pplying IT overseas can provide big benefits for companies that realize the importance of learning local markets and business procedures. This may sound obvious, but not everyone ventures into the global economy with that in mind. More than a few companies have tried to simply graft U.S-oriented applications and systems onto overseas operations-only to find that this doesn't work.
Leading companies that successfully integrate IT into their global strategies tend to follow these simple but essential principles.
Get close to your overseas partners and operations. Make sure that senior IT people travel overseas frequently so that they stay in touch with the situation on the ground. You should also co-locate the IT and business operations overseas so they can be as closely aligned as possible. Don't try to rule faraway posts from some suburban office park in the United States. For that matter, don't try to run all of Latin America from Mexico City. Also, lead with people who understand the business process first and foremost and help them become business technologists.
Get buy-in from local business managers. Companies such as American President's Line, a global shipping and logistics concern, involve overseas managers in the development of new software, including them in meetings to hammer out globally acceptable configurations. Then U.S. managers make follow-up trips a couple of months after systems are deployed to make sure people are using them properly.
Have more flexibility and options overseas, because the infrastructure and government regulations vary dramatically from the United States. For example, though you might be able to count on using satellite communication with factories in industrialized countries, there are places where satellites will be illegal or unavailable.
Consider a shared service model to take advantage of the integration of regional markets, particularly in Europe. General Motors, for instance, is moving to consolidate its IT in Europe so that different business units in various countries all use common platforms and are supported from one location. "We are going to a regionally integrated model where all countries in Europe use the same suite of applications running on the same architecture, platforms, networks, etc.," says Sateesh Lele, GM's CIO for Europe. This is quite different from the country-by-country IT infrastructure that many companies have had in Europe. But that segregated approach is no longer adequate now that companies are viewing Europe as a single integrated market.
Finally, think globally but hire locally. Below the mainframe level, there are skilled technical staffers in many countries. It's critical to keep the top IT executives back home informed, but most of the work on the ground can be done by local staff. Says Toby Eduardo Redshaw, Federal Express CIO for Latin America, "I have never hired an expatriate."
Associate editor Gregory Dalton covers global E-commerce and IT management.
pplying IT overseas can provide big benefits for companies that realize the importance of learning local markets and business procedures. This may sound obvious, but not everyone ventures into the global economy with that in mind. More than a few companies have tried to simply graft U.S-oriented applications and systems onto overseas operations-only to find that this doesn't work. 
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