Tech Tools to Shrink the Distance
It’s hard to imagine doing business globally without
some of the tools you’ll learn about below.
YEARS AGO, DOING BUSINESS INTERNATIONALLY was quite different. It required everything from telexes to translators to travel agents, not to mention a lot of time and money. Often overseas business meant getting on a plane, actually going to the target country, and meeting with people face to face to discuss… well, everything. Even the most basic communication tool of all, the phone, was very expensive and unreliable—in some places you had to book a call time in advance, via an operator. Yet despite the cost and inconvenience, old-time phones didn’t give you any “face time”.
Wow! Just look how far we’ve come in today’s tech-savvy global marketplace! Now we can host virtual boardroom discussions and communicate with sight and sound, in real time, while sharing collaborative work files and presentations, streaming to and from all corners of the earth.
Keeping pace
Now that we have the pleasure of living and working in such a fast-moving and ever-evolving era, we have to learn to leverage all of the resources available to us to maximize our companies’ progress. This is important for two reasons. First, it’s an opportunity to save time and money and to maximize outputs and profits. Second, it’s important to consider the competition at all times. Don’t get consumed by focusing on what tools they are using. Rather, make sure that your company is staying relevant and moving along at the same speed, using the same or better tools than the competition. This will ensure that you won’t be left on the side of the road.
When I think about international business and all of the different tools, resources, software, social media, etc. that can really propel a business forward, a few come to mind that have delivered exponential results in my businesses.
Social media
There are so many social media platforms available today, it’s hard to choose which are most beneficial. In part, it depends on what you’re doing. For example, a great networking platform for business in general is LinkedIn. It allows a user to search for contacts that may exist in their own personal contact lists; or search for individuals, persons with certain business titles, companies, specialty groups and even industries. Other platforms can be great in other ways, such as Instagram or Pinterest. These sites have been essential in sharing pictures of merchandise that retailers are trying to expose or to identify trends in a market segment. The list goes on and on, but social media platforms can be used to seek out new business, make connections within an industry or simply share a product or service with the world from a standard smart phone. The applications to your international business activities are obvious and endless.
Resource websites
In addition to social media platforms, there are plenty of websites dedicated to providing information, services and resources to business and entrepreneurs. One of the most popular is Alibaba, a leading web-based resource that specializes in connecting factories and other types of manufacturing reps with buyers from around the world. These relationships focus on everything from medical devices to toys and other consumer goods. And best of all, the participants on the site are all over the globe!
Aggregated email systems
These systems aren’t exactly new, but they have proven to be one of the most useful and beneficial tools of the 21st century. By using an email aggregator such as Outlook or Apple Mail, a user can monitor multiple email accounts, reply from different accounts, create calendar events, set reminders and even create file folders that can be used to archive communication and documents for future access from anywhere in the world.
Dynamic video conferencing
This technology has been a game changer for international business in particular. These new systems allow for meetings, information sharing and collaboration to be done via live streaming connections which allow all of the participants to see, speak and interact with one another from anywhere in the world, as long as a fairly robust Internet connection can be found.
As with in-person meetings, the quality of these meetings rests on solid preparation, a clear agenda, strict start/stop times, focused discussion, and clear outcomes (regarding who does what by when in follow-ups). When time zones make it inconvenient for some attendees, it’s courteous to “share the pain” and vary the time of regularly occurring meetings on a routine basis, so everybody eventually gets the joy of the 2 AM business review.
Email blast services
Snail mail is dead, and now it’s often the most expensive type of marketing tool, relative to the sales conversion that typically comes with it. Now, for next to nothing, you can reach all of your customers and potential customers with the click of a mouse. The other great thing is that you get helpful data and tracking information, which help you to better understand who is opening your emails, when to send them and what type of click-through rate you achieved. As you build your international business, this tool becomes more and more important in letting you keep distant customers and prospects, as well as suppliers, up to date on your latest news.
Digital faxes and scans
Remember all of those old fax machines, the ones that would burn up reams of paper and black ink? Well, now you can send and receive your facsimile through your computer without using any additional resources. You can pick and choose what you would like to print, vs. having everything show up in the tray, whether you needed it or not! The same applies to documents that need to display signatures, like contracts. Scanning and emailing them saves courier fees, time and paper.
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
These have changed the way larger companies do business, more than ever. VPNs allow employees to log into a secure computer system from anywhere, giving them necessary access to pertinent documents and customer information. This has also provided a huge cost savings to companies with large employee bases, because of their ability to offer work-from-home opportunities. For a small company, the advantage for international business is the ability to log in from anywhere and securely pull up any data needed. No more lugging hard copies around the world.
Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)
VOIP is another great way to communicate with individuals and businesses all over the world. It can support video, conference calls, messaging and call forwarding, too. Often it’s available free of charge, or for a fraction of landline and mobile communication costs. And you can choose country or area codes, phone numbers and your call origin information. You can then put people receiving your calls at ease, by seeming to call from within their area. The only down side is that interruptions from weather, congested bandwidth and third-party maintenance may interfere with your scheduled events.
There are a lot of little tricks like these that not only reduce costs within your small business, but can make you and your business seem larger and more established than it really may be. It’s unfortunate, but we live in a world where people form notions about a business or businessperson based on the way they communicate and conduct day-to-day business. Using some or all of these resources can greatly enhance your ability to succeed.
M.O.