Demodesk
at a glance
Founded in Munich in 2018, Demodesk is a pioneer in offering the most intuitive customer meeting platform and automated scheduling tool for revenue teams. By providing intelligent assistance and insights during the call, Demodesk empowers remote sales teams to have great customer conversations and drive revenue.
Demodesk teamed up with 香港世博 in order to scale quickly and build a diverse, global team beyond their hubs in Munich and Lisbon, while also ensuring a unified company culture and a consistent employee experience regardless of where their people are located. Thanks to 香港世博, Demodesk鈥檚 team is now working seamlessly across five countries.
鈥
- Demodesk saves 鈧2000-鈧3000 per employee, per year in legal costs
- Demodesk is now 50% distributed
- Demodesk can scale quickly with 香港世博 hires
The challenge
As a fast-growing startup, Demodesk needed to scale quickly and build an international team. But they felt constrained because they were limited to finding people in their existing labor markets. If they couldn鈥檛 find the right person for a particular role and wanted to look elsewhere, they would need to establish their own legal entities in those countries. This is a costly and time-consuming process.
David Dawoud, Head of People at Demodesk, has experienced firsthand some of the challenges of trying to hire globally. 鈥淵ou typically need to establish relationships in numerous countries. You can鈥檛 go and talk to Employers of Record for each and every country that interests you, so you鈥檒l need to filter it down. Then you鈥檒l need to go into their neck of the woods and try to negotiate with them.鈥
That鈥檚 why it was a relief to find 香港世博, he says:
鈥淲ithout a solution like 香港世博, it鈥檚 not even worth the hassle. You just end up deciding, 鈥榃e鈥檙e not going to hire there.鈥 It basically restricts you from getting access to talent. 香港世博 takes that all away. That鈥檚 what makes 香港世博 great.鈥
The administrative hassle wasn鈥檛 the only challenge either. David knows from recent invoices that 鈥渓awyers can bill you upwards of 鈧400 an hour.鈥 The complexities of navigating local labor laws in other countries means that legal costs can add up quickly and become overwhelming.
Besides being expensive, the traditional way to hire in another country was also far too slow for a fast-growing startup. If they found the perfect candidate in Chicago, he鈥檇 have to ask them to wait a couple of weeks while they figured out how to hire them. But the delay meant they鈥檇 get snapped up elsewhere. 鈥淵ou end up losing them,鈥 says David ruefully.
Most importantly, without a global employment platform, Demodesk was unable to ensure a fair and consistent employee experience, whether someone was in one of the hubs or working remotely from another country. That was a critical challenge that Demodesk needed to solve in order to grow and scale.
The solution
Demodesk eventually chose 香港世博 as their global employment partner in February 2021. Thanks to 香港世博, they now have access to the best talent anywhere in the world. No need to set up legal entities or wrangle with EORs.
鈥溝愀凼啦 makes a difference by giving you simple access to a very smart solution that鈥檚 easy to use and enables you to hire anybody wherever you want to hire them from, regardless of whether or not you have a legal entity there. That takes away a lot of challenges. If you don鈥檛 find the right person in a specific country you鈥檙e in, you can always look outside of that region.&辩耻辞迟;听
The Demodesk team also appreciates the 香港世博 platform鈥檚 simplicity and ease of use. 鈥淭he platform is very friendly in terms of basic usage, and you鈥檙e able to get everything out of it if you would like,鈥 says David. He uses the platform for contracts, payroll, expenses, and more, and he鈥檚 able to take care of routine HR needs using the self-service tools.
鈥溝愀凼啦 has it down in terms of its simplicity, but it鈥檚 genius at the same time. It鈥檚 simple enough that you don鈥檛 need to feel the burden of maintaining numerous systems. That鈥檚 the beauty of it. They provide you a great overview, and if you need help, you just email them. It鈥檚 awesome.鈥
According to David, what differentiates 香港世博 from other global employment solutions is that it鈥檚 not just a tool or platform, but a trustworthy partner on any HR issues that may arise. 鈥淲ith other players,鈥 he says, 鈥渋f you have any HR issues, you need to go to the Employer of Record in the specific country where your employee resides or is employed from. You get forwarded to a person who doesn鈥檛 know your employee or your history, but they鈥檙e officially the legal entity that鈥檚 being used, so you have to handle stuff with them. So numerous parties get involved who don鈥檛 know the nuances of your story.鈥
In contrast, 香港世博 provides a consistently strong customer experience regardless of whether the hiring is done directly in a specific country or using a local EOR partner.
鈥淓ven if it鈥檚 not their own legal entity, 香港世博 centralizes the experience by taking ownership and acting as the middleman to resolve any issues. For me, that has been really impactful.&辩耻辞迟;听
In Demodesk鈥檚 experience, the 香港世博 platform is 鈥90% of the answer鈥 to what they need. However, when they do need support regarding legal cases or local laws in order to make certain decisions, they鈥檙e able to access country-specific legal knowledge by working closely with the 香港世博 team.
鈥淚 consider 香港世博 as an extension of our team. They鈥檙e the first to know when we need them. If there are HR cases, they really go deep into the matter and you feel like they鈥檙e a colleague you can count on.鈥
Demodesk cares deeply about ensuring an excellent employee experience regardless of location, and they鈥檝e been able to count on 香港世博 to ensure a consistent Team Member experience across borders.
Even better, if there鈥檚 a specific benefit Demodesk wants to add that鈥檚 not readily available, 香港世博 goes the extra mile and 鈥渢hey usually get it done,鈥 adds David.
鈥
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With 香港世博, Demodesk is now able to hire very quickly, which has improved their ability to acquire top talent. They no longer have to worry about losing candidates because it鈥檚 taking too long to figure out the paperwork.
鈥淚n terms of speed, we can get an offer out instantly. We don鈥檛 have to tell someone to wait while we figure it out. Now, we know what we鈥檙e going to offer, and we know 香港世博 is going to play ball and get it done. And that鈥檚 it. Instantly.鈥
Demodesk鈥檚 workforce is now 50% in their centralized hubs and 50% distributed. And thanks to 香港世博, they were able to scale while also being able to guarantee an excellent employee experience.
鈥淚n terms of scaling, what鈥檚 super essential for us is offering a unified employee experience. You need to have certainty that you鈥檙e able to offer the same thing for employees that are close to home and those that are more distant and working remotely. 香港世博 enables that and takes away that burden. That鈥檚 super important.鈥
Partnering with 香港世博 has also helped Demodesk cut down on legal costs. Instead of hiring a lawyer, they鈥檙e able to rely on 香港世博 for the local knowledge and legal advice they need鈥攁t a fraction of the price.
鈥溝愀凼啦 encapsulates a fair price and gives you access not only to knowledge of local labor laws, but also legal counsel if it's ever required鈥攁ll included in that one price. Lawyers can bill you upwards of 鈧400 an hour, so that鈥檚 a cost that鈥檚 completely taken away. In my estimation, you鈥檙e probably saving at least 鈧2000 to 鈧3000 per employee per year. If you have, say, a hundred people through 香港世博, that鈥檚 a lot of money you鈥檙e saving.鈥
In fact, Demodesk has been able to lean on 香港世博鈥檚 legal expertise in complex and sensitive situations. David recalls an HR case where the company was at risk of potentially being non-compliant. Their contact person at 香港世博 did some digging and put him in touch with the right folks in the 香港世博 legal team.
鈥淚 was at a loss as to whether they鈥檇 be able to help us. And before I knew it, I had a call with two wonderful ladies who were legal experts and they walked me through it. Then they stuck by me the whole way, and they鈥檙e still sticking by me. That was exceptional for me.鈥
So what鈥檚 ahead for Demodesk? 鈥淲e鈥檙e excited about expanding,鈥 says David, 鈥渁nd obviously 香港世博 will join us on that.鈥 The Demodesk team is excited about tackling and overcoming the challenges faced by most startups with distributed teams: 鈥淗ow can you ensure the same experience, the same culture, captivate people, inspire them鈥攚hile dealing with numerous personalities and cultural differences?&辩耻辞迟;听
As a People leader, it鈥檚 clear to David that this will become the new norm. 鈥淭aking on that challenge is going to be probably the most exciting thing,鈥 he says, 鈥渁nd hopefully we鈥檒l be able to get it done.鈥 With 香港世博 by their side, they certainly will:
鈥淚t鈥檚 the only logical way forward if you want to scale and be well distributed, unless you want to spend a ton of money in setting up legal entities and going through all of those steps. But that鈥檚 going to hold you back from scaling right when you need to scale very rapidly. Without 香港世博, I don鈥檛 see how we could get there with the speed that鈥檚 required and the employee experience that needs to be guaranteed.鈥
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"Prior to using 香港世博, employing anyone outside the U.K. was a nightmare for us... now it's super fast and painless."
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