I arrived at CloudFactory in mid-June, unaware of what to expect, ignorant to the social customs of southern Asia, embarrassingly unversed on the history and traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. I knew that I would make a fool of myself more than once while attempting to integrate myself within a different culture. Such is the life of an international intern. Nevertheless, I boarded my Turkish Airlines’ flight on that surprisingly chilly June evening in Boston, and set off for a summer adventure.
As a marketing intern, most of my time here is spent familiarizing myself with the nuances and solutions of the company, then advertising them in an appealing way to potential clients. This, for me, is primarily done via blog posts. Admittedly, I did not know much of anything about Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), let alone Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) coming into the internship. If we’re being completely honest, when someone said the word ‘outsourcing’ it conjured up images of only overcrowded call-centers in India. This may not have been an accurate or fair take on outsourcing, but nevertheless, it’s what I imagined. I did not know then that it was such a vast and complex industry.
Fortunately, CloudFactory proved to be quite the opposite of my original outsourcing vision. It was the community-based focus that originally attracted me to the internship; wanting to make a genuine impact wherever it lands, CloudFactory seeks to raise up its workers, regardless of where they stand on the corporate hierarchy. In fact, the corporate hierarchy is not actually so hierarchical - CloudFactory has a ‘flat’ office, meaning it wants workers of any level to feel comfortable talking to each other, bouncing around ideas, etc. This is in keeping with the modern tech-start up attitude: innovation, innovation, innovation. Thus, when I wanted to know something about any aspect of the company - solutions, marketing, sales, management, etc. I could simply get up and ask whoever was in charge of it.
In most cases, it is difficult to have a ‘flat’ structured or impact-sourcing-focused BPO company, simply because the workers who complete the tasks are geographically scattered. One worker may never meet another, despite working for the same company, even doing nearly identical tasks. This is not the case with CloudFactory.
As I’ve personally experienced, CloudFactory operates in many ways like a family, with little microcosm families formed within the majority CloudWorker workforce. The headquarters’ family eats lunch together, hangs out after work, and has weekly meetings to discuss character principles and formulate individualized action plans to continue growing personally and professionally. I myself sit across from the CEO of the company, talking about plans for the company and where it is headed, ethical dilemmas, and whatever else comes to mind, despite being a mere marketing intern. Truly, CloudFactory wants to become more than an outsourcing cog in the larger capital machine. It wants to go beyond that and, by doing so, provide more effective and quality solutions to its clients.
The bulk of the workforce are known as ‘CloudWorkers’, and they are led by ‘CloudSeeders’. The CloudWorkers are the main army of workers who complete the tasks, but they themselves do not come into the company offices to work. Instead, they work from their home via internet connection, and complete tasks real-time thanks to our cloud technology. The primary difference, though, is that despite working from home, all the CloudWorkers live in proximity to other CloudWorkers. Whether they live in Nairobi, Pokhara, or Kathmandu, these workers will absolutely know and be friends with other people working for the company. We don’t want them to be strangers, and they are not. Like the corporate office, teams of 5 CloudWorkers meet every week for a 2 hour meeting arranged by their CloudSeeder. They discuss leadership principles, review their results for the previous week, and formulate action plans.
Beyond work, though, everyone who works for CloudFactory benefits from being a part of a close-knit community of people striving for excellence in every facet of their life -- I’ve seen this time and time again while working here. Undoubtedly, the most notable example was the CloudFactory hosted Futsal tournament humorously entitled ‘The Other World Cup’. People from all walks of life, levels of athleticism, and professional experience partook in Saturday afternoon Futsal matches that truly helped to highlight how level the social and professional playing field is within CloudFactory. Whether it was a CloudSeeder going for a slide-tackle against the head of a department, or a young athletic newbie making mincemeat out of an older employee, everyone saw one another as equal, and friendships blossomed as a result.
This is just the beginning of how CloudFactory personalizes its workforce. I’ve seen it firsthand how having a cohesive army of workers at a client’s fingertips can drastically change how they do business - helping them to expand in ways they never imagined before. Truly, everything that CloudFactory does to bring its employees together also works to bring our clients a better product and solution. CloudFactory can become your ‘secret sauce’ to success. We are a family over here, and we are constantly innovating, improving, and adapting to help your company get accuracy at scale.
To learn more about the CloudFactory setup, visit here. To see what solutions CloudFactory offers, click here.
