes to hiring staff:

“It doesn’t matter whether you hire in Australia or overseas. The risk of making a bad hire will always be there. And if the potential danger will only be your key focus, then offshoring is not for you. For us, if you treat the staff the right way, you provide that career path for them, you provide the training and the respect they deserve, then things will work out great.