BeyondSoft: How Can Overseas Expansion Enterprises Choose the Right Service Provider and Do Well in Localization? | Overseas Expansion Practical Trai
Many enterprises face "invisible reefs" such as cross - border compliance and local operation during the process of going global. Therefore, going global is no longer a solo fight for a single enterprise, but an exploratory path to achieve win - win results with its "circle of friends". Choosing to leverage the power of professional service institutions in different fields has become a consensus among enterprises going global.
But how can enterprises screen reliable and professional service institutions? The infrastructure and business maturity vary in different markets. Where exactly are the markets suitable for enterprise development? How to navigate the complex compliance processes? How to use digital tools to improve the success rate and efficiency of going global... To help enterprises going global find answers to these questions, Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global had a special dialogue with Li Xuehui, the Director of Ecosystem Development at Boyaa Technology. Focusing on Boyaa Technology's past practical experience in serving enterprises going global, they discussed the core pain points faced by enterprises going global, such as cross - border compliance, local operation, service collaboration and cost, and market selection.
Boyaa Technology's global services can be traced back to 2001 when it provided China market adaptation services for a multinational company. In 2015, it acquired the US PDL company to improve its North American layout. In 2023, it established a professional consulting team. Boyaa Technology has gradually accumulated experience in serving overseas markets and formed a set of standardized solutions covering fields such as fintech, digital agriculture, and smart energy. Currently, Boyaa Technology's overseas business covers multiple aspects such as going - global consulting, technology delivery, and local operation, focusing on exploring the going - global business model in three major markets: the Americas, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
「The following is the dialogue between Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global and Li Xuehui, the Director of Ecosystem Development at Boyaa Technology」
01 Enterprises should clarify their strategies, conduct compliance pre - reviews and market validations before going global
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: What kind of work and preparations do you think enterprises need to do before taking the first step of going global?
Li Xuehui: First, do a good job in top - level design. Clarify whether the going - global strategy is "product output" or "brand localization". Different strategic choices will affect the enterprise's decision - making in terms of resource allocation, market promotion strategies, etc. Second, conduct a compliance pre - review. Start the work on data security and industry access certification in the target country (such as GDPR, ISO27001) six months in advance to ensure that the enterprise complies with local laws and regulations during the process of going global. Third, complete the minimum viable product (MVP) verification. Test the local market through local partners to verify the adaptability and demand matching degree of the product or service in the target country.
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: How should enterprises choose suitable destinations for going global? What are the measurement indicators for determining regional priorities?
Li Xuehui: I think when determining the destination for going global, four main indicators need to be considered, namely market potential, policy stability, infrastructure maturity, and talent reserve. Among them, market potential accounts for 40%, policy stability accounts for 30%, infrastructure maturity accounts for 20%, and talent reserve accounts for 10%.
Emerging markets such as Southeast Asia (Singapore) and the Middle East (Saudi Arabia), which have a young demographic dividend and rapid development of the digital economy, are suitable for high - potential industries such as AI education, clean energy, intelligent healthcare, and large - scale infrastructure.
Mature markets such as Europe and the United States are suitable for high - value - added products. However, local governments often have strict compliance requirements for data security and privacy protection. If an enterprise chooses to enter the European and American markets, it needs to reserve 20% of the budget to cover compliance costs.
02 Evaluate service providers from the aspects of talent, resources, brand - sales integration, and past cases
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: Do you think enterprises planning to go global should first find a service provider with comprehensive capabilities to provide an overall going - global solution, or find professional institutions in different fields to cooperate together?
Li Xuehui: I suggest giving priority to service providers with comprehensive capabilities. From the perspective of cost and collaboration efficiency, if an enterprise chooses to cooperate with multiple dispersed institutions, institutions with different specializations may increase the coordination cost due to issues such as time differences and data silos. A service provider with comprehensive capabilities can provide a complete closed - loop service covering "strategy - technology - operation". From the perspective of risk - bearing ability, leading service providers have cross - regional certifications (such as ISO27001, GDPR), which can systematically avoid policy pitfalls.
Of course, in specific fields (such as local marketing in niche markets), the strength of professional institutions can be appropriately supplemented. However, it is necessary to ensure that the main service provider has strong ecosystem integration capabilities to effectively coordinate and manage various professional institutions, form a synergy, and jointly provide all - around support and services for enterprises going global.
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: When serving small and medium - sized merchants and large - scale leading enterprises, what are the differences in the focus of capabilities and service models for service providers?
Li Xuehui: The focus of services, delivery models, and cost structures will vary for merchants of different scales.
For small and medium - sized merchants, the focus of services is to provide lightweight SaaS tools (such as Alibaba Cloud's quick - start solutions) to meet their basic needs in financial management, marketing promotion, etc. For leading enterprises, in addition to providing basic digital services, more emphasis should be placed on providing customized services to meet their complex business needs. At the same time, attention should be paid to the integration of the industrial ecosystem, and through collaboration with upstream and downstream enterprises, help them achieve business innovation and upgrading.
The delivery model for small and medium - sized merchants is mainly "standardized products + automated operation and maintenance", while for leading enterprises, a dedicated team is sent on - site with 7×24 global response.
In terms of cost settlement, service institutions generally offer small and medium - sized merchants a pay - as - you - go subscription model to reduce upfront investment, usage thresholds, and risks. For leading enterprises, they generally prefer to sign long - term CPC (Cost - Performance Contract) models, which can motivate service providers to continuously improve service quality and help large - scale enterprises better control costs.
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: When enterprises going global seek help from service institutions, how can they evaluate the capabilities and service results of service providers?
Li Xuehui: I think enterprises need to consider four points: First, examine the professionalism of the service provider's talent. Whether the team has cross - cultural backgrounds and local legal/tax experts to avoid business risks caused by cultural conflicts or legal issues. Second, evaluate the service provider's resource network, including the depth and breadth of cooperation with media, channels (such as TikTok, Google), and government agencies in the target market. Third, the ability of brand - sales integration, that is, the ability to combine brand building with sales growth. Finally, pay attention to the service provider's past long - term cooperation cases. Check whether the service provider has A - share listed companies or industry leading customers to verify its sustainability and professionalism.
03 In the fields of data and labor, the hidden compliance risks are mainly related to culture
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: Based on your experience in serving a large number of customers, what hidden compliance or operational risks overseas are easily overlooked by enterprises?
Li Xuehui: One is cultural compliance. In advertising, marketing, and other activities, mistakes may occur due to insufficient understanding of local cultural customs and religious taboos. For example, the hexagram star pattern is prohibited in the Middle East. The second is data sovereignty. Some countries require local storage of user data. For example, Indonesia's PDPL Act. The third is labor laws. Many Southeast Asian countries have mandatory requirements for the proportion of local employees. If an enterprise fails to meet this requirement, it may face problems such as a shortage of human resources and legal disputes, which will affect the normal production and operation of the enterprise.
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: When exploring emerging markets with relatively weak industrial bases but great potential, what are the biggest challenges faced by enterprises? How does Boyaa help enterprises overcome challenges in infrastructure, talent, payment, etc.? What innovative strategies are there?
Li Xuehui: Poor infrastructure leads to difficult delivery, high talent turnover rate, and local competitors replicating products at low prices. These are some common difficulties we have encountered in serving customers in the past.
To address the issue of poor infrastructure, we choose to jointly build edge computing nodes with local telecommunications providers to reduce data transmission latency. Or we cooperate with infrastructure - building enterprises to go global together and participate in local infrastructure construction projects.
To address the high talent turnover rate, we cooperate with local universities to establish "Digital Silk Road Colleges" or "Belt and Road Colleges" to customize talent training and sign service agreements.
At the same time, we deploy lightweight AI models for customers, run core algorithms locally to prevent code leakage. Through resource integration and sharing of technology platforms, we jointly face the challenges of local competitors with enterprises going global to avoid situations where enterprises are "free - ridden" or have their market share snatched during the process of market exploration.
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: How can enterprises going global overcome cultural differences and achieve localization?
Li Xuehui: Enterprises going global can start from four aspects: First, through detailed market research, deeply understand the cultural customs, consumption habits, aesthetic concepts, etc. of the target market, so as to make targeted local adjustments in product design, brand promotion, and marketing.
Second, pay attention to the construction of a local team. Recruit local talents or train team members with cross - cultural backgrounds. They can better understand and adapt to the local cultural environment and provide professional support and suggestions for the enterprise's local operation.
Third, localize marketing strategies. Develop personalized marketing plans according to local cultural characteristics and consumer needs.
Finally, achieve product localization. Make local modifications to products, such as language translation, function adjustment, and appearance design, to make them more in line with the usage habits and aesthetic standards of local consumers.
04 The business trend of going global is shifting from single - point competition to ecosystem competition
Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global: Looking ahead to the next 3 - 5 years, what do you think are the key technological and business trends that will affect Chinese enterprises going global?
Li Xuehui: Let's start with technological trends. I expect that the application of generative AI in fields such as marketing, customer service, and content creation can help enterprises going global reduce costs by 70%. The penetration of edge computing will also become more widespread. To cope with network fluctuations in emerging markets, the amount of data processed by industrial IoT devices at the edge will increase by 300%.
The business trends are mainly in two aspects. One is that ecosystem competition is replacing single - point competition. When enterprises go global, it is no longer the competition of a single product or service, but a gradual shift to ecosystem competition. By building an industrial ecosystem community, enterprises can achieve resource sharing and complementary advantages, and enhance their comprehensive competitiveness in the global market.
The second is ESG - driven localization. As global attention to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) continues to increase, the local development of enterprises in overseas markets will also be affected by ESG factors. Indicators such as carbon footprint tracking and the proportion of local employment have become hard thresholds for market access. Enterprises need to integrate the ESG concept into their going - global strategies and actively fulfill their social responsibilities to enhance their brand reputation and sustainable development capabilities in overseas markets.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Hangzhou Qiantang Enterprise Going Global Service Base". Author: Zhejiang Enterprises Going Global. It is published with authorization from Qiantang.
