Building an Offshore Support Team in the Philippines: Why it makes sense for Hawaii businesses

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Key Takeaways:

• Bridge the talent gap in Hawai‘i – Offshore teams in the Philippines allow Hawai‘i businesses to easily fill open roles—from customer support to IT—without the constraints of the local labor market
• Slash operational costs – Companies can dramatically reduce expenses (by as much as 60–80%) by leveraging lower labor, infrastructure, and recruitment costs while maintaining high skill levels .
• Benefit from time‑zone compatibility – The Philippines can align with Hawai‘i business hours for seamless communication and real-time collaboration during local workdays
• Leverage Filipinos’ strong English and cultural fit – High English proficiency (~70% fluent), neutral accents, and Western cultural adaptability ensure smooth communication and integration with U.S.-based teams
• Scale flexibly and sustainably – Whether you need seasonal support or long-term team growth, BPO providers in Manila offer scalable solutions and HR compliance—reducing legal/admin responsibilities on your end .

Rather than outsourcing, more and more businesses are taking the approach of building custom, dedicated support teams in different countries. This initiative helps them solve critical staffing challenges, reduce cost structure, and create productivity growth, which ultimately leads to their revenue growth and the ability to create more, higher paying, local jobs. The one question that a lot of these companies ask is where should I build my offshore team? Places like India, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are popular amongst mainland companies but for businesses in Hawaii there is only one logical spot: The Philippines. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Roughly 20% of Hawaii is ethnic Filipino – there are a lot of cultural similarities between the two locations making it easier to build a team that aligns with your culture and that of your customers.
2. The Philippines is only a short flight away – an 8-hour flight means you can check on and visit your team quicker than if you traveled to a conference in Orlando. This is much better than building a team in India or Latin America, that can seem like they are worlds away.
3. Access to high levels of talent – The Philippines has been supporting United States companies for over a decade. This means that there are many talented workers with experiences from Ernst and Young, JP Morgan, Accenture, Deloitte, United Healthcare, and so on. It’s often hard to find this type of experience base in the local market.
4. Ability to hire quickly – The Philippines has a large talent pool of people that have experience supporting Hawaii industries. It is quick and easy to hire employees in healthcare, financial services, hospitality, and customer service.
5. Language Skills – In the Philippines, the official language and language of instruction in school is English, thus more than 95% of the population speaks English and a good portion of that speaks it well. The English literacy rate is much better than other locations like India and Latin America.
6. Create more, higher paying local jobs – the current labor market in Hawaii is incredibly tight and businesses simply can’t hire the people they need to grow. By building an offshore team in the Philippines, almost all businesses can fill open positions, reduce cost structure, streamline business processes, and improve their overall productivity. The increase in productivity allows them to create more higher paying jobs (and more attractive) in the local market.

Building an offshore support team in the Philippines can be a fantastic way for Hawaii businesses to supercharge growth. The two are so similar, it is almost the same as a business in Oahu building a team on Maui or the Big Island.

Connext strives to enable the growth of Hawaii businesses by helping them build, train, and manage custom offshore support teams in the Philippines. If you want to learn more about our services, please contact us to set up an appointment with one of our experts.

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