Chris Rolls is a serial entrepreneur and is considered one of the most influential people in the Australian Real Estate industry. In a recent interview, Chris discusses using outsourcing as a growth strategy for Australian businesses, and why he chose Cloudstaff as an investment for the Real Estate Industry Venture Capital Fund.
Chris Rolls, the Managing Director of PieLAB Venture Partners, believes that the key to success in any industry is to learn from others who have succeeded. He recently spoke to us about choosing Cloudstaff as his outsourcing partner during his time as founder and CEO of Rental Express, which he grew to become the largest property management company in Queensland.
PieLAB Venture Partners operates the Real Estate Industry Venture Capital Fund, which has strategic investors from the Real Estate industry as partners. They invest in businesses that provide products and services to the Real Estate industry.
In the following article by Chris, he shares some of his industry insight and talks about his relationship with Cloudstaff, and outsourcing in general.
I believe, irrespective of the company size, a Real Estate business will need to answer three questions if they want to promote healthy growth and future-proof their business:
- How can the company reduce costs?
- How can the company utilise technologies to drive organisational efficiencies?
- What other sources of income can the company consider to generate revenue?
The recently completed Series A funding by PieLAB provides a vehicle for Cloudstaff to deliver specialised outsourcing solutions to the Real Estate industry. These services can be leveraged to help address these three points of focus.
PieLAB invested in Cloudstaff because we have seen the full potential of outsourcing finally realised. Due to the internal systems and technologies that Cloudstaff has developed, employing people remotely has become more accessible.
Cloudstaff has developed software to manage the difficult aspect of scaling its staff. The biggest challenge when operating an outsourcing company is how to properly handle thousands of staff. They have developed systems and processes that have removed the challenge of rapid scaling.
The ability to attract good quality candidates with the necessary knowledge and capability is another important aspect. Cloudstaff has a very unique culture that makes it a very desirable place to work. They work hard to provide a really enjoyable, family-friendly workplace. This “Cloudstaff Culture” helps them attract and keep the very best staff. They also focus heavily on promoting personal and professional development of the entire Cloudstaff workforce. These are the things you need to consider when choosing an outsourcing partner.
For us, outsourcing isn’t just about saving money. Cloudstaff has become a vital part of our growth strategy. Cloudstaff has allowed us to focus on delivering an outstanding experience for our customers.
Managing offshore staff can be challenging. The lack of personal office contact creates a need for more structured communication and transparency, but we think the secret to successful outsourcing is selecting an outsourcing partner that could grow with us, and one that is able to manage our offshore team in the same manner as we would manage our Australian staff.
There is always going to be an organisation that can provide you with labour at a cheaper rate than the one that you’re looking at today, and like any product or service, what you pay for is what you get.
Any Real Estate agency can achieve great results by having an outsourcing partner that has successful experience in the industry. The Cloudstaff management team, account managers, and senior executive teams really understand the process of outsourcing, specifically to Australian organisations.
Any business wanting to utilise the competitive advantage of outsourcing should speak to people that are successfully doing it already, and if possible, visit the prospective outsourcing partners to take a look at their processes and their day-to-day operation.
One of the big internal factors that led us to choose Cloudstaff is that they have a very unique culture within the organisation. In fact, they preach that they’re the Number One Workplace in the Philippines and I would argue that is correct.
Also read: A partnership for innovation