Welcome to My Logistics Magazine. UK Focused Global Outlook.
Publish
Advertise
My Logistics Magazine - Advertise

Advertising Opportunities

Advertise on My Logistics Magazine and connect with a highly targeted audience of logistics professionals and enthusiasts.

We provide a range of advertising options, such as banner ads, sponsored content, job listings, and social media advertising.

Sam Arbon on expanding overseas: to move or not to move your business’s technology?

Fast-growing businesses and not-for-profit organisations may have an unarguable case for overseas expansion but do they have the logistics nailed down?

Many well-organised companies and charities can encounter surprising difficulties when setting up their local offices in regions such as the Middle East, Americas and Africa. And that’s because of unforeseen local-level logistical challenges.

UK-based management teams directing expansion – especially in volatile or very fast-growing overseas economies – won’t know every detail of local infrastructure needs or government regulation. But they do need plans to contain risks when investing in suitable IT connectivity or implementing cutting-edge technology infrastructures for new locations.

Senior executives needing to mitigate the risks of expansion might also be seeking more efficient office communication backbones and faster office applications. They might decide to implement wide area networks (WANs) that enable more cost-effective team collaboration and communications, without resorting to costly satellite links. But C-level executives must also master the finer details, such as organising locally-compliant shipments of the necessary materials and networking equipment.

West Africa is a case in point. Excellent connectivity on the coast from marine-based fibre networks often gives way inland to weak Internet access. Many African countries also have specific technology and trade requirements; failure to meet and demonstrate compliance with them could stall, or even wreck, a well-run business’s expansion plans.

We have seen organisations, determined to set up modern WAN technologies, come to grief simply because they failed to set up suitable invoicing systems to a particular government department’s specifications. In one example, software-defined WAN appliances, that would have brought ‘plug-in’ transformational IT network configuration options, were stranded at customs for some weeks before being recovered.

An expert technology partner with local knowledge will quickly establish whether a fast-growing company actually needs to physically export its own new technology to new offices. Expanding companies that work with technology integration specialists, well-versed in moving technology infrastructure components overseas, will identify such ‘hidden’ technology requirements from the outset. Could an IT provider ask its usual country partner to import and install the hardware and networking appliances instead of the customer shipping them itself? This local know-how will avoid the customer footing the bill for both export red tape and sending over its own installation team.

Local insights can dramatically improve plans: moving IT hardware to Brazil is frequently faster and easier when working with a logistics partner that works with a local importer of record. A UK company expanding in Asia or Africa often needs both technology integrators and expert couriers to ensure that equipment being moved is compliant with UK export and local import regulations. Compliance means pre-shipping checks of the business’s offices, as well as the technology, before proceeding.

An experienced technology or logistics partner’s technical skills and local knowledge could mean the difference between success and failure. A charity active in more than 50 countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa did away with inadequate network and data processing speeds by setting up a fast network access and data transfer backbone. As well as averting costly satellite communications, this strategy achieved more efficient and visible local network operations.

sam-arbonBut the whole upgrade also hinged on the charity’s chosen technology integrator taking responsibility for equipment certification for all the local offices’ technology and software consignments. By ‘outsourcing’, the charity met every country’s import guidelines – and no equipment was left on the dockside.

When an organisation expands, senior management won’t tolerate delays. But offices in new geographies are often best set up using insights from partners that understand local logistical needs as much as so-called ‘difficult’ tasks like implementing new IT networks.

Sam Arbon, finance administrator, procurement and logistics, at Teneo

 

Teneo is a UK based specialist integrator of next-generation technology

Total
0
Shares
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts