The turning point was when he needed an experienced person at short notice and the most important consideration was getting the very best person for the role, regardless of where in the world they were based.

“It turned out that this need could only be met through GI Outsourcing and that is why I went down that path.

“Using GI Outsourcing was not about trying to obtain a cost saving, although I am not saying that practices will not get a cost saving – they may well get that.

“That was not what it was about for me. It was about getting the best person for the job at that point in time.”

After talking with GI Outsourcing for some time, Graeme interviewed Triveni, who ultimately became the member of the GI team assigned to the firm.

“I took her on and she is amazing – absolutely amazing. We made her part of the team, so she is in our WhatsApp group, she’s on our website and she’s been in team meetings. We did this to prove that she truly is part of the team and the team love her,” says Graeme.

Having had personal experience of accountancy outsourcing, Graeme knew what some of the reservations from the team would be.

“You have got people worrying about how it affects their career progression, whether we will be recruiting here in the UK again and concerns regarding the standard of the work we would get back as well as the impact of the time difference.

“All I did was listen and answer each of these points,” says Graeme. “We will always want the best person for the job, there can be issues with quality when recruiting in the UK and the time difference can be an advantage as it extends the working day.

“It just took time, so I did not throw Triveni in at the deep end but brought her into different aspect of the job gradually.”

He adds that Triveni’s sister got married recently and he asked her if she would be comfortable sharing some of the pictures with the team.

“She sent the pictures through and seeing the messages go back and forth it felt like she was really part of the team.

“It is lovely that she has got that relationship with the rest of the team and they love her.

“We had to let that relationship evolve, but also manage the team’s expectations about some of the challenges that might arise, many of which we actually avoided in the end.”

Graeme says that it is important that firms let their needs determine whether outsourcing might be right for them, arguing that they need to start from the point of identifying what the ideal person for the job that needs doing might look like on paper.

He says they can then approach GI Outsourcing and see who GI can identify to do the job.

If that person is closer to the ideal candidate than anyone else they can reasonably recruit quickly enough, then outsourcing should be something they consider very seriously.

“People often have reservations about outsourcing, but if they break them down oneby-one they will find that similar issues arise when recruiting in the UK or that they can make
straightforward changes to their processes to make it work,” adds Graeme.

Turning to the future of Tennick Accountants, Graeme says the firm has big plans but that the most important element of the firm’s ambitions is making a difference.

“We want to enjoy doing what we are doing with the people we are doing it for. That is a critical part of what we are about as a firm and we have got big, big plans ahead.”

In reality, Graeme is not a hypocrite as heis not an advocate of outsourcing in and of itself. Instead, he is an advocate of finding the best person for the job – it just so happens
that GI Outsourcing has enabled him to do that.