International Trade: A 24/7 Business
Doing business across borders means doing business across time zones, and that can be a challenge for the small business owner whose staff is too small to keep the business open during trading partners' hours of operation. In fact, it's just one aspect of a broader continuum of problems related to time and distance. "Even if a small business involved in international activities were to staff a second and third shift to engage on a 24/7 basis, it would still lack the local language skills and expertise needed to be of value," says Bryn Heimbeck, CEO of Trade Tech, a creator of software solutions for the international logistics industry. "The real challenge is coordinating with local entities around the world for the collection and administration of information relative to that business."
Technology offers the most practical solution to the 24/7 challenge, and the emergence of cloud-based information technology is proving a boon to small businesses. Cloud-based models present a cost-effective way for a small business to project its system overseas with all its embedded process controls and procedural rigor intact, enabling meaningful collaboration with worldwide offices and counterparts. Because all parties are tied into the same system, high-quality information can be exchanged in real time. And because the cloud-based model allows small businesses to purchase the resources they need on demand, capital is freed up for other purposes.
E-commerce strategies, auto-response tools, and other technologically-enabled services can help a small business project an image of being a 24/7 operation by boosting its ability to respond to trading partners' inquiries in a timely manner, even during off hours and holidays. For example, establishing an e-commerce site, or adding the application to an existing site, makes it possible to conduct transactions with customers worldwide at any time, day or night.
Auto-responders (also known as mailbots, infobots, and email on demand) are simply email addresses programmed to reply automatically to incoming email messages with prewritten responses. Typical responses include FAQs (frequently asked questions), newsletters, product and service information sheets, price lists, sales and marketing collateral, and simple acknowledgements that the sender's email has been received and they can expect a more detailed response shortly.
Heimbeck suggests small businesses build a network of similarly-sized counterparts in strategic points around the world and link them together through a cloud-based business platform, a strategy that can help address language, cultural, and geographic-proximity barriers as well as time zone issues. "Set the system up to function globally so that each of the component users can focus locally while still delivering to the expectations of their counterparts," he advises. "A small company can project its customer service capabilities around the globe as if its core staff were situated locally and providing the direct service to the end customer."
No matter how good your automated systems get, however, sometimes it just makes sense to get up in the middle of the night to give some personal attention to important customers, insists James Berkely, director of London-based Berkely Burke International, an international human resources consultancy. "Technology helps me maintain a 'local' presence, which is key when buyers first raise concerns about the fact I am not physically located on their continent," he acknowledges, but the human touch is still important. "My experience is that a brilliantly written marketing email to a group of individuals globally familiar with your organization will be five to 10 times less effective than a call scheduled in each individual's normal working hours. Apply common sense, and don't hide behind technology."
