Going Global: The Channel’s Expanding Horizons

… help with dedicated infrastructure and name recognition more than their distributor partners do. As size of company increased (beyond 50 employees) the importance of these two resources decreased, but suppliers still remained ahead of distributors.

In a few instances, respondents gave distributors a slight edge compared with suppliers, notably offering a local partner ecosystem open to collaborating on projects and trade shows or road shows. More suppliers, however, offer language- and culture-optimized software.

Other reasons survey respondents cited for not selling outside the U.S. include a complex regulatory landscape (23 percent), insufficient ROI (21 percent), too much political uncertainty (17 percent), and key strategic partners not supporting global sales (15 percent).

At reseller Manic Enterprises, which counts WTG as a partner, working out compliance is the biggest obstacle. “Regulatory is the first consideration,” said CEO Ron Carmanico, who says about 40 percent of his business is international.

Those regulatory headaches are likely to increase when the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) goes into effect in May 2018. A recent PwC pulse survey shows that 77 percent of U.S. multinational corporations will spend at least $1 million to achieve compliance before the deadline; 32 percent plan to reduce their presence in Europe, while 26 percent intend to exit the EU market altogether. GDPR’s aim is to streamline EU laws to protect citizens’ data, and heavy fines will be imposed for noncompliance.

This represents an opportunity for partners that can make sense of the EU regulatory landscape, often with some help from suppliers. Microsoft is working to prep its partners, and managed cloud security services provider Armor announced in March a U.K.-focused program to enable partners to address the GDPR.

One surprise result: Worries over intellectual property and security were negligible among our survey respondents.

Advice From the Trenches

Overall, survey respondents mostly agreed on the common obstacles to global business: cultural/language barriers; lack of communication and miscommunication; and logistical issues such as time delays, time zones, tax codes, regulation and compliance.

Still, global selling seems well prepared to continue, notwithstanding political changes in the United States or elsewhere. So how do you prep for success?

While many respondents said a peer partnership with a local channel provider can be a lifeline, Vijay Basani, founder, CEO and chairman of security-as-a-service provider EiQ, advises his partners to beware of limiting their options.

“It’s risky to engage in …