National advice firm Invest Blue is demonstrating how strategic outsourcing can unlock business growth while enabling advisers to focus on what matters most: clients.
Invest Blue has partnered with Vital Business Partners (VBP) to leverage offshore teams for back-office tasks such as paraplanning, financial planning administration, bookkeeping, and mortgage broking administration. This approach allows advisers to dedicate more time to high-value activities and strengthen client relationships.
Managing Director David Stephen explains:
“We were a business founded remotely. Whether my admin team was in Rockhampton or in Cebu or Manila, it didn’t matter. We were used to working that way. Outsourcing has enabled our advisers to focus on delivering advice, while our offshore team handles the administrative load.”
Since adopting outsourced services in 2015, Invest Blue’s workforce has grown from 11 offshore staff and 35 onshore to 190 offshore and 310 onshore, maintaining a consistent 30–33% offshore ratio. This growth has empowered onshore staff to focus on higher-level client engagement and leadership roles, supported by offshore teams managing operational tasks.
“As we create new onshore roles, we support them with offshore roles,” Stephen says. “This allows people to grow into the highest roles they can while offshoring administrative elements.”
Invest Blue currently serves 14,500 clients, with long-term ambitions to grow to 60,000 and expand offices into every Australian city and town with a population over 50,000. Advisers’ client capacity has also increased from 180 to 230 clients per adviser, thanks to efficiency gains from outsourcing.
“Our purpose is to empower Australians to live their best possible lives,” Stephen explains. “Outsourcing allows us to provide more advice to more Australians. It has been critical to building a business of significant scale and impact.”
This article first appeared on the Money Management website.