Author: Ahmet Salim ACUNER, CEO Advisor

“ In the last months we have received some BOT demands from some large enterprises especially from Europe and we had several negotiations with them. Below we want to share with our followers our impressions regarding the concerns, feelings and the alternative searches of any CEO of any enterprise in case of expanding their production into other countries.”

As the CEO of the company, I believe, I was looking to be very anxious just coming out of the board meeting. That was not in fact usually the case.

The task forwarded to me by the board had disturbed me a lot.

“ Building of a SW development center in country X for the new order received.”

I am not against the decision of the board, I fully agree that it is the right approach to execute this project with maximum customer satisfaction and satisfactory financial results.

Although I am being percepted as a cool, hardworker CEO; however the reason of my anxiety was the feeling that I won’t be able to carry the additional load of this new task anymore. I am already heavily loaded and under stress, I am a single person, I can’t do everything myself, I prefer to spend my time for some new, very promising opportunities under negotiation.

After some internal debates, I came to the decision to get the opinions of my colleagues responsible for business development and investment that relaxed me a lot.

The outcome of the brainstorming was to build this SW development center using a BOT business development model.

What we had to do as a first step, was to prepare a comprehensive set of requirements describing the project and including the BOT rules, to select the best outsourcing partner among the candidates. The winning partner would be assigned with the task to build the team, operate it and transfer it to our company after the specified time and conditions.

I want to give you below the benefits which have been determined during the brainstorming session and which we expect to get their earnings after the successful realisation of the BOT process:

1. Lowers the time spenditure and stress level of the CEO: Time of the CEO is money; the CEO will have the chance to spend more time to the promising new opportunities with less stress and more focus that means money. Selection of an experienced outsourcing partner will enable the investor to manage, set up, and administer operations locally, at the same time minimizes risks – especially when entering into a new country. No doubt, it is a win-win cooperation.
2. Saves cost: The market researches show that the model in most cases cuts down the costs as much as 50-60% since the project and the team is owned, managed, and operated by an offshore group. The money saved can then be used as a new investment or for employing more talented resources or for further qualification of the employees.
3. Minimizes risks: The outsourcing partner understands the conditions of the country better. Hence, they are already often prepared for possible problems that could happen during the time it is employed to set up the team. They can take early and quick measures.
4. Eases the logistics: The outsourcing partner with its Human Resources, Finance & Accounting, Procurement, Administration, IT, Marketing, Legal departments and via its network in the country will realise cost effective procurements when it comes to hiring, finding office space, and other things. The administration of the whole team will be under the responsibility of the local partner.
5. Makes the resources ready: The team will be trained and adapted as the company initiates the transfer, so the team will be ready to further continue the project without any interruption.
6. Can scale rapidly: Free time acquired by the company while the outsourcing partner takes care of other matters, will enable the company to rapidly scale the operations through an expanded array of service offerings, which in turn fills up gaps in the business model.
7. Can increase the interest in new technologies: Addition of new experienced resources, may render the idea pool bigger. This can direct the company to new, innovative technologies without the full individual involvement of the CEO, as just it was a natural behavior of the company.
8. Helps put the product on market faster: Increasing the development centers in different time zones, may give the chance to continuously develop 24/7 hours with a good synch-management resulting to faster market introduction and also to the minimization of country risks.

We have already started the process, I feel very comfortable of being sure that the company will get all the benefits mentioned above. I recommend this magic BOT model to all CEOs who intend to extend their production in other countries.