International Business and Technology Blog

Geolocation is the "identification of the real-world geographic location of an object", one example of this is Internet Protocol (IP) mapping where a device (mobile, computer…) is connected to the internet. So far, so good and so simple. But it is not! Geolocation is actually extremely controversial with regards to today's ever changing internet connected, legal, commercial, political and societal world. Hence it is complex and has spawned a multi-billion $ solutions industry delivering a range of products, software and service providers that affect as well as provide solutions for your website(s)…

Hosting websites is a massive, technological, fast evolving and growing global business. Website hosting is all about managing and optimizing the rapid rise in the number of websites: there are over 1.8 billion websites today compared to just 3,000 in 1994. These zillions of webpages compete for prized online real estate, to attract the more than 6 billion targeted internet users worldwide. To succeed, companies, organizations and individuals demand that the website hosting service providers deliver for their websites the four key S’s of website hosting success: speed, security, scalability and support.

The hosting industry is yet another deeply technological subject for those concerned to master and manage. At IBT Online we want the best for our clients online business and this includes getting the best hosting experience in global markets. Service delivery from hosting providers ranges from good (5) to bad (1) (see below for criteria). We see averages of 4 in home markets, but 2 when it comes to global website hosting! The IBT Online Global program best practice for website hosting, is to get our clients a top 5 score in all their markets.

When you go online today to use one of your Apps, you are one of more than 3.4 billion App-empowered users – that’s 40% of the world’s population. By 2021, that App utilization figure is expected to be >6.3 billion users; some 80% of the projected 7.8 billion world citizens. This means that over the next 3 years, a further 2.9 billion people will be using Apps, implying a doubling of the penetration rate to 85%. The big picture therefore and the message of this blog, is that we are all, the world’s billions of citizens, going to be App users. The details, and the focus of this IBT Online App blog-series, concern geographic location, the rate of uptake, which devices, platform and use.

An important insight is that globally, users are increasingly accessing Apps through their mobile smartphones (today >2.5 billion users) rather than their desktops. Innovative, easy to roll out and cost effective technologies facilitating the mobile 1^st world (think China, India and Indonesia…), have enabled these countries to leap-frog the infrastructure dependent PC route, of users in mature Western countries. Let’s take a dive and see where all the App users are in this world and then make a case study of the world’s largest App market, China.

I have always loved the letter S: it is the best letter in the alphabet. It is always, all about that "S". In fact, S is such an important letter that we added it to our web browser, so we are HTTPS, to make it safer for you! And everyone in the online community, should be doing the same. The online world and internet of things are fundamentally insecure, with cybercrime rising exponentially and now reckoned to be the second most reported economic crime, costing billions.

Could cybercrime happen to you? Yes. Worried? You should be. If not secured, “when you load a website someone else on the network can look at or modify the site before it gets to you”. And that happens all the time, with most users blissfully unaware. The not-so-elegantly named solution is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), denoted by an S in your web browser. Just glance up now and check it out: does it read HTTP or HTTPS? You will see that IBT Online is HTTPS = secure. This is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. Hence the online mantra is HTTPS good, HTTP bad! Add an S and you’re good. An HTTPS website should make you smile as it is has three essential qualities: identity, confidentiality and integrity. So you know where you stand; safe and secure.

Try counting the number of apps on your mobile devices and then add up the hours and money spent. Surprised at how large it all is? Bravo! You are a relatively early adopter and contributing member of the incredible Online Global App Story. Today, you choose from >10 million apps, are one of >3.4 billion app users worldwide who spend >1.6 trillion hours and >$1.3 trillion annually. By 2021, those numbers are projected to double, triple or more with > 25 million apps available, 6.3 billion app users, 3.5 trillion hours and an astounding $6.3 trillion. Apps are the latest new digital thing. And those big and fast-growing numbers can, if you embrace the Online Global App Story, drive your global sales, brands and business growth.

The only way is up!  But, don’t hold on. Get video centric now! Globally, IP video traffic is expected to grow threefold between 2016 and 2021, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26% and representing 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021. Read that twice and contemplate. Successful businesses are driving the internet video explosion. Reports on the ‘state of video’ abound, from those that carry the bytes (example Cisco, see below) to those that are involved in every stage of the video conception to consumption boom. And video marketing, the fastest growing trend of our digital era, is a main driver of this growth. Large corporations have long understood and profited from the video cool aid, and now it is the turn of mid-size businesses, driving up those exponential video statistics. Fully 9.6/10 professional marketers say they are using video for business development purposes, with 63% of all businesses already on-board. Are you?

The digital economy delivers. It lowers costs and barriers to markets, as well as providing access to an unprecedented number of customers (both business and consumer). The traditional routes to markets have eroded. Smart companies, notably web savvy businesses, have created and leveraged technologies to grow their online global sales, brands and businesses.

In any given “home market” there is a truism that the vast majority of your potential clients are located in, by definition, outside in those global markets. Sow the two together, online and global, and you have the driver that ensures B2B and B2C online global retail will represent >$10 trillion of transactions by 2020. And the #1 beneficiaries of the digital economy are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). If you are a decision maker in an SME, please do read on, think through the sales opportunities and the potential value to your brand and business.

Googling away on my iPad mini, while stuck at yet another airport somewhere, I found reference to a book called “Think Outside the Country”. The subject matter looked interesting, promising to be “A Guide to Going Global and succeeding in the Translation Economy”. I wanted to know more, clicked to my Amazon account and for $29.00, two days later in yet another hotel somewhere, the hard copy was mine to hold and read.

IBT Online provides website localization and international online marketing services to help companies grow their sales, brands and businesses online globally, and that since 2002. So at IBT Online we all think outside the country, and perhaps more importantly, we all do Online Global outside the country, as we have delivered more than 1,000 localized country specific corporate websites through our succesful Online Global program. 

When I read about the author, it stated that John Yunker is “the world’s leading expert on web content globalization”. Now that is an ambitious claim that sets expectations. So this blog turns out to be something of a book review.

Google's perpetual drive for innovation means more disruption is coming our way. An example is Google’s new translation system that has delivered measurable improvements in the fluency of Google Translate. Google has begun rolling out the service across all its languages, chat boxes, web pages, articles, blogs, emails, social media, message forums…First updated were the most commonly used primary languages (English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, French, Korean and Turkish), as well as Google’s >192 country specific search engines, the Google Translate website and the Website Translator plugin. Our research shows that Google Translate is now better than ever for personal use, but remains bad for business!

Online global social media business development is here. Jump on board! Social media presents a host of new opportunities for online savvy businesses to grow their sales, brand and business. That growth is not confined in any geographic or national sense; the only limitation is access to the internet.

Social media is proving to be the ultimate route for business globalization. This is the paradigm shift that has been understood, harnessed and embraced by the accolade-winning unicorns that operate globally (think Uber, Airbnb…) currently numbering some >200 companies with a combined market valuation of >$650billion. Their record breaking business growth (speed, size, scope…) and leadership demonstrate that social media platforms represent the greatest rising tide upon which successful businesses can float their respective international boats.