Quality Offshore Teams Based on Quality Results, Not Just Price – with Rodney Frost of Integrated OS

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek is joined by Rodney Frost, Group CEO at Integrated OS. He’s been co-running Integrated OS for 18 years now. 

Rodney talks about the origins of his company and gives several pieces of advice for anyone looking to start offshoring. The two also discuss a recent issue of offshore employment in the case of Joanna Pascua. 

Integrated OS

Similar to some other company heads, Rodney actually began his outsourcing firm in answer to a problem his other company was facing. 

“Integrated OS helps companies, primarily in Australia and New Zealand, set up their dedicated teams offshore, in the Philippines primarily. 

We started 18 years ago actually, off the back of our own demand in Australia through a manufacturing company that I run.” 

Eventually they received a lot of referrals through clients, friends, and colleagues, which allowed them to set up a true business. 

Rodney gives plenty of credit to his business partner, Grace Montero, who acts as Country Manager over their Philippine operations. Her daughter Margaux is the company’s General Manager, creating what Rodney terms a “family business, run with family culture and family values.” 

When it came time to choose from which country to base out of, Rodney went through a few options before landing on the Philippines. 

“At the time, I did market research and I went through and met with all the government officials from the Philippines, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam at the time. 

And I decided that the Philippines was definitely the place for us on the basis of culture and language skills, and skills in general.”   

Outsourcing legal and compliance: The Joanna Pascua case

Rodney has some words on the case of Joanna Pascua, a Filipina virtual worker whose recent experience may become more relevant to the industry as time goes on. 

“It’s a remarkable case that probably hasn’t got enough airtime. [Joanna] was working solely for one organization in Australia as a paralegal. 

For some reason, her company decided to part ways with her overnight. She then took them to Fair Work in Australia stating she should have been considered as an employee in Australia. And she won that case.” 

Rodney believes that this “left a massive amount of risk for anyone who’s trying to employ directly from Australia, anywhere around the world, really.” 

“It’s definitely a big line in the sand as far as what’s allowed and what’s not.” 

The result was that the company had to put up a lot of back pay, facing quite an expensive setback. 

However, Rodney says that this is why it pays to partner with an offshoring firm instead of trying to find international talent by yourself. 

“The solution is either a BPO or an Employer of Record, someone like us who really takes on that legal risk and handles all of those government benefits and entitlements to make sure everything’s rigid edge.” 

Building trust and culture 

Rodney comments on what Derek calls the “subscription-based” expectations that many clients seem to have nowadays. In this day and age, people sign up for a service, then immediately cut it off at the slightest gaffe. 

“It’s great that people are making it easy to get started, but there’s probably not enough understanding as to the amount of work that needs to go in, or costs to make sure that the team works. 

If you want a really great culture with great retention, then you don’t want to just turn someone on and off like a tap.” 

At the heart of it is understanding the people behind these roles. 

“We know there’s a significant cost saving. We know we can find talent at the right price. It’s gonna save a lot of money. But what’s important is how we make this work, and make sure it works really seamlessly.” 

This mentality is not just practiced within their company culture, but also reflects how Integrated OS treats its clients. 

“I think the keyword is trust. This is a business of trust. 

No matter what we spend on online marketing, still 95% of our growth has come from referrals, and it comes from just being honest.” 

You can visit Integrated OS’s website to learn more and get in touch with their team. 

If you’d like to ask us anything, send us an email at [email protected].