Head of Operations Annette O'Neil is about to get on a plane. Her task: was to set up Clearview's first overseas office. The place: Manchester, England.
Are you one of those folks who're scratching their head and thinking "uh…England? Why not London?" Well then. Pull up a chair and let us brew you a strong, Northern cuppa, my friend. There are several good reasons we're setting our roots in the North, and Annette's about to tell you why we're walking straight into the champagne supernova of startup culture that is Manchester.
Interviewer: Okay, let's start at the beginning. If Clearview is a fully remote company, why do you need to, like, find another office? Isn't that a lot of work for not a lot of return?
Annette: You know what, it is a lot of work. I'm already spinning with the paperwork and taxes I've already had to do, and there's plenty more to come.
Even with that said, the fact is that, even in a theoretically location-agnostic field, location is still everything. We've been around long enough as a fully remote company to know that in-person stuff isn't necessary all the time but it is important — with clients, with prospective business, and with each other as a team of, like, actual human people. It's an investment of time and resources, but we're confident in the importance of that investment.
We have a growing family of developers in Europe. Even our CTO is based in Sarajevo. We're looking to take on more developers from this region, as well as South Africa, within the next year. Having a place that's reasonably convenient for all of the above to meet up and collaborate that feels like "home turf" is going to be golden. Also, a home base in Manchester will mean that I will be leading operations from a friendlier time zone.
We're also looking directly at growing the business in the greater European region. Since software development — especially, ecosystem — projects are often complex, long-tailed, variable, and critical to the client's strategic future, the communication channels between client and developer have to be strong and cohesive. Presence in the UK provides a spatial platform to facilitate that connection.
Interviewer: Why now? With COVID and Brexit, isn't this a weird time to be setting up shop in the UK?
Annette: Actually, with all that's going on, we think Clearview can offer a lot more value right now in the UK than ever before. We're actively moving to expand into the growing market for software ecosystem development that's been engendered by the twin digital-driving phenomena of COVID and Brexit. We're betting that a physical presence in the heart of Manchester's rapidly expanding tech hub will provide a growth-rich springboard from which to generate new business, while our inherently remote nature will serve clients across much wider geography as Britain's geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape changes.
We're reasonably sure that the soil is only going to get richer in the UK for elite staff aug businesses like ours. Globally, KPMG predicts something like a 41% increase in the use of offshore/nearshore for IT application maintenance and development by 2021 — squarely in our wheelhouse. The UK is currently the world's second-largest market for ITO outsourcing as well as Europe's top-scaling tech nation. Globally, it's second only to the U.S. and capturing a little over 5% of the world's market share. And it's going to need to extend its digital reach even further to clear the twin COVID/Brexit hurdle. We want to be there when that happens.
Even if the current climate constricts the astronomic growth the tech space has been seeing in the past handful of years, there will be plenty of room for a lean, powerful outfit like Clearview to grow.
Interviewer: Clearview isn't marketing on price. Won't clients be looking for the cheapest possible option right now?
Annette: The idea that outsourcing development and engineering is only done for cost is a 2000's thing, actually. Sure, cost optimization is still an important criterion for outsourcing, but companies don't make decisions based on that — certainly not rising tech stars. Right now, the surveys are crystal clear that cost-cutting isn't even in the top five reasons firms reach for ITO.
Software outsourcing companies are no longer seen as mercenary pinch-hitters — like they were when Clearview started 16 years ago. Today, companies see outsourced developers as strategic business partners who can help grow their business and enhance their market reputation. Firms reach to the world's talent to inject their business processes with innovation, to build more diverse thinking into their teams, and to enjoy access to IT specialists with the specialized experience and expertise that they've sorely needed but been unable to find closer to home.
Sure, the business landscape of the UK is going to change. Amid the unfolding uncertainty around how the COVID-19 crisis and Brexit will affect the business landscape of the UK, agility, efficiency, and efficacy will be key. Over the course of the past decade, we've learned that, when executed well, disruptive outsourcing has the ability to transform the way organizations operate. They become more agile, efficient, and effective. For a company like Clearview, the UK is a slam dunk as far as places to be, now as much as ever.
Interviewer: That's the UK in general — but why Manchester specifically?
Annette: The northwest of England offers a perfect intersection of lower operating costs and a high concentration of opportunity. And to put it a little more clearly, Manchester is a unicorn farm. Greater Manchester is Europe's fastest-growing major tech cluster, with investment increasing 277% since 2018.
As well as being home to a fast-growing £5 billion digital ecosystem, "Manc" is now officially the UK's Top Digital Tech City, and it's going full gladiator with the explicit ambition to become a top-five European digital city and global influencer. Something like 10,000 digital and tech businesses call Manc home, and lots of them need Clearview, either now or soon. These include everything from startups and SMEs to global brands, among them Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco, as well as a whole mess of homegrown unicorns with an IPO above $1 billion. The pipeline of prospective billion-dollar-valued firms is healthy and growing in the north, general global uncertainty be damned.
Clearview wants to be poised in person to capture that market. After all, our business is built on close, long-term partnerships with rapidly scaling businesses. We honestly can't think of a better fit.
Also: the office is right across the water from Manchester United. I think we'll have to keep face paint under the desks.
Interviewer: Glory glory indeed.