International Business Made Easy

Running a business across borders and overseas can get complicated quickly. Luckily, in today’s world we have plenty of technology available to us to make running an international business as easy as running a local one, or nearly so. Here’s a brief outline of some of the obstacles to international, and intercontinental business, and how modern tech helps us overcome them.

Finances

Banking has come leaps and bounds in the 20th and 21st centuries. Making and receiving payments takes minutes on a computer or smartphone, meaning we don’t need to go into the bank every time we need to draw, send or receive money. Security is much better, significantly reducing risks like fraud and theft. Online banking also means that as a business, you have minimal cash on site.

International business also means you’ll be paying and receiving across currencies. Most banks are willing to receive payments in other currencies and convert it to local currency for a small fee. For travel purposes, you can use most cards in other countries, though you may pay fairly high bank charges. Some banks offer a world card at lower rates. You also have the option to have multiple bank accounts or international accounts that will keep your currencies separate.

Meetings

One of the major obstacles to international business up to now is the necessity of meetings. Any major business interaction requires a significant amount of discussion and planning, which of course means meetings. The trouble with this is the time and expense of international travel. The internet has cut down on the need for travel significantly. Email makes the basic communication easy, and video conferencing, using programs like Skype, means you can meet with colleagues and clients “face to face” worldwide.

Phone Bills

When it comes to running a business, daily phone calls come with the territory, and more often than not are an absolute necessity. This is why most business owners dread opening their phone bill at the end of every month. If you’re on the right plan, it doesn’t need to cost so much, or cause so much stress. Many companies offer business plans with unlimited local calls. For the international calls, look at getting a prepaid international call card from a company like EnjoyPrepaid. They offer low rates on international calls, and you can top up your card whenever you need to.

A VOIP phone system is also a good idea for a big company, you can have multiple lines without installing a PBX, and can add as your company grows. It does have its pros and cons – the pros being that calls are much clearer, and there’s little to no delay, which can be a problem with long-distance calls. On the downside, it does mean that if your internet goes down, so does your phone system. But as long as you have a reliable ISP, you should be ok.

Work Hours

Something to keep in mind with international business is that you might be working across time zones. This will factor into payments, meeting times, calls and email response times. Make sure you know how the time zones correlate so you can organize accordingly. When you prearrange calls or meetings, be sure to specify whose time zone you’re working by, so that both parties are on the same page.

It can be tiring, but managing an international business properly will take off a lot of the strain. If you’re considering taking your business international, make sure you know what you’re getting into before you make the leap. International also means intercultural, so you’ll need to account for these differences, as well as plan around different public holidays and religious observances.