2101 – Leveraging Remote Talent for Business Success with Office Beacon's Pranav Dalal

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1:05With us right now, it's Pranav Dilal. Pranav, you are the founder and CEO of Office Beacon. Your website is officebeacon.com. Congratulations on over 23 years. Very, very exciting to see the impact that you've had. And certainly, you're facilitating a lot of remote staffing, Pranav. Yeah, I appreciate that, Josh. Yeah, we've been doing it before remote staffing became even a term during COVID, right? Back in 2001. Yeah. Well, give us an overview of exactly what Office Beacon is, where you fit, and who you typically work with. Thank you for that question. So we started in 2001 as basically a graphic design company and outsourcing from India.

1:56And I realized that I didn't want to stay just doing that. So we pivoted to becoming specialists in managing HR talent anywhere. So our whole framework foundation of the company is being able to manage talent. And today we basically offer over 150 different services to thousands of customers around the globe, primarily concentrated, though, in the U.S. and in over 18 industries. And so we've been able to do things for S &Bs, mom and pop shops, all the way to very large Fortune 100 companies, everything from call centers, accounting, graphic design, logistics support. I mean, you name it, we've been able to specialize and be able to cater to companies in a very, very strong way.

2:48And our secret sauce is really to be able to offer managed services. So when our clients utilize us, what we've been able to do is ensure mission critical services are handled without fail. And that is because we have very strong infrastructure around the world and also a very talented management team that ensures all deliverables are handled every minute of the day. Yeah. Well, so if you could, if you wouldn't mind maybe sharing a little bit about the lay of the land. You know, obviously there are platforms where you can connect with independent contractors. You know, certainly I think that there are plenty of providers that provide, you know, maybe access to, quote unquote, VAs or specialty staff.

3:36You know, where does OfficeBeacon fit in with some of those maybe common ways that folks are connecting with, you know, remote independent contractors, that sort of thing? that sort of thing. Yeah. I love that question. And so since COVID, there's been a proliferation of remote staffing companies globally, right? And so where we fit in is that we are not employing independent contractors or freelancers. The difference is that these are employees that work for Office Beacon that are then working for our clients on a more full-time or dedicated basis. we handle all of the HR compliance in every country we operate.

4:21Right now we're operating out of India, the Philippines, Mexico, and South Africa. And so, you know, all the government dues, benefits, medical, you know, there's just so many different things that we have to comply to. And so that protects our clients as well. And so that's a big differentiator. When companies go online, hire maybe a freelancer, these are the risks. The risks are that the work that you're contracting to get done may not necessarily be owned by you because you're not paying all of the required fees for that. So most companies don't know that. And we've had a very large client, I think it was last year, that ran into that problem.

5:03And so we helped them solve that problem. The other thing is just data security, making sure that if you're outsourcing to remote staff, anything that's critical or accessing your systems or CRM, anything like that, critical data, you want to make sure it's protected. And if you have a remote staff overseas that you don't even know, don't really have a formal contract with, you're risking your data as well. And that also has been problematic for some companies. So we solve those problems by ensuring that we've got the data security, we've got the infrastructure, we have contracts with our clients, we have insurance, E &O insurance and cybersecurity to protect our clients.

5:47So we're doing everything to make it a very seamless, easy process and safe process for all of our customers. Yeah. So just to be clear, like if someone is doing a lot of hiring through, let's say, a platform like Upwork or whatever, there are some of those risks that you listed out are very real possibilities. Absolutely. And in fact, customers come to us from those platforms for those reasons. One is you're not getting a management overlay. So if you're growing on a platform like Upwork, you still have to manage all those people. So we take that HR layer away from our clients. And that's really a benefit to them, not only from a cost perspective, just from a time perspective.

6:34Secondly, we're coordinating all of the efforts of those remote workers. Typically, they come into our office space. So there's better monitoring, oversight of these workers, better controls. We also have replication of internet lines, electricity and hydro, which, you know, if someone's working at home, that in many of these countries remotely, you're just not going to have that sort of reliability. Right. And so so then you're limiting yourself in terms of how you can scale using the best talent globally. Wow. Okay. So, you know, looking at the year ahead, you know, and we're thinking about, you know, overall trends in remote labor work, you know, diverse, you know, kind of geographically independent project work, you know, but things getting done.

7:31What are you seeing in terms of trends over the next year or so? Well, from our perspective, the trend is definitely booming and growing. And so what I think customers or businesses should really be looking at is where they're looking for this talent. This is why we have multiple countries. If you're going to India for software development, great. But personally, I don't think call centers is the right place there. The Philippines has been on fire. I mean, the last 10 years, we started in the Philippines 2013, pretty early on. But it's grown tremendously. Competition for talent there is very fierce.

8:10Costs are growing. There's a big movement. There has been since COVID to work from home there. So it's becoming definitely more challenging to work from there. And so depending on the type of work, then you've got other countries like South Africa, which is we're one of the first companies of our type to enter into South Africa. And it's been a delight and a surprise just because of the talents level, the ability of customers to want to work from there. And we're working through a lot of the logistics of working in South Africa, but it's been we've been growing very, very fast. So you really have to look at what region and what skill sets that region or that country offers to suit and meet your needs.

8:56Well, congratulations on that. Yeah. And I saw that, you know, I'm looking at your LinkedIn and you're talking as of when we're recording this. It is imminent. It is four days from now, three days now at this point. And tell me about the opportunity to partner with, you know, team members in South Africa. Where might there be some advantages, strengths, opportunities there? Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. In fact, my flight leaves in about eight hours from now. But I'm happy to be here today. But I'm very excited because we started there about a year and a half ago. It's grown significantly.

9:39Secondly, we've got hundreds and hundreds of people already, employees working for us. We've expanded from, we started in just outside of Durban. We're expanding now, literally this week to Johannesburg and then to Cape Town. And so we're really seeking the talent from all the major cities. And it's very, very high skilled talent in Cape Town, sorry, in South Africa. There's a lot of customers who want frontline customer support, level one, level two. They also want ad agency marketing type of support. And we're able to get that sort of talent from there. So it's been just a great opportunity for us.

10:23And also an interesting fact about South Africa, the unemployment rates are very, very high. I mean, between 30 and 40 percent. I mean, think about that. I mean, the U.S. is what, two, three. I haven't looked at whatever the latest is. but it's 10 times. And so, you know, there is a great need for jobs and great talent levels. And so it's a perfect mix for us to really bring what we can do to that country. Yeah. So when I want to ask you this, so obviously you work with a huge number of different industries, clients, that sort of thing. What are some things that you might look at that would indicate that someone might not be a great client?

11:13Or, as said the other way, what are some indications you go, oh, these guys are going to be really great to partner up some great remote team members with? Any indicators that you and your team look for? Last year, or since last year to this year, I've spoken to probably 4 ,000 business executives. The best indicators are whether the leadership of those companies are willing to invest in growth. If they're willing to invest in growth, and growth by using a company like us means that they're freeing up capital, They're freeing up financial resources by employing us because we are obviously going to be doing things cost-effectively for them.

11:56But are they going to reinvest that savings into their growth? And typically, our customers, the majority of them are doing that. They're basically taking savings, channeling that into sales and marketing, and then it becomes a cycle. Basically, they're getting more sales. We're getting more work. We've had clients who've then gone out and acquired other companies or been acquired, a lot of private equity involved. And so we love that. We love that flywheel of just helping, you know, turn that revenue and profit for these companies. And that's what I look for is their mindset of how they're thinking about growth.

12:38Yeah. And so tell me a little bit about what the process is for someone that, you know, and also I think we should address investment pricing. So obviously there's a lot of protections and systems that are put into this. What might someone experience in terms of investment, obviously versus hiring domestic, versus, you know, kind of going out on their own and just trying to find an independent contractor through Upwork or whatever. And then, you know, again, kind of working directly through Office Beacon. Well, our process, we try to keep it very, very simple. The pricing model is a flat monthly rate.

13:22So, for example, if you're hiring a customer service rep, typically you can pay between$1 ,800 to$2 ,000 a month. Here where I am in California, you're going to be paying$3 ,000 to$4 ,000 at minimum for that. So you're already saving quite a bit right there, plus all the workman's comp and liability and all that. And so you're typically saving 40 to 50 percent of your overhead costs from your domestic costs. The process is very simple. You get on a call with us, with one of our sales reps. They'll take you through the different types of roles that we can handle, which are significant. then we get a contract to you which is basically a month to month it is a year contract but there's no cancellation terms there we just want to do that so that the employee knows that they're they've got more of a stable position then we get a job description from our client fill that within a few weeks and within 30 days you're up and running you know with with your rep and you've got direct communication with that rep and their manager.

14:34We can set up the access to whatever systems in a very safe, protected way. There's training involved and we have a training department that partners with our clients to ensure that the training is handled. And the great part about the training is once we're trained once, the clients never have to train us again. We're basically, we've got it. We can keep adding people and that takes away another layer of cost and time from our clients because we're basically handling everything from that point forward. Yeah. You know, to our friend that's listening, my recommendation would be to look at a couple of things.

15:15I'm on officebeacon.com. I hover over services, click on all services. You would be surprised. what you can hire out remotely that you may not be thinking about. You might be doing this work yourself. You might be doing this work maybe inefficiently. Maybe you don't have, you know, just it's a little bit more ad hoc currently. So absolutely some really great opportunities, everything from, you know, engineering to IT services, finance and accounting, I think obviously call centers and sales of marketing, HR, data. There's a lot here to choose from. Yeah, yeah. It's fantastic. We also have a lot of events that we hold.

16:01People coming to our website can check out our events to meet us in person. I also do a lot of public speaking. So there's a lot of opportunity to engage with us. And I encourage it. Just learn more about it. we'd be happy to talk to anyone about what we do and how we do it. And more importantly, how it can help your business grow. Yeah. The website officebeacon.com. There's a big orange button that says speak with us. Can I also mention something else? Cause this is kind of interesting. You do VIP events. I just wanted to ask you about this. Cause I'm looking at this and you got Clippers games, you've got concerts.

16:41What is this? Well, let me tell you about that. And we do these events all throughout the country. But I'm going to give you a specific sort of example. And that was Taylor Swift, who came to SoFi Stadium last year. We have a very long-term partnership with SoFi Stadium, as an example. We have every event. We work from there every single day. It's a great partnership. Well, Taylor Swift generated so much buzz, we were able to generate over 2 ,000 prospects every single date that she had a concert. Yeah, I bet. Yeah, so we're a big believer in events, all sorts of events. I'm also a big believer in just in-person meeting people and whatever it takes to meet people, we're going to do it.

17:25And so that's the whole hook there. Yeah. All right. Well, great conversation. Pranav Dalal, CEO and founder at Office Beacon website, officebeacon.com. Pranav, thank you so much for the conversation. Appreciate it. Thanks so much, Josh.

17:49Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2 ,000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from.

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