Logicalis US Helps Multi-National CIOs Select the Right Partner for International IT Rollouts

Solution Provider Outlines Three Key Ways to Manage International IT Transactions

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Dec 19, 2017, 09:27 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Multi-national firms sometimes find international IT projects challenging due to the complexity of managing and coordinating a rollout of such magnitude. In addition to the intricacies of the technology itself, there are a myriad of decisions to be made along the way – and making even the slightest mistake in any of them can easily derail a project's success. As a result, it's critical to choose the right solution provider partner from the start. According to Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (www.us.logicalis.com), there are three important things a multi-national client should look for before engaging any solution provider as a partner for an international IT project: (1) The solution provider should have a deep understanding of the local business practices in each country in which the client organization does business. (2) It should have a framework for delivering consistency of professional and managed services worldwide. (3) And, perhaps most importantly, the solution provider should offer a tiered model for transacting business that takes tax advantages, centralized payment processes and project control into account.

"At Logicalis, our international customers often tell us that it's our attention to detail that is most important to them," says Laura Vaupel, Director, International Sales, Logicalis US. "Consider how important even the smallest of details – like knowing each country's unique power cord standards – can be to the success of a multi-national IT project. There are also currency differences and tax initiatives to take into account, which is why having a variety of ways for a client to manage their international transactions is one of the most crucial things to look for in a solution provider as a partner for international IT rollouts."

Three Keys to Managing International Transactions

One of the most important ways a solution provider can assist an organization with its multi-national IT project is to help the client select the best way to manage its international transactions. In addition to the following options, there should also be a myriad of other choices available under each of these broad categories. When selecting a solution provider partner, be sure to assess their ability to deliver in each of these three key areas.

Capturing Local Tax Advantages: If you're interested in maximizing available tax advantages on a country-by-country basis, start with a single point of contact at your solution provider partner who can help you coordinate the entire project. At Logicalis, sales reps coordinate quotes, solutions and local services in each country on the client's behalf. Then, each Logicalis office around the globe fulfills the client's orders in country, in their own currencies, allowing the client organization to forego or reclaim taxes on eligible purchases of both hardware and software solutions as well as professional services. With this country-by-country option, while customers are invoiced by each individual country, Logicalis handles all the rest, and the potential tax savings can be significant.
Centralizing Payment Processes: Want a more streamlined invoicing process? Ask if your partner can bill you for all your transactions in the same currency as the country in which your headquarters resides. At Logicalis, for example, we can procure a client's multi-national solutions all on a single order in that client's main local currency, sending just one invoice to streamline the process. Behind the scenes, Logicalis places orders with its other locations around the globe, each of which acts as a distributor to deliver clients' solutions within their countries of choice. When selecting a solution provider partner and opting to do business this way, be sure to check that you won't have to worry about customs, shipments, or import regulations either.
Maintaining Project Control: Need your order delivered to a central location so you can standardize elements before shipping to other offices? Any solution provider you work with should have this capability. Logicalis can prepare and deliver solutions to clients in their ordering country to allow the client to standardize elements of the solution, then either the client or Logicalis can ship the completed solution to the customer's various locations around the world.

Additionally, while having different operations in many countries may technically qualify a solution provider as a "global" entity, something more is needed. It's important that any solution provider an organization selects as its international IT business partner has a framework in place that ensures consistency in the professional and managed services they provide regardless of geography. Logicalis, for example, delivers a seamless customer experience globally through its Common Services Platform, a framework based on standard ITIL processes. This framework was instrumental in helping Logicalis achieve Cisco Global Gold certification, a testament to the quality and consistency of its worldwide services and support. Therefore, to be a true partner, a solution provider should be able to deliver repeatable, consistent services across all participating geographies while still being able to remain flexible and agile in meeting the client organization's unique regional needs.

Want to Learn More?

Find out how Logicalis' international experience and resources can help make your multi-national business and IT digital transformation goals reality: http://ow.ly/52Gu30h2cM5.
CIOs around the world discuss the barriers to digital transformation and their plans to overcome them in the 2017/2018 Logicalis Global CIO Survey; download a copy to learn more: http://ow.ly/Nd7Z30h2cNX.
Where does your organization stand on the road to digital transformation? Take our two-minute quiz to find out: http://ow.ly/tWJW30h2cP9.

About Logicalis

Logicalis is an international multi-skilled solution provider providing digital enablement services to help customers harness digital technology and innovative services to deliver powerful business outcomes.

Our customers span industries and geographical regions; our focus is to engage in the dynamics of our customers' vertical markets including financial services, TMT (telecommunications, media and technology), education, healthcare, retail, government, manufacturing and professional services, and to apply the skills of our 4,500 employees in modernizing key digital pillars, data center and cloud services, security and network infrastructure, workspace communications and collaboration, data and information strategies, and IT operation modernization.

We are the advocates for our customers for some of the world's leading technology companies including Cisco, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Microsoft, VMware and ServiceNow.

The Logicalis Group has annualized revenues of over $1.5 billion from operations in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Africa. It is a division of Datatec Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, with revenues of over $4 billion.

For more information, visit www.us.logicalis.com.