Registered training organisations (RTOs) in Australia are currently facing the significant challenge of rising operational costs and a talent drain, making it harder to deliver consistent and high-quality services to clients. Many RTOs consider outsourcing offshore, to countries like the Philippines, to be a realistic and effective solution to these challenges.
What is outsourcing, and how do RTOs in Australia benefit from it?
Outsourcing is the process of delegating tasks that are traditionally performed in your organisation to a third-party company or worker. In offshore outsourcing, jobs are contracted to workers outside Australia, usually in other English-speaking countries like the Philippines.
The most significant benefit of outsourcing has to do with cost. Hiring offshore workers costs less than recruiting local employees and in fact can help you reduce labour costs by up to 70%. And because your outsourced team members work outside your organisation’s premises, you save on expenses like power, air conditioning, office leasing and even equipment.
Outsourcing enables you to fill gaps in your existing in-house staff’s skills. With outsourcing, your offshore staffing partner can quickly fill your team with experienced staff whose services cost far less than local specialists.
What RTO roles can you outsource today?
The Philippines is the outsourcing destination for many Australian organisations, so many Filipinos have plenty of experience with Australian requirements, processes, and standards. This means you can outsource various tasks and get the same results as you would from local workers. For RTOs, in particular, we recommend outsourcing the following roles:
1. Student Support Officer
This role is crucial to ensuring student progression. Whether by answering enquiries, posting reminders about necessary documents and assessment, or simply providing encouragement to log-in to the LMS, a student support officer helps students progress, attend training sessions/workshops & complete units.
Your outsourced students support officer can converse with students, troubleshoot tech issues, set and follow up on appointments, and perform other tasks to support your students. And because their services cost less, you can maintain good student to student support officer ratios to ensure you students can always access the support they need. Having Student Support Officers as part of your team can improve attendance, unit completions and overall student experience offerred by your RTO.
2. Enrolment Officer
The enrolment process is a lengthy and repetitive one. Simply processing paperwork and reminding enrolees to turn in the required documents can leave your in-house staff stressed and with little bandwidth for other essential tasks.
Most enrolment and document processing tools are cloud-based, so a dedicated outsourced worker can take on this role without any problem. They can process paperwork as quickly and efficiently as needed and follow up on any missing requirements from students using online solutions.
3. Quality Assurance Officer
The government closely regulates RTOs to ensure that they comply with industry standards and that students and clients receive only the most reliable service. To this end, various key segments of an RTO’s operations undergo regular audits, where non-compliances can result in sanctions & financial penalties.
An outsourced quality assurance officer can assist you in navigating and overcoming compliance complexities. For one, they can help validate your inbound assessment records, ensure that they are complete and accurate, and keep you out of costly problems down the line. Could it provide you peace of mind to know that every inbound piece of assessment entering your organisation has been checked?
4. Admin Officer
An admin officer can perform various tasks essential to your RTO’s operations. From receiving and answering phone, web or social enquiries, to maintaining your continuous improvement and complaints registers to liaising with AASNs (Australian Apprenticeship Support Network members).
However, the admin officer does not need to be working in-house to perform all of their duties. Thanks to the internet and cloud-based tools, you can outsource this role and still have your company operating as efficiently and optimally as ever.
5. Accountant or Bookkeeper
Keeping track of your company’s finances is critical to ensuring its survival and growth, especially with the current unpredictable economy. An accountant can process your payroll, prepare BASs and ensure accurate records of expenses, assets, cash flow, and other critical financial data.
Instead of hiring a local bookkeeper, you can save money by outsourcing the role. An offshore staffing partner can easily find an experienced accountant in the Philippines who knows Australian finance laws and standards. You don’t have to worry about data security, either. Thanks to enterprise-grade cybersecurity solutions, it’s possible to exchange, process, and transmit financial data over the internet with minimal risk.
6. Sales Coordinator
The sales process is a delicate one that requires communication, timing, and the right approach. A sales coordinator supports your sales team by monitoring key information, managing schedules, maintaining CRM records, tracking sales resources, and responding to complaints and enquiries.
This role can be performed from anywhere and, thus, is very easy to outsource. Because of the Philippines’ popularity as an outsourcing hub, it has no shortage of individuals with ample experience in sales and providing support.
7. Marketing Assistant
Having a well-oiled marketing team can help your RTO attract new students and clients and keep existing ones. A key figure is the marketing assistant, whose responsibilities can range from performing social media admin tasks to executing full marketing campaigns.
Incidentally, marketing is one of the most commonly outsourced business processes today. For this reason, you can find a lot of experienced marketers abroad who can help you develop and launch virtually any type of marketing campaign.
How can we help?
There was a time when you could outsource just a few business processes, but things have improved so much. Thanks to technology and the ready availability of specialist talent in countries like the Philippines, you can now outsource more roles and enjoy significant labour savings across your whole business.
At PeoplePartners BPO, we can help you engage experienced staff who can help your RTO grow. Just contact us today and tell us about your requirements.