5 Ways to Pick an E&C Outsourcer with Real World Experience

We all want to be understood—and in engineering and construction projects, it’s crucial. You want an E&C outsourcing agency that gets your world—so you need to pick a company that brings real, onsite experience to your business. So how do you know who to trust? Here’s how to spot an E&C outsourcing agency with real world experience:

1. Culture is King

Your teams are the heart of your business. While all outsourcing companies provide staff, most don’t focus on creating solutions that take the community into account.  Onsite experience teaches how important a sense of togetherness can be—your team members become your family. You’re in it together.  Here’s a simple question that can filter out the wrong outsourcing companies: Do they really take the time to get to know your company culture?  An E&C experienced agency will understand, extend and add value to your culture—not ignore it. 

2. Work Big, Think Small

When you’re executing large-scale E&C projects, you know every staff member counts. You see how each part is critical to the whole. Outsourcing companies without E&C experience just can’t grasp the enormity—they don’t get that every single role is integral to overall success. They won’t understand that a small mistake —say in data entry—can cost millions once the workers arrive onsite. An E&C experienced agency will take great care finding the right fit for the role–because they get the magnitude of your project and appreciate how each team member works to achieve it.

3. Beware the ‘YES’

Getting a ‘yes’ to every request might seem great—until an agency struggles to deliver. You want a staffing solutions company you can trust 100% to follow through on every promise. An open conversation exploring needs and fit can be more important than a quick ‘yes’.  It’s inevitable that complexities will arise on any job—so it’s better to discuss potential pitfalls and set realistic expectations upfront than fail to deliver on unrealistic promises.   An E&C experienced agency brings future-proof thinking to the table. You’ll be amazed at the time and money you’ll save on mistakes.

4. Look for Innovators – Not Robots

You want staff who can think for themselves, so you don’t always want to hear ‘yes’ in your teams either. An agency that provides staff with global experience understands that innovation happens when you bring a diversity of perspectives and ideas together.  Globally-minded, innovative staff will show initiative, leverage their expertise, and build a shared path forward. That’s who you want in your idea sessions and big decisions. An E&C experienced agency will bring global teams together with innovation at their core—because they know that’s how you produce something truly unique.

5. Steer Clear of Red Tape

No one wants to navigate a maze of red tape when they need to get a job done. Outsourcing agencies that hide behind layers of SLAs and paper shuffling are a headache to work with.  They flatter a company’s internal structure, the easier it is for them to  be responsive to your needs and agile in their response.  An outsourcing agency with onsite experience will know that being bogged down by bureaucracy only makes things harder—a frontline mentality is as good as gold. 

Get in touch today to book a confidential call with our co-founders Kim Lombardi and John Rodgers.

Cybalink Solutions E-Book Link

If you are considering outsourcing, start your journey today with this e-book.

Click here to download!

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Discover how Cybalink Solutions can help you achieve up to a 70% overhead reduction through our Philippine outsourcing solutions. Let's explore how to optimize your operations, lower costs, and increase margins.

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Being There Matters: How Firsthand Experience Shapes Great E&C Outsourcing

Experience shapes us. That’s a big fact of life—so what does it mean for Cybalink? Cybalink co-founder Kim Lombardi knows engineering and construction firsthand—and believes that experience shapes everything that gives Cybalink its outsourcing edge.

“I started out 18 years ago at Sons of Gwalia. Being sent onsite was a total baptism by fire. I really grew up there, because I had to. Then I moved to Monadelphous. It was a long time ago—I remember being the first woman manager in my division”.

“We did it tough back then, we learnt and made some mistakes. We were measuring success by hours clocked at desks. We relied on manual systems and a patchwork of sticky notes. I could understand where that came from, but after moving into an innovation role, I could see that there were better ways”.

Kim describes three key insights that shape Cybalink:

In It Together

“When you work away from home—whether it’s FIFO or just remote—it’s demanding. You miss family and normal life. But something happens between people onsite. A bond grows. You rely on each other and make your own fun together—from improvised summer Olympics to outdoor movie nights, it’s all about camaraderie. You’re just in it together”.

Kim sees that same spirit in her teams at Cybalink. “Our people work as an extension of a client’s culture—just like they would onsite”.

Recreating a feeling of camaraderie is the cornerstone of Cybalink’s approach—and means building long-term and meaningful partnerships with clients.

Being in it together is an ethos that runs through Cybalink’s culture. “We create alignment, we build a shared path forward—so our teams are absolutely in it together with our clients”.

Size Matters

To outsiders—like normal outsourcing companies—the sheer scale of the engineering and construction sector is hard to fathom, says Kim.

“The magnitude is epic. The teams are mammoth. We’re talking about maybe supplying the minerals that run entire nations. The coordination and logistics work on a scale that normal HR and outsourcing just can’t compute”.

When you have national recruiting experience like Kim—mobilising over 2,000 people a month—you know that from the macro to the micro, coordination and logistics is everything.

It takes a village to pull off a job at that scale. A small mistake can cost millions in delays, so from data entry to general manager, from admin to procurement—every role is mission critical.

Just Do It

“We think like frontline people to understand the urgency of client needs”, says Kim. “If they need an estimator tomorrow, we have to be responsive enough to deliver on that”.

Other companies like to hide behind red tape and SLAs. Cybalink doesn’t. They’ve built their structure as flat as possible to avoid bureaucracy and get the job done. As Kim says, “We need to be flexible enough to respond quickly and think on our feet”.

For Cybalink, that translates into an ironclad commitment to delivery. “We aim to deliver 100% on every promise, on every timeline. And if the slightest change becomes inevitable, we communicate.”

The spirit of ‘Just do it’ is nurtured in Cybalink’s teams, who understand when to challenge—and how to innovate. Their global experience means they know how to take initiative and leverage their expertise—from the idea sessions to the big decisions.

“Our clients don’t want robots,” says Kim, “They want innovators—they want team members who add real value and deliver what they promise—and that’s our promise to clients”.

 


Get in touch today to book a confidential call with our co-founders Kim Lombardi and John Rodgers.

 

Cybalink Solutions E-Book Link

If you are considering outsourcing, start your journey today with this e-book.

Click here to download!

 

Ready to Transform Your Business?

Discover how Cybalink Solutions can help you achieve up to a 70% overhead reduction through our Philippine outsourcing solutions. Let's explore how to optimize your operations, lower costs, and increase margins.

Book a free consultation!