How to Deal with the Challenges of Going from Local to Global
A rapidly expanding business is most certainly a positive thing, but are you having to deal with a series of challenges to make your business global? From locating local resources both human and with regards to raw materials including demands that are more practical – language, differences in culture as well as potential competition from companies local to your geographical location – these are issues that need to be well-planned and managed from the outset, where the implementation of strategy, potentially new business structures and human resources are key. However, what is fundamental is dealing with the implications of local and international financial and tax systems, laws and regulations as well as currency fluctuations.
We can agree that cloud technologies have resolved many of the challenges faced with expanding into new territories, especially since cloud-based platforms can be both strategically and financially efficient, as servers are located locally and applications can be accessed via web browser on a pay-as-you-go basis. Offices and staff located around the globe can get the same access to information as their colleagues in the company’s home location via a shared platform, making financial and strategic information efficient to access and deal with.
IT investment in an expanding venture can therefore be adjusted as needed via OPEX (Operational Expenditure) and finance staff both at HQ and in various other offices can manage a simplified and consolidated method of accessing and working on information when a single global ERP system or platform can manage accounting, auditing, bank reconciliations across several countries. This in turn means facilitated global reporting and analysis as well as a deeper insight into the various regional subsidiaries and their performance which can be displayed in real time.
By having a consolidated, lean and efficient global overview, management teams and investors have real-time information at their fingertips and are able to assess current strategy and potentially improve it for the future.
One of the main areas of concern when expanding into other countries are the ever-changing tax requirements which need local expertise to keep abreast of. A multinational ERP system can therefore automate both direct and indirect taxation systems and ensure standardized working methodology, while at the same time being able to deal with any tax regimes or legal frameworks that are exclusive to a local country. Employees are also able to use applications in their local language and which are familiar with local working methods.
So, what are the steps when starting a new ERP Project?
- Define your business requirements
- Break the project down into steps
- Acquire buy-in from senior leadership
- Establish a budget
- Explore various providers and products on the market
