Offshoring rarely fails because of geography. It fails because of mindset.
Most leaders approach it as a margin decision. How do we do this cheaper? That framing almost guarantees a short-term outcome. The real shift happens when the question becomes: what should our local team stop doing so they can focus on higher-value work?
Strategy rarely fails on paper. It fails in behaviour. And people issues quietly derail even strong business plans.
If performance conversations feel too hard, if accountability is blurred, if managers are doing the work instead of leading it, offshoring will magnify those cracks. Poor integration creates an “us and them” culture. Tasks get dumped, not designed. No one owns outcomes.
Done poorly, it becomes remote labour.
Done well, it becomes structural leverage.
Offshoring becomes strategic when it improves focus and capability, not just margins.
It is strategic when it gives access to skills that are hard to source locally.
When it creates time zone coverage or capacity that improves service.
When it removes operational load from key leaders so they can think, decide, and grow.
When work is forced to be documented, systemised, and passed cleanly between roles.
Growth breaks structures before it breaks revenue. The model that gets you to 10 or 20 people rarely gets you to 50 or 100. At some point, “everyone does everything” stops working. Decision bottlenecks form. Good people stay busy, but outcomes become inconsistent. Firefighting becomes normal.
This is where external capability can help SMEs operate like larger organisations, without carrying the same fixed cost base.
But only if leaders think differently about resourcing.
Early on, resourcing is survival thinking: who can do this?
At scale, it must become design thinking: what capability do we need, and what is the best way to access it?
Resourcing decisions shift from headcount to capability portfolio. Internal, external, technology. Specialists supported by clear coordinators. Roles designed before people are added.
The sharper question is this:
Are we hiring to reduce today’s pain, or to build tomorrow’s capability?
People risk is business risk. Offshoring, when done deliberately, is not a shortcut. It is a structural decision about how your organisation will scale without burning out the leaders who built it.
If you are reviewing your current structure, I am happy to share a simple diagnostic framework we use with growing SMEs.
By Alexis Guillot from Brainbox
https://brain-box.com.au/
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