Take your SME abroad with virtual offices

Taking a small and medium-sized company (SMEs) abroad can represent a challenge, due to the high cost it generates or because it is considered that it is only carried out by large corporations; however, SMEs can take your offer to other countries from strategies such as not so complicated, such as virtual offices.

Elena Achar, advisor to the presidency of the American Society of Mexico, explains that one trend is to have a virtual office in another country, which allows increasing the profitability and reach of Mexican businesses.

“The most important thing is to keep in mind that not only large companies internationalize, but that SMEs can and should also, and this can be done through digitization, for example, with a virtual officewhich favors their access to global value chains”, said the global organization during the panel Growth without borders.

He explained that for an SME to access another country, there are different ways: through virtual offices; making strategic alliances with other companies that facilitate market access: for offshoreenter international tendersacquiring a storage center, and franchising.

In this sense, Jorge Mandujando, CEO of Beyond Technology, explained that the technological acceleration that occurred from the pandemic is favoring the expansion of Mexican companies and nine out of 10 companies are prioritizing expanding their operations in other regions by 2023. .

“We are seeing that Mexican companies intend to be outside the country offering their services, which will bring important benefits to the country because it will bring resources.”

For the next five years, 45% of companies intend to expand internationallyl, while 36% will work for national expansion and 19% for local growth.

Challenges in Mexico

When analyzing the reasons why they leave the country, in addition to the growth of the organization, it was detected that it has to do with existing regulations in Mexico such as the upregulation to open a company, as well as financial restrictions for its opening and supervision of the origin of resources (12%), followed by corruption and insecurity (10%), bureaucracy for all types of procedures (13%) and the scarcity of certified talent (13%).

“Regarding talent, we are beginning to see that there are many certified young people who offer their services worldwide, they are beginning to earn income well above the average and it is in other entities,” said Mandujano.

United States, the priority

Achar highlighted that regarding the preferred destinations for SMEs, the first place is occupied by the United States, followed by Canada, Europe, Central and South America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

The reason for choosing the northern country is due to innovation, technology, market size and sophistication of companies, from which Mexican companies can learn better practices. Likewise, it has a flexible legal framework for investment, the possibility of attracting talent as well as training, and its financial sector is highly developed.

The issue of cybersecurity is also relevant because there is greater protection and access to prevention technologies.

According to the OECD, Mexican companies began their internationalization processes after the reactivation of NAFTA with the United States, which allows entry into global value chains. For this reason, its presence increased, especially in California, Texas, New Mexico, Florida, New YorkWashington, Illinois y Michigan.

“The United States is positioned among those with the greatest feasibility to open a company, due to the flexibility of procedures and laws. Thus, Mexican companies invest much less to establish themselves and many, by having a virtual office, have an easier and more real internationalization process”.

The relocation of businesses caused by the pandemic and armed conflicts has also favored expansion, since a more important commercial exchange is being registered at the border, a lot of investment mainly in the manufacturing sectorwhich represents an opportunity for small businesses.

“The fact of making alliances, that is, working with people from other countries allows us to reach a very important objective: to be in the quadrant and improve competitiveness,” Mandujano concluded.