Whether you like it or not, we are now doing business in a boundless world; the Internet has made geographical location irrelevant when it comes to get things done. You can now run a business with dozens of staffs without even a single of them is full-time employee.
Hiring freelancers, partnering with outsourcing companies, and so on – you can even now get things done in the cloud without any physical presence: Just sign up with cloud-based collaboration tool and you can work on projects with team members living on any parts of the world – and get things done with better efficiency and effectiveness.
With all of those being said, if you are looking for which countries you should outsource your business to, I recommend you my home country, Indonesia.
Outsourcing prospects in Indonesia
Indonesia is not all about Bali. We still have many uncovered potential, which includes in the outsourcing arena.
Regardless of could-be-better bureaucracy in setting up a business here, you can actually just outsource a business function or a project without the need to setup a business locally. Just contact the right person or network and you can get started.
Okay – although Indonesia is not India, the outsourcing powerhouse, we do have great talents here. Coupled with lower costs of living and running a business, Indonesia has increasingly becoming the go-to place to establish an office – even moving the head office.
One of the recent highlight is the new regional office of Freelancer.com in Jakarta, Indonesia. Google? Yes – although not their head office here in Jakarta, Indonesia. Multiply social shopping site has even move their head office to Indonesia in early 2012.
Speaking of Freelancer.com – their new logo is the creation of Indonesian designer, the chosen one among many contest participants (prize: $15,000)
With regard to tech skills, let’s say that Indonesia is pretty cloud and social media-savvy. Check these out: Indonesia has the second largest Facebook user counts (#1 is being the US); Indonesia ranks 3rd in cloud computing jobs growth in Asia (after China and India.) Twitter? Indonesia ranked fifth with almost 30 millions Twitter accounts.
What to outsource to Indonesia?
Anything, really – most typically, we have great programmers and coders here (some great hackers are from Indonesia, too!) We also have great web and graphic designer here, too.
With that being said, if your business involves design, technology and social media, particularly web-based, Indonesia is the go-to place.
Issues to consider
If there’s an issue when you outsource to Indonesia, it’s the language. Unlike Philippines, India and Malaysia, Indonesians are not typically a good English speaking country. However, we are slowly starting to embrace English as the second language well – which will make a huge difference for talented people here.
As not many businesses here in Indonesia are offering outsourcing services (Indonesia need more outsourcing companies – compared to Philippines, I honestly think we are way behind) finding great talents need some extra work on your part.
Takeaway
Finding great talents here in Indonesia is a bit trivial. Not that we are lacking of great talents, but we are not as exposed as those in India and Philippines. Using LinkedIn, freelancer sites like Freelancer.com, reviews and recommendations, and so on, you might be able to discover hidden talents coming from Indonesia.
So, how about you – are you ready to outsource to Indonesia?
Ivan Widjaya
Outsourcing to Indonesia