Is your enterprise going global?
Are you ready for globalization? Here’s some things to consider before expanding abroad.
Globalization is part of the natural progression of growth for most companies when they reach a certain size. But how do you effectively approach expanding your company onto the international stage and where do you begin?
In our experience, most business leaders are thrilled with the prospect of globalization and the prospect of extending their operations internationally. Generally, this means more revenue for the company, but it’s also a complex, nuanced process that requires specific resources and expertise for success.
No one wants to grow their company only to have net losses and overwhelmed management. Here are some things to keep in mind before your transition:
Management Talent and Experience
Managing international teams and operations is a completely different skill set than overseeing local and domestic affairs. If your leaders aren’t experienced in international business, they have to be willing to learn and be flexible with new cultures and work environments. Simply expecting every team to adapt to your headquarters’ methods and processes is not going to be effective and you’ll be spending a significant portion of your time dealing with overseas objectives.
Digital Ecosystem
One of the biggest hurdles businesses face during globalization is the deployment and management of all the different regional websites designed to personalize customers’ online experience in different locations. In some cases, the solution to this is moving the corporate site into a more regional-friendly technology, such as AEM, to accommodate for regional and language differences on different websites. Having all your digital assets under one main umbrella CMS will simplify management of all these websites, landing pages, and other digital assets much easier as you continue to expand into new locations.
Technology
Technology goes significantly farther than the realm of your external digital ecosystem. Don’t forget that global IT networks, software licenses, and document formats all need to be usable at any of your offices (remote workplaces) in any location of the world. Things that may seem straightforward, such as timesheet entry or billing, can be herculean tasks when dealing with employees and offices in different locations, using different software, speaking a different language. Many technologies and software have expanded to provide international capabilities, but don’t assume that your current setup and current license will provide you with everything you need in different countries. The first of the month is not the time to find out an entire division of your company is unable to submit info.
International Operations and Logistics
Globalization requires so much more than just different shipping options for customers and translation of websites. Depending on your business, you may need to rethink everything from supply chains to day-to-day operations for your international divisions. Furthermore, do you have current talent on staff that can adequately set up these new operations in a completely new country? Some of your current systems will work in other countries, others won’t. You need to take the time to plan and adjust well before opening up in different time zones.
Customer Service
First and foremost, when you’re moving into a global environment your customer service (not to mention business development, sales, and solutions) department is going to have to be bilingual. Furthermore, these teams will have to deal with cultural differences in expectations as well as legal requirements that regulate your business in that country. Last, but not least, if you’re providing physical products or require on-site service, you’re going to have to have support staff in those locations (remember countries are big) available to assist customers. This is a situation where an international call center probably won’t provide your customers with all the support they need, so you’ll need to plan accordingly.
How We Can Help
Our area of expertise is enterprise digital ecosystems. Cimarron Winter helps enterprises around the world help establish healthy and efficient CMS infrastructure and create smart digital marketing strategies, processes, and workflows. Whether you’re in the early stages of a major CMS migration or are looking to streamline current digital processes, we’d love to talk.