News & Events

Global Village
Inspired thinking by iBooking
[March 2004]

A few months ago I was asked to write an article on how the landscape had changed for companies that used to call themselves web designers, web developers or new media specialists. The summation of the article was that many factors had combined to influence a dramatic change in the companies that were still around, and in the way they present themselves to their target market. During the growth years of the Internet services market, companies sprang up from every direction. There were those that spun web companies from graphic design agencies, others that turned software development houses into web application specialists and a whole new breed of “consultants” appeared from the woodwork. One thing that seemed to stay constant was the very small geography that companies operated in. For example, the Glasgow companies rarely ventured 40 miles east to serve a customer in Edinburgh, and the vice–versa was even less heard of. Sure, there were exceptions to the rule, but it tended to be the larger, more experienced businesses that dared venture south of the border.

As more and more companies who base their livelihoods delivering solutions that use the Internet have discovered, focusing on a well-defined niche area is often the best way to prosper. There can be no doubt that product or service companies in the technology sector who try and be all things to all people will face problems that can easily lead to their rapid demise, especially in an economy that is just starting to find its feet again. This takes us to the point of this article, and a brief summary of this writer's own experience of discovering just how significant it can be to truly view the world as your customer, your supplier, and your friend!

Within the past 6 months of operating our web solutions company we've truly discovered the benefits that can be gained through using Internet technology to eliminate the barriers of geographic and, even cultural differences. Where once we relied on customers being within a 1 hour drive from our office, we now happily service customers in Australia, in Italy, in Germany and many places in between. Yes, we deliver our solutions as web services that use the much heralded ASP [ application service provider] model, but we've been able to transform our business in ways that reach far beyond just communicating with far flung customers. Our big picture business goal, and one that we are still striving towards, is to offer a suite of web-based products that service particular types of customer and can be provided on a rental model regardless of customer location, size or budget.

The single most significant decision we took as a business in the last 12 months was to look at what we wanted to achieve, and then to examine how we could develop our intellectual property on the most cost-effective basis. Where most companies identify a need to develop a software product and then go out and hire a programmer, we took a different view. As veterans of the Internet since 1997 we knew that it was possible to outsource projects to countries where labour is cheap. So…using a well-known web site based out of New York, we posted a description of the solution we wanted to build. Within days we had more than 200 replies …from companies and individuals in India, Russia, Bulgaria, USA, New Zealand…and the list goes on. To get to the point, we started a relationship with a company in Eastern Russia which has gone from strength to strength. It has quite honestly transformed our company, and provided us with benefits that are way beyond what we could have hoped for.

From that one e-mail we have now delivered more than half a dozen world-class products, and have at least as many again in production. We now have more people working for us in Russia than we do here in Scotland. Many people ask us how we make it work. The answer is that it's easy…we know what we want, and we have the skills to manage the communication between our staff here, and our developers thousands of miles away. We never speak by phone. The day-day method of communication is e-mail, MSN Messenger, and our web-based project management system. Access to exceptionally talented labour at rates that are defined by an economy that may as well belong to another universe have provided us with a competitive advantage that has to be seen to be believed.

But it's not just outsourcing that makes the old adage of the world being a village become so obvious. In our case, the realization that our customers could use our multi-language, multi-currency products anywhere they could access the Internet, shaped the way we looked at sales and marketing. As one of our services involves shouting about how great our skills are in web marketing and search engine optimization, it was second nature that we should use the Internet as our lead salesman. When selling a web product, it makes perfect sense to use the very same medium to support your sales activity, your support activity, and even your billing activity. We've refined the approach to the point that 90% of all business enquiries come directly from our web site, with great returns on our marketing budget being delivered by methods such as pay-per-click advertising. Why is it better than traditional methods? Well, next time a national magazine calls you offering a special deal of £1500 to advertise to Scotland's top 100, ask them if they will instead accept 50 pence for every customer that decided they want to do business with you? Ask them if they can deliver you customers from any country you choose. Ask them also if they'll provide a report on precisely how many people looked at your advert, how long they looked at it for, and how well pre-qualified they were to your product or service. I suspect they may hang up!

I'm not suggesting that treating the world as a village will work for everyone. It does depend on your product type [anything that exists only in bits and bytes is much easier], your ability to service geographically dispersed customers, and how effectively you can find and interact with suppliers, all have a role to play. Important too, is not underestimating the need to have good quality staff working in the office, or from home, who can control, motivate and get the best from any remote workers. When it works, it can be spectacular and a real joy to see your customers benefiting from the fruits of labour that took place in a dim and distant land. The significance of smart global working was brought home to me very clearly on New Year's eve last year, a time when most people should be relaxed with a good movie and festive refreshment. As I enjoyed a well-deserved long lie, my customer in Italy who manages their web-based ticketing system was uploading work requests into our web-based project management system [which was downloaded from a company in Texas.] The system automatically e-mailed a notification of the work to our developer in Russia, who actioned the request [on our web server in San Francisco], updated the system, sending the updated status back to Italy for testing. When I finally surfaced, I was able to log in [from my kitchen via wireless network] to check the issues that had batted back and forth, and also to review the ticket bookings that had come in from countries including Denmark, the UK, Italy and France.

Of course there are those that argue that an ever shrinking planet has negative imapact as well as positives. Yahoo.com has just shown me that another 400 finance jobs have left this country to go to India. Maybe that's not good news for Scotland… but everything that can be enabled by technology is there to be exploited. Some will bring good news to some, and bad news to others. Just look at the Internet itself for the most obvious example.

So, does the term global village mean anything to you? It certainly does to me. Now if only I could speak at that conference in Egypt without having to spend 9 hours on a plane….

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