Scaling Made Simple – Strategy #5: Take Advantage of Different Time Zones

When a company is just starting out, having everyone in one office can have a lot of advantages. That energy is hard to replicate! But there are some disadvantages, and those become apparent as a business grows.

Have you ever had an issue with a product, only to realize you need to wait until the next day (probably your own workday hours) to call customer service?

That’s because many customer support departments are based on the company’s normal hours within the head office. The problem is that customers may need support outside of those hours, and may even be in different time zones or countries! In another example, teams like software developers may not be able to take full advantage of having a “follow the sun” structure where they can pass on each day’s work for review and QA while they sleep, so that they start each day with the best possible code baseline.

Is the solution to open more offices or keep your customer service desk open 24/7? Obviously not. Finding ways to mitigate these challenges generally requires looking to outsourced partners who either have 24×7 operations or are in a timezone that allows you to start following the sun each day and seeing shorter project completion dates.

There are several advantages of having staff – whether an FTE or outsourced – across time zones:

• Someone is always “home” – make sure the phone is always answered!
• It adds diversity to your staff and operations.
• Productivity is increased, sometimes by huge percentages. Project time can often be cut in half because of night-and-day schedules. 
• Companies that outsource experience more cost savings by getting things completed faster. 

Have you ever dreamed of waking up from a restful night’s sleep to a completed deadline and a key to-do crossed off your list? Utilizing different time zones can make that scenario a reality!