44% Resource Cost Reduction on Offshore Transition — By Sizing Work Before Moving It
A US asset manager focused on managing retirement savings for not-for-profit institutions, with over $1 trillion in assets under management.
The offshore transition was planned at 1:1 — without any data on how much capacity was actually needed
The organization was in the middle of transitioning onshore work to their captive offshore teams. The plan was straightforward: for every onshore FTE removed, add one offshore FTE. This achieved labor arbitrage savings, but leadership had no real understanding of how many FTE were truly needed to complete the work being moved.
Existing reporting was limited to volume counts — number of transactions processed, number of accounts managed. There was no visibility into individual productivity, process cost, cost-to-serve by location, or workload by task type. The offshore team’s actual performance was unmeasured, and the work slated for transition had never been properly sized.
The risk was significant: a 1:1 replacement ratio could either overstuff the offshore team (wasting the cost savings that motivated the move) or understuff it (creating SLA risk). Without operational data, leadership was making a multi-million-dollar workforce decision on assumptions alone.
- Offshore productivity visibilityNoneHigh
- Work sizing for transitionUnquantifiedHigh
- Daily friction per FTE28 minMedium
- Cost-to-serve by locationUnknownHigh
The 1:1 replacement ratio would have overspent by 44% — because offshore productivity gains were invisible
Bramble’s baseline revealed that the planned 1:1 onshore-to-offshore replacement ratio was significantly overestimating the headcount needed. By measuring actual offshore productivity (rather than assuming parity with onshore), sizing the work being transitioned, and accounting for the labor cost differential, Bramble showed that the refined offshore strategy would save $4.1M annually — 44% of the budgeted labor cost. Additionally, the offshore team reported 28 minutes of friction per FTE per day, predominantly from workload misallocation, which was immediately addressable.
From assumption-based offshoring to data-driven workforce strategy
Bramble provided the operational data that transformed a blunt 1:1 headcount replacement into a precision-sized transition — saving millions while improving offshore performance.
Establish Baseline
Bramble integrated with Electra to build a productivity and workload baseline across the fund accounting and investment operations teams — measuring performance by individual, task, and location for the first time.
Size & Optimize
The baseline revealed that offshore teams were experiencing 28 minutes of friction per FTE per day — mostly workload misallocation and downtime. This was immediately remedied, producing a 12% productivity lift. Work slated for offshoring was properly sized against actual capacity.
Inform the Transition
The refined offshore strategy replaced the 1:1 assumption with data-modeled headcount requirements. Cost-to-serve per custodian was calculated at $62.50, giving leadership granular visibility into pricing models and operational economics for the first time.
Results measured from the deployment
These are measured outcomes — not projections. Real operational improvements delivered through Bramble.
“The engagement was a great experience. It certainly taught us how to view our work much more operationally.”
See where your operations are losing capacity — before you move them
We’ll map your operational workflows, measure productivity by location, and size the work — so your offshore transition is driven by data, not ratios.
For COOs, VP Operations, and Transformation Leaders.