The must-have tech needed to scale your business internationally

It’s safe to say that a goal for many businesses is to scale internationally. But when it comes to managing and training a team that’s spread across the globe, adapting an approach that’s successful internationally and not just nationally is a very tall order.

Thankfully, with modern day tech, you can make that tall order slightly shorter. There are smart tools out there that make organising and communicating with remote teams in all corners of the world plain sailing. There’s also tech designed to help you interact with your global customer base, keeping them updated and informed about your company. So, without further ado, here’s a list of the must-have tech needed to scale internationally.

Conference calling

Let’s start with some old school tech (the grandparent of meeting solutions). Conference calling was invented by Bell Labs way back in 1956 and revealed to the public in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair[1]. Since its inception is has proven invaluable when it comes to communications in the working world. It’s improving constantly, growing smarter and wiser every year (we like to think that happens to us all).

The reason conference calling works so well is on the surface it’s a simple piece of tech based on a platform that everyone is familiar with, the telephone. It’s affordable as well, so if your business is looking to expand globally, you won’t have to watch the pennies too closely when deciding to hop on a call. With heaps of international dial-in numbers wherever your team are, you can reach them (excluding deserted islands).

Video calling

A more modern meeting solution compared to conference calling but very much in the same ballpark is video calling. If you want to zhush up your meetings with your chevy chase (face), then add video. Research has shown that 50% of people retain more info if visual props are included[2]. Just like conferencing, video calling is a fantastic tool to communicate with a workforce that’s spread out across the globe.

Video calling tech, like ours, comes with an array of other features that encourage collaboration. This includes screen share, present document, online agendas and meeting summaries. If used correctly, these features can result in productive and engaging meetings, strutting your company’s funky stuff internationally. It’s as close as you can get to being in the same room, that is until teleportation is invented (still waiting). So, wave goodbye to the disengaged daydreamers, as the virtual eye contact makes distance less of an issue. Studies have shown that people are  less likely to get up suddenly and make themselves a cup of coffee as everyone will be watching (just kidding, but we think it may be true!) The point being, video encourages you to participate in the meeting, which is important if you want to have success on an international level.

Webinars

If you’re unaware of what exactly a webinar is then let us explain. (If you’re aware maybe skip this part.) A webinar is an online platform designed to host large scale events. The speakers typically have one-way communication with a remote audience who are encouraged to participate with features such as polling, Q&As and surveys. They have various use cases; a couple of examples include the training of new recruits or to showcase company announcements to customers.

Now that you’re hopefully all clued up as to what a webinar is, we’ll explain why it is a must-have piece of tech to scale internationally. Let’s start with the first use case, training new recruits. Training as a process can be very pricey, especially if you are looking to train recruits who reside in different parts of the world and speak different languages. An online event is a more cost-effective solution, allowing you to present to a large, remote audience from the comfort of your office (or home). And for those in time zones too difficult to attend, they can watch the training session on demand.

You can create events for each department and track individual progress through exams and certificates. This will save your HR department plenty of time and free up lots of resources that would otherwise go towards training. And the trump card *drum roll please* attendees can provide feedback on the event, so your content becomes an incredibly value resource for more than just your new recruits.

Instant messaging apps

An instant messaging app comes in handy when you need to communicate something that doesn’t necessarily warrant a full-scale meeting. They’re a better alternative to emails because, well it’s in the name really, the messages are instant. They don’t have to be used just for communicating internally, they’re also a great way of improving customer service. Scaling internationally will inevitably mean more customers. To help prevent a constant bombardment of telephone rings, you can implement instant messaging to deal with customer queries.

Hootsuite

To make it internationally it’s important to have a strong online presence so your brand is easily recognisable. This is where social media is important! With countless businesses having some sort of presence on social media and more than three billion people around the world using social media every month[3], it’s an essential platform for gaining a larger following.

Hootsuite is a social media management platform that allows you to control all your social networks from one dashboard. It also has a clever feature that can search social media sites to notify you each time your company name is mentioned. You’ll never be left in the dark and can be a responsive pro.

It can be useful for identifying what content your customers enjoy. Their insights tool provides you with all sorts of data, so you can continue developing strategies to absolutely slay it. Like other tools on our list, this is also an inexpensive option for your business to adopt.

Scale, scale, scale away!

These tools will help you scale to your heart’s desire. We know that growing a business is far from easy, especially when this means crossing borders. We just hope that with the right tools you can make your dream a reality (cheesy much), and steadily move onwards and upwards.

[1] https://careertrend.com/when-was-conference-calling-invented-13636869.html

[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/insights-zoom/2017/10/30/5-reasons-why-your-company-needs-to-embrace-video-conferencing-now/#5807b0df47c4

[3] https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/why-social-media-is-important-for-business-marketing/