International Business and Technology Blog

China is one of the largest economies in the world- with a 23 trillion dollar GDP and over a billion people, it is a force to be reckoned with! China is well connected, embraces new technology, and is very mobile-friendly. Although China has its challenges- new tariffs, government red tape, and unique online environment, when a company begins to understand China and all of its complexities, it can be a very lucrative and successful target market. 

Use online tools to your advantage to be found, understood, and transact your business in China – one of the most internet-aware markets in the world.

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)…

Renowned for its technology and ability to deliver, Ocean Optics has every reason to be confident of its global success. To make sure the Ocean Optics brand is showcased at its best, management decided to invest in its online footprint. As a Florida exporter, the company took advantage of the innovative Florida Online Global Program and in mid-2018, Ocean Optics boasted its first 2 fully localized websites for target export markets; Mexico and Brazil. IBT Online is proud to have helped them get online globally.

With headquarters in Florida, Ocean Optics was eligible for Enterprise Florida’s Online Global Program. As a public-private partnership, Enterprise Florida Inc. (EFI) is the principal economic development organization for the state. Working with IBT Online, EFI initiated an innovative program to help Florida companies with global ambitions get the right sales and marketing tools: international, fully localized websites and social media marketing.

This is the third in our 4-part Service Company Exporter Series that explores the challenges service companies face when exporting and what tools and support service companies might benefit from. Previously, we looked at the importance of the U.S. economy’s service sector as well as the most common barriers to export faced by manufacturing and service firms.

This blog compares the barriers to export faced by manufacturing and service firms, with the export assistance activities provided by U.S. state export assistance programs. As identified in the previous blog, service companies typically experience more export barriers than manufacturing companies and these export barriers tend to be more complex. 

As service firms engage in the exporting process, they often seek the assistance of state and federal export assistance programs to help them navigate the complexities of exporting. Thus, understanding whether state export assistance programs are providing the appropriate export assistance activities to service firms is important for both parties as they seek to bring more U.S. services to international markets.

Japan is a stable and large economy with a population that is tech-savvy and modern - a dream destination for any exporter. The people of Japan are well connected (91% use the internet!) and are avid social media users. 

Use online tools to your advantage to be found, understood, and transact your business in Japan – one of the most internet-aware markets in the world. 

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.

Brazil - The largest economy in South America and with exciting potential for further growth. No wonder exporters have Brazil firmly in their export destination sights. While its size and potential growth are tempting, it is not for the inexperienced exporter. Brazil is a difficult market to enter, subject to a history of complex protectionist policies.

But for the persistent exporter, Brazil holds out the trophy of a lucrative and growing market. Use online tools to your advantage to be found, understood and transact your business in Brazil – one of the most internet-aware markets in the world. The infographic below will help you grasp and understand the potential of Brazil’s online environment, social media, and ecommerce.

This is the second in our 4-part blog Service Company Exporter Series that explores the challenges service companies face when exporting and what tools and support service companies might benefit from. Previously, we looked at the importance of the service sector for the U.S. economy. The current blog compares the most common barriers to export faced by service companies versus manufacturers.

If the U.S wishes to maintain its global stature, it needs to support its service exporters more as they compete in international markets. Traditional federal and state export assistance programs need to acknowledge the economic shift in favor of services and adapt their resources and activities to support the growing number of U.S. service companies that are looking to export. This blog series will discuss the different resources service exporters need compared to manufacturing exporters and will make suggestions on how U.S. state export development programs can address the exporting needs of service firms.

New to China and wondering how to get brand recognition? One of the fastest and most cost-efficient ways of building brand awareness in China, particularly for B2B companies, is to use SINA Weibo. The name Weibo means microblog in Chinese and the app is sometimes likened to a Chinese version of Twitter. But that comparison undermines one of its key attributes: from an online marketing perspective Weibo is more like Facebook. Weibo allows companies to post content to specific targeted audiences in China. It gives you a segmented audience base to grow page likes, create social buzz and to drive traffic to your website. This is the main reason why Chinese businesses are increasingly using Weibo for their online marketing and why savvy non-Chinese companies are joining in.