Soaring gas prices, record foreclosures, and food prices through the roof. Many IT businesses are saying, "What now?" The answer, go global. If you’re a growing business and you don’t yet have an international strategy, now is the time to start.

There are a few reasons for putting an action plan in place now. First, the dollar is still at record lows compared to the Euro, the Pound and other currencies which makes the prices for your product an exceptional bargain from your overseas customers’ perspective.

Second, if you have a customer support infrastructure in place for your U.S. customer base, with a relatively small investment in some language services, it becomes very easy to re-tool your processes to support new customers in other countries. And third, the web is open for business 24x7x365 making it very easy you to communicate with your customers in other countries.

Taking an organization across borders (on or offline) requires a brand and messaging review for cultural differences and appropriateness. Before trying to promote in other markets, smart IT executives know there is a need to analyze marketing materials and websites to determine their state of readiness for the local market - both from a cultural a language perspective.

As with any strategy, the first step is to understand what you are offering. If you’re a small, niche software company then your market will naturally be niche too. So to grow, your aim will be to identify every single company in your new target market that would be interested in your product or service. If you are a larger, more generalist IT service operation, you shouldn’t seek out niche opportunities but rather, seek out more global market fits.

Either way, you can only identify the size of that market by comparing your own ‘ideal’ customers with what’s available across the global business universe. By finding ‘more of the same’ you are already extending your available customer base.

So, where is your marketplace? It’s tempting to think of one region or country grouping as one market but anyone who’s visited the north of Scotland knows it’s a very different place from the south east of England! And Scandinavia comprises four countries: Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, where each of these populations not only speak different languages and use different currencies, but are separated by large bodies of water. Some think that there are probably greater differences between Norway and Sweden than between Belgium and England! These inter-cultural differences are so ingrained that it is almost impossible for an outsider to really understand them.

To overcome this, a successful global expansion requires an overarching philosophy and methodology using established business models and tools. But it only really works if these are combined with local management and local knowledge. That is why the way forward for many IT companies will be to entrust a language services company or localization service. Here are some of the areas that they should be able to help you with:

1. Localization Analysis – This is a process that will do two things. First, it will help determine how localization friendly your product or service is. Second it will help you create a road map for your team as to what needs to be done.

2. Create an Internationalized Look/Feel – be sensitive to cultural icons, symbols and nuances. Don’t put something distinctly “American” if you are trying to appeal to an international audience.

3. Translation is More Than Just Words: It isn’t just about translating words verbatim, you

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