Expertise, Bermuda’s largest management consulting and outsourcing company, plans to open an office in the Philippines this summer, The Royal Gazette can reveal.The new office, which will be based in the capital Manila and is expected to open by the beginning of August, will provide payroll services initially but will also support the outsourcing of other back office functions by the end of the year.The company anticipates having three to four employees working in the new office by the end of this year with room for expansion.“Building an outsourcing platform in Manila will enable us to provide a higher level of service at more competitive rates,” said Doug Soares, the company’s founding partner.“Last year our payroll business stopped growing and we started to lose business to overseas service providers offering payroll at lower prices.“So opening an office in Manila will help us retain our current client base as well as provide us with the opportunity to grow because we know there is increased demand at a lower price point.“This will also enable us to provide the same high level of service and local knowledge at a lower price than we have previously been able to offer.”Expertise currently processes approximately 40 payrolls for 35 organisations of up to 200 employees.“We chose the Philippines because the workforce is highly educated, the infrastructure is world class, and the cost structure is favourable,” said Mr Soares.Mr Soares confirmed that no jobs would be lost as a result of the opening of the Manila office. Expertise currently employs approximately 40 staff, including HR consultants, recruitment and immigration specialists, payroll managers and accountants.Many of the world’s biggest business processing outsourcing companies are located in Manila and Mr Soares said that there was a very real possibility that Expertise would tap into the local recruitment market there, particularly with the growing number of professions in which Filipinos occupy positions in Bermuda from hospitality to nursing, accountancy and other professional services, with the ability to screen potential candidates there first.“Our Bermuda-based payroll team will continue to interface with the clients and review the work of our Manila operation,” he said.“So in the long run we expect our client service team in Bermuda to grow as more companies outsource to us functions which we can perform faster and more economically than they or anyone else can.The time difference between Bermuda and the Philippines is plus 11 hours and Mr Soares believes it will give the company a competitive advantage, with clients who submit data to them by the end of the business day having the work processed by the next morning.“Our operation in Manila will enable us to perform much of tomorrow’s work today,” he said.