Advances in transportation and technology have made the world a smaller place. Today, we can eat breakfast in London, hop on a plane, and have dinner in New York. Communication with anyone, anywhere, can happen instantly. And while I personally love the idea of eating an English breakfast and New York pizza in the same day, all while video chatting with a friend in Australia, this progress has made its biggest impact in the business world. With these advancements, nearly any company can be global. However, before going global, organizations must recognize the realities and challenges that come with this opportunity.

Eliminating time and distance barriers

The first reality is that companies can reach new markets much more efficiently and quickly than in the past. Most organizations, regardless of size, have embraced this reality as it expands their potential customer base significantly. In fact, 58% of small businesses confirmed they already have international customers. Expanding to international markets creates challenges, though. When your customer lives in your local area, communicating and collaborating is relatively simple. Working through a contract change with a customer, an NDA with a partner, or an order form with a vendor can be as simple as dropping by their office. It’s not so simple when the customer, partner, or vendor is on the other side of the world, though.

Attracting and retaining the best talent

Citrix Content Collaboration can ease those challenges. With Content Collaboration, you can eliminate the need for FTP sites, USB sticks, and CDs with simple, secure file sharing. An integration with Office 365 empowers users to co-author documents seamlessly. Workflows enable end users to get feedback and approval on documents from both internal and external collaborators, getting the process out of email. This combination of tools makes collaborating on a document with anyone, no matter where they are, as simple as a face-to-face meeting.

The second reality is that globalization expands talent pools beyond your local area. For those organizations that need specialized talent, the inability to hire the right people can be the main inhibitor to growth. Technology has been a driver of the rise in remote work, enabling companies to hire and retain employees with hard-to-find skillsets that don’t live within driving distance to their office. This may be a shift in strategy for some organizations, requiring them to think in a new way. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, so refining processes like onboarding a new, remote employee are critical to enhancing your employer brand and retaining top talent.

Content Collaboration can help here as well. With integrated e-signature, Human Resources can digitize the process of acquiring signed job offer letters. Workflow automation can take care of the next step, automatically sending a new employee paperwork and welcome materials once the signed letter is received. By leveraging Content Collaboration, organizations can roll out the red carpet, welcoming their remote employees with a personalized onboarding experience.

Securing data and complying with regulations

Third, organizations expanding globally must recognize the countries they are expanding into have different sets of regulations and compliance requirements than their home country. Not complying with those regulations generates considerable risk. For instance, with GDPR fines maxing out at up to 4% of a company’s revenue or €20 million, being on the wrong side of the law can cripple your business. With every challenge comes an opportunity, though. Many organizations have looked at becoming GDPR-compliant as an opportunity to not only refine their data retention and residency policies, but to also optimize processes and increase their overall security posture.

With Content Collaboration, data is encrypted in motion and at rest. Senders can also protect shares with Information Rights Management, and IT can integrate Data Loss Prevention systems, helping organizations achieve GDPR compliance. Additionally, with control planes in the USA and EU and the ability to store data in the cloud or on-premises, organizations can meet data sovereignty requirements.

See how Citrix Content Collaboration can drive your global expansion strategy.