Tim Mobley of Connext Global Solutions – People and process management through outsourcing
About Connext Global Solutions
Derek Gallimore talks with Tim Mobley, president of Connext Global Solutions. The company provides 24/7 staffing, specialised BPO, and call center solutions to healthcare and real estate businesses in the US.
Tim shares their company structure, on how they manage people and processes alongside their clients. In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, he also shares the company’s experience in working remotely and transition to continue their operations.
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Tim has an interesting array of experience before entering the world of outsourcing. With over 20 years of management experience, including serving as the president of Hawaii’s largest Dental Group and the VP of operations and integrated clinic and hospital, Tim also has marketing role experience at a number of Silicon Valley technology firms.
Connext’s humble outsourcing beginnings
Connext started when a controlling shareholder of a dental group walked into Tim’s office and handed him a book about outsourcing. After doing “a bunch of research,” he went on to quit his job, pursue outsourcing, and ended up partnering with a local title and escrow company. According to Tim, the partnership has proved itself to be a phenomenally good decision for two reasons: (1) It helped with the capital, and (2) It diversified the company’s experience beyond healthcare.
Dealing with people’s skepticism on outsourcing
In his experience, Tim said that the skepticism on outsourcing doesn’t come from the president and chief operating officer – it comes from the office or operations manager. This skepticism stems from two reasons:
- Fear. Tim recognizes that employees’ skepticism on outsourcing is due to the fear that their jobs will be taken. However, he said that most companies are just trying to grow or change their structure, so it doesn’t really result in job losses in the markets at all.
- Doubt. Will it work? Since outsourcing may still be a foreign idea, managers doubt the effectiveness of it. Typically, the managers who will be tasked with implementing it do not have any experience, or their only experience is an unpleasant one with a phone-based representative. Tim said that Connext takes the time to explain what the company is doing and what it’s going to do to address the bad experiences.
For those considering outsourcing but are too hesitant to jump all in, Tim recommends starting small. Start with a repeatable task like accounts payable and customer service, then create your foundation of growth from there.
COVID-19s impact on Connext’s operations
The lockdowns and quarantine restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Connext’s day-to-day operations and proactive business development.
- Day-to-day operations. Tim is proud of what his company has done to transition their operations quickly to a work-from-home (WFH) environment. Connext spent 36 hours driving people and equipment around, and now the company conducts regular virtual meetings “like everyone around the rest of the world.”
- Proactive business development. The pandemic has made Tim realize the importance of a proactive business development. He said that his growing company has hired one person and will hire two more in order to create a proactive business development process.
After the pandemic, Tim stated that it’s either people will outsource more work, or there will be trends towards localism and nationalism. In his personal opinion though, Tim thinks that the growth in outsourcing will continue as a percentage of the total workforce, and those two competing things will be noise to some extent.
Why choose Clark, Pampanga?
Philippines is the top choice for outsourcing, and outsourced firms set up their offices in Metro Manila. Tim, however, decided to set up Connext in Clark, Pampanga, which is about two hours outside of the capital. Why? Here are Tim’s reasons:
- Greener air
- Clark security
- Lower labor costs
- Clark is a happy medium between Manila and Davao
For those who want to get in touch with Tim Mobely, you may reach out via email at [email protected].
Independent
