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FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS

General

Will offshoring affect the quality of my work?

Access to expert and capable talent has developed in offshore studios over the last 20 years, and this coupled with savings of up to 80% has propelled the offshore creative production market forward.

69% of businesses who are currently offshoring their production work surveyed in the Global Benchmark Report 2023 reported that they were either very satisfied or satisfied with their offshore provider.

What services are most suited for offshoring?

Services that reside firmly in the “tier 3” category of content production, continue to perform strongly offshore. These services are typically focused on
adaptation, transcreation, localization, resizing, reformatting, re-versioning,
and retouching, and are utilized for local and regional advertising.

Is it “normal” for businesses in the creative industry to offshore their work?

Offshoring creative services has become an essential part of the journey for agencies and brands to stay competitive while having access to flexible resource.

A report released by We Are Amnet and TKM Consultants found that 49% of in-house and external agencies surveyed had been working with an offshore partner for at least four years while 30% have had an offshore partner for between one and three years. 9% of companies have only just embarked on their offshore journey.

I am a small business, can I still benefit?

A business of any size can benefit from offshoring to increase profitability and efficiency, as well as take advantage of access to flexible and scalable resource.

The 2023 State of the Market Report found that 60% of all in-house teams and external agencies surveyed had an offshore partner with 54% looking to offshore more. So, you may run the risk of being priced out of the market if you don’t consider it.

I want to be competitive, can offshoring help me?

For many agencies and brands, offshoring creative production as a resource and services model has been in their DNA for years.

60% of in-house teams and agencies surveyed currently offshore some level of creative production so it’s very likely that your competitors are offshoring too and you may run the risk of being priced out of the market if you don’t consider it.

The results of the report also confirmed:

2023 benchmark report savings stats

What does offshoring mean for the future of my company?

By offshoring, not only will you be keeping up with the competition but you will have the opportunity to accelerate the growth of your business and enhance your competitive edge.

With typical cost savings between 40-70% not only will you capture on-going value for lower cost production, whilst freeing up resources for new value creation but with access to flexible and scalable resources you will benefit from getting your content to market faster and at scale.

What is Smartshoring?

Smartshoring is a more contemporary, progressive and relevant form of offshoring using a hybrid model of in-country teams and offshore expertise, ensuring culture, communication and quality are always on point.

Smartshoring is the most effective use of the best talent wherever they may be so no matter where your campaign, we’ve got you covered globally on any time zone.

Typical challenges that a Smartshoring model addresses include:

• access to flexible resource that can scale
• shorter lead times, multiple time zones covered and overnight work
• significant cost savings
• greater automation and access to the latest technology
• global coverage with a network of production hubs

I need to scale my campaigns, how can you help?

Scaling content can be a challenge and quite often it isn’t always as simple as employing more staff.

That’s why at We Are Amnet we offer a hybrid model of global production studios with in-country client services teams with around 1,200+ highly skilled experts. We work as an extension of your business so you can benefit from producing content faster, at scale, over multiple time zones and with the added benefit of cost savings.

Resource & Technology

My team is highly experienced in their fields, what level of experience and capabilities can you expect when offshoring?

We have a team of 1,200+ highly skilled employees all fully trained up in the latest production, creative and campaign technology.

Whether it’s hand coded HTML 5 banners, drupal content management or the need for an Autodesk Flame edit suite, we have it covered.

Does it mean I should scale down my team?

Offshoring is about working globally and sending specific services to a different team. An offshore partner is an extension of your existing studio, whether that be an agency partner or in-house studio.

It means your current team can spend more time concentrating on their specialisms and developing new service lines or business, whilst your scalable, flexible and low cost offshore team roll out your more mechanical disciplines, including artwork and retouching seamlessly and consistently.

I only need access to flexible resource for holiday cover or during peak times, can I still offshore my projects?

Offshoring is useful for one off, short tasks or any longer term projects and can be completely flexible to suit your needs.

By using the same offshore provider and by incorporating regular skill sets and flexible resource into your business, your offshore partner will become familiar with your brand guidelines and ways of working becoming a natural extension of your team.

What technology should I expect from my offshore partner?

Offshore providers should be flexible and plug into existing client technology systems and solutions. However, capability relating to approvals workflow, studio & resource management, project management, digital asset management, campaign management, creative automation, reporting & analytics should also be available for clients to utilise.

I currently use freelancers during busy periods, is there any benefit to Smartshoring with We Are Amnet?

By partnering with We Are Amnet you will be assigned your dedicated account manager who will get a full understanding of your business needs and campaigns, as well as an offshore team that will be familiar with your brand and ways of working. Whereas working with a freelancer you run the risk of having to brief in crucial information on your projects each and every time.

If you use multiple freelancers for different disciplines, the quality and consistency of the work could be at risk.

We Are Amnet offers a suite of different services, and you will also get access to 1,200+ highly skilled staff allowing you to produce more content faster and at scale than a single freelancer would.

Costs

Can offshoring really reduce my costs significantly?

The simple answer is yes. 40-70% cost savings across all services lines is typical when working with an offshore partner.

Multiple commercial models are also often available, from transactional pricing to manage peaks and troughs to fixed employee pricing, where volumes of work are more predictable.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Is offshoring ethical?

Creative production offshoring is not done to avoid taxes or exploit foreign workers but instead to find the right human resource for the right projects.

By Smartshoring you can partner with an organisation which has a fully flexible and legally compliant network already in place which has recently been selected and certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’ meaning you can be sure that you’re working with a company who truly cares about their people.

Management & Global Campaigns

I already have an offshore partner but in a different location, is it easy to move work from one vendor to another?

Yes. Due to the expertise and size/scale of We Are Amnet, we are often asked to pick up overflow work from existing vendors, who may not necessarily have the team available to fulfil a particular brief.

We Are Amnet offer a full service, from not only providing deep expertise in advertising services (digital, social, video, motion) but also packaging (artwork, retouching, CGI), corporate communications and web/app development.

How will I be able to manage a team in another country?

Digital technology has become embedded in many day to day communications. Covid-19 has accelerated digital communication and the tools used, showing that teams can work effectively remotely, and many workplaces have now embraced a hybrid working or completely remote model.

Managing your offshore team can be as easy as connecting with your colleagues in your home city and with the evolution of Smartshoring you can communicate with your in-country dedicated account manager to manage your day to day relationships for you.

How will I handle the cultural and language differences?

Smartshoring ensures that your account manager will be in your own country and time zone, mitigating any risk of cultural misunderstandings.

Will the time difference hamper a project?

Offshoring teams are fully flexible and can change their working hours to suit yours. However, differing working hours can be beneficial to meet global deadlines.

If you need some urgent re-touching done for a tight deadline the following day, with our Smartshoring team, not only can we liaise with you on the project in your own time zone but we can also get the work fulfilled overnight and in another time zone for you meaning your project can be ready for sign off
the next day.

I do a lot of overseas campaigns, can you help me with transcreation and localisation?

Delivering on brand consistency while ensuring language, compliance and local variations are always fulfilled is a major offering of our creative production services. Translation and localisation can be a complicated task, therefore we carry out robust quality checks, ensuring suitability for all digital and print outputs.

Getting Started

How do I begin my offshoring journey?

Ultimately starting your offshore journey is all about trust, and putting your trust in a new partner can be daunting.

To mitigate any risk, carefully selecting the right partner is crucial for a successful relationship and ROI.

Assessing a company’s experience, capability, transition strategy, pricing, operations, technology and sustainability are the initial steps in finding an offshore partner.

For continued success, rigorous SLAs, future thinking, shared values and innovation are imperative and we believe the following points are essential:

• Plan & lay the foundations
• Select the right partner & model
• Define the ROI & what success looks like
• Build the relationship & effective on-boarding

Can I do a trial before moving to live work?

Before moving to live work we always recommend you trial a project with We Are Amnet so you can experience the talent first hand and ensure the result is up to your expectations.

Want to explore your options? Get in touch