Interview with: Scott Stavretis, Chief Executive Officer, Acquire Asia Pacific, a sponsor company at the marcus evans CFO Summit 2014, on cost-cutting by outsourcing.

1. Why CFOs Need to Outsource Some Business Processes
Part of this responsibility is in identifying
areas where costs can be minimised,
and in most organisations, CFOs assist
other departments (e.g. operations and
IT) in developing strategies in cost
savings.
What is key to success for such
outsourced projects? We have all
heard of some companies reshoring
their call centres.
Interview with: Scott Stavretis,
Chief Executive Officer, Acquire Asia
Pacific
Most Chief Financial Officers (CFOs)
understand the need to focus on
growing the organisation, but cost still
ends up being their primary responsibility, according to Scott Stavretis, Chief
Executive Officer, Acquire Asia
Pacific. “The largest outlay in most
organisations is labour cost, especially
here in Australia where wage rates are
higher than most countries; for example
the labour in Australia is five times
higher than the Philippines. Labour
arbitrage is a key trend in assisting
organisations in optimising costs and for
most companies, key to surviving
globally,” he says.
Acquire Asia Pacific is a sponsor
company at the marcus evans CFO
Summit 2014, in the Gold Coast,
Australia, 16 - 18 March 2014.
What opportunities do CFOs have to
optimise costs?
CFOs are able to optimise costs within
their departments by looking at ways to
outsource some back and front office
tasks. Functions such as bookkeeping,
accounts payable, financial reporting
can be outsourced. It is a common
misconception that offshoring is limited
to basic data entry type roles. Places
like the Philippines have a 93 per cent
literacy rate and have 470,000 college
graduates each year. This provides us
with a pool of highly qualified talents to
assist organisations with knowledge
type roles like accounting and bookkeeping. CFOs also have a more
strategic role in maintaining the
financial health of their organisation.
process. A call centre is not just for
responding to a customer’s product
enquiry or helping them work their way
through the product list. The customer
must have the good experience so they
will return for repeat purchases.
Outsourcing to an organisation that
lacks a proper sales strategy usually
ends up in a mess, either because of a
compliance issue or because the wrong
contract was struck. They end up
cutting corners and doing everything
they can to close a sale, instead of
focusing on the product they have at
hand.
The key to success is finding the right
partner, one that will ensure the
company’s integrity is held intact. That
is achieved through culture, compliance,
regulatory and customer satisfaction.
CFOs need to find a partner that can
tick all these boxes before they consider
price or location. They must understand
and be a business partner in every
sense of the word. They need to take
their culture and infuse it in the
outsourced call centre’s environment. I
have found that finding a partner that
understands the compliance issues and
the regulatory framework of the
territory and industry is very important.
To do this properly, the outsourcing
partner needs be committed in
delivering global standards at every
aspect of the organisation and by every
employee they employ.
Why should companies focus on
increasing the profitability of
existing customers? Why is that
essential for long-term success and
how can it be done with an outsourced call centre?
We all know that keeping a customer
happy is a lot cheaper than acquiring a
new one. The focus on retention
campaigns is often underutilised in the
Australian marketplace and should be a
priority, if not more of a priority than
the sales campaign. The right partner
will have the skills and experience to
know when and how to engage with
customers to ensure they stay a
repeated customer.
Outsourcing allows organisations access
to professionals, processes, and best
practises garnered from other campaigns that these outsourced call
centres have gained. It is about
outsourcing to an organisation that
understands sales and the sales
Compliance is absolutely key in sales.
Australia is highly regulated when it
comes to telemarketing, so CFOs need
to partner with an organisation that
understands the laws and the hurdles of
the Australian market.
The customer
must have the
right experience
to come back
and purchase
more products
What trends should CFOs prepare
their organisations for?
Their competitors are outsourcing and
offshoring more and more. Australian
organisations are expected to increase
their offshoring functions by 20 per cent
over the next two years. If they do not
move with the pace, they will get left
behind, while their competitors continue
to cut costs. It is the CFO’s responsibility to ensure that costs are under
control and not any higher than their
competitors’ in order to maximise
margins.

2. The
F i nan ce
marcus
evans
N etw o rk
–
Summits group
delivers peer-to-peer information
on strategic matters, professional
trends
and
breakthrough
innovations.
About the CFO Summit 2014
This unique forum will take place at the Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort & Spa,
Australia, 16 - 18 March 2014. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition
or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought
leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event.
The Summit includes presentations on streamlining operations, enabling optimal
efficiency along the value chain, tackling global uncertainty and bolstering financial
performance.
www.cfo-anz.com
Please note that the Summit is a
closed
number
business
of
event
participants
and
the
strictly
Contact
Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits Division
limited.
Tel:
Email:
+ 357 22 849 313
press@marcusevanscy.com
For more information please send an email to info@marcusevanscy.com
All rights reserved. The above content may be republished or reproduced. Kindly
inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com
About Acquire Asia Pacific
Acquire Asia Pacific is one of the leading multinational BPO providers delivering incomparable onshore and offshore solutions to
leading organisations across the globe. The company has evolved into a full scale BPO and outsourced business contact center,
gaining exponential growth every year mainly from client referrals. Today, Acquire employs nearly 4,000 highly trained
professionals and operates state of the art contact centers in Australia and the Philippines.
www.acquireap.com
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss
strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to
individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, case studies, roundtables and one-to-one business meetings.
For more information, please visit: www.marcusevans.com
Upcoming Events
CFO Summit (North America) - www.cfosummits.com
Chief Procurement Officer Summit (North America) - www.cpo-summit.com
To view the web version of this interview, please click here: www.cfo-anz.com/ScottStavretis