Forbes have put together a list of ‘myth’s about cloud computing’. I for one thought that some of these were very much the truth…lesson learnt. Here are some of the myths:

1. Public cloud is the only true cloud: while public clouds are growing more and talked about more the truth remains that the private cloud still adopts still exceeds that of public cloud adoption.
2. Clouds are one size fits all: there are many different deployment models, service models and operating models for a cloud solution. The notion that businesses must be confined to a limited and closed set of cloud choices is not true. As with most business technology there are a range of options available to suit individual needs.
3. There’s no difference between virtualization and the cloud. It’s true that virtulization is a key technology that enables cloud computing, but virtualization alone does not make a cloud. Cloud computing involves much more than that.
4. Clouds are only run on commodity components: Clouds run on servers of all different shapes and sizes, while some companies have used cheap, commodity hardware, the critical issues is choosing the best approach for your business.
5. Cloud is pay-per- use: While it sometimes pay-per-use may be a good option, it is not the only one. Subscription-based pricing that offers fixed monthly or annual costs are often the better choice for applications that are long-lived and have relatively stable capacity requirement.
6. You need multiple clouds to run your business: While it might seem like a good idea to select a wide range specialized cloud products and services to address different critical business functions, that might not always be the best idea. There are certain clouds that can offer all of the services you might need, this is not a bad thing.

Conversis’ business briefs are a series that give you a quick summary of the social, political, economic and cultural news that you need to be aware of if you’re doing business in a foreign country.

Here’s a snapshot of the information you get in a business brief.

Is Mexico a good country to do business in now?

There are definitely good money-making opportunities to be had in Mexico, but with corruption and crime still serious and chronic problems, any business dealings should be considered carefully.

Here’s why.

Mexico is a diverse nation, known for natural splendour, rich culture as well as great poverty, pollution and urban blight. The nation has made an impressive recovery from a deep recession in the 1990s, and increasing trade with North America is creating economic opportunities by opening doors for business investment.

Ongoing social and economic concerns include low real wages, underemployment for large segments of the population, inequitable income distribution, and few advancement opportunities for the predominately Amerindian population in the impoverished southern states.

Fast Facts

Population: 112.3 million

Language/s: Spanish

Religion/s: Christian; Roman Catholic 76.5%

Land area: 1.96 million square km

Currency: Peso

Capital: Mexico City

Internet domain: .mx

International dialing code: +52

Innovation ranking[1]: 48 (out of 82 countries)

Digital economy ranking:  41 (out of 70 countries)

Economic indicators: Real GDP growth: 5.3, GDP per capital (US$): $9503.937

Economy

Mexico’s economy depends to a large extent on remittances sent home from Mexicans living and working in the United States, so the Mexican economy suffered in the global economic downturn. According to the OECD, however, a vigorous recovery began in 2009 on the back of strong export growth. The reliance on exports to the US and remittances from the US remains a risk as the US recovery weakens.

Politics

Mexico is a federal republic, led by a President who is elected by the people for a six-year term and serves as both head of government and of state. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Congress of the Union, and the judiciary is independent of executive and legislative power. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, dominated Mexican politics for 70 years, until the 1997 elections saw a resurgent opposition break what was in effect a one-party system with a democratic façade.

The current President Enrique Pena Nieto took place in 2012. He is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and was Governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011. He has vowed to tackle poverty and to fight violent crime and corruption.

Doing business

Follow these tips when conducting business in Mexico:

Business appointments are required and should be made at least two weeks in advance. Reconfirm the appointment when you arrive in Mexico.

Punctuality is important, although your Mexican counterparts may be up to 30 minutes late.

Men should wear conservative, dark suits and women should wear business suits or conservative dresses.

Business cards are exchanged during introductions with everyone at the meeting. One side of your card should be in Spanish and should contain both your professional and educational qualifications. Always present your business card with the Spanish side facing the recipient.

Have all written material available in both English and Spanish. If you don’t speak Spanish, hire an interpreter.

The initial meeting is generally with someone of high stature, so it is important that your delegation include an upper-level executive. After the initial meeting, the senior executive may not attend meetings.

Because relationships are very important in Mexico, demonstrate trustworthiness, sincerity and integrity during meetings. Expect to answer questions about your personal background, family and life interests.

It will take several meetings to come to an agreement. Remember that face-to-face meetings are preferred over telephone, letters or email.

The negotiations will include a fair amount of haggling, so do not give your best offer first. Be patient, because negotiations and decisions take a long time and deadlines are seen as flexible and fluid.

Politics

Mexico is a federal republic, led by a President who is elected by the people for a six-year term and serves as both head of government and of state. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Congress of the Union, and the judiciary is independent of executive and legislative power. The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, dominated Mexican politics for 70 years, until the 1997 elections saw a resurgent opposition break what was in effect a one-party system with a democratic façade.

The current President Enrique Pena Nieto took place in 2012. He is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and was Governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011. He has vowed to tackle poverty and to fight violent crime and corruption.

Doing business

Follow these tips when conducting business in Mexico:

·   Business appointments are required and should be made at least two weeks in advance. Reconfirm the appointment when you arrive in Mexico.

·   Punctuality is important, although your Mexican counterparts may be up to 30 minutes late.

·   Men should wear conservative, dark suits and women should wear business suits or conservative dresses.

·   Business cards are exchanged during introductions with everyone at the meeting. One side of your card should be in Spanish and should contain both your professional and educational qualifications. Always present your business card with the Spanish side facing the recipient.

·   Have all written material available in both English and Spanish. If you don’t speak Spanish, hire an interpreter.

Read more:

Read Business briefs: Mexico plus 16 other business briefs here

HINT:

These business briefs may become very useful within the next few weeks in helping you to become a #GlobalGuru

The day has finally arrived, after months of planning Conversis is ready to host our 10 year birthday celebration party. And what a day it is – the sun is beaming, not a cloud in sight and the marquee is ready to go – all we need now is for everyone to arrive! J

Today our barn (The Conversis HQ) will see a lot of the key people who have helped in our success over the last 10 years all under the one roof raising a glass of (pink) champagne in celebration.

It will be a very special day!

Continuing with the birthday theme, you might have noticed the title of this blog “#HappyBirthdayConversis” – so you have probably guessed it but we want you to get on Twitter and send us a birthday message to help with our celebrations! Or if you are not on Twitter, get on our Facebook page and leave us a message there – it will help to make the day even more special!

Finally, as if our day wasn’t exciting enough, our new website has gone live. The website is very pink and easy to navigate around. We also have a new referral programme so be sure to check that out.

We will have more news on our new website next week – but now it is time to celebrate 10 successful years in business.

#HappyBirthdayConversis

PS. Keep an eye on our Facebook page next week for all of the photos from our party.

Gary’s thought for the month.

I’m not in the habit of using these monthly musings to focus too much on Conversis – I dislike blogs that indulge a little too often in parochial navel-gazing. But I hope you will excuse me in this week of all weeks for our business.

This is the week of our 10 year anniversary party, and we all hope to have a great time in the company of clients, suppliers, friends and colleagues on Friday. By happy coincidence, this week we have also passed the milestones of our 10,000^th sales order and issued purchase order number 25,000. Stark reminders of how far we have come since Karin and I walked into the Barns 10 years ago armed with laptops and fanciful prayers that British Telecom would connect us to the outside world soon. It has been a tough journey at times, with the fluctuating states of the worldwide economies over the years, but it’s never been anything less than challenging and fun.

I of course owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our loyal clients, suppliers, shareholders and partners. Its been wonderful working with you all and I trust we will continue to do so over the coming years. But it’s the team at Conversis who are most in my mind this week, those that serve now and those that have in the past.

Guys, its been a blast. I have been consistently humbled by your dedication, skill, knowledge and by the good humor you have shown even in the tough times. Its been a privilege to work with you. I am proud of the business we have created, its values, its culture and its record of outstanding customer service. We stand today a strong, vibrant business with considerable opportunities for ever greater success in the future.

Thank you to each and every one of you for your contribution to our story.

‘Nothing is certain in life except for death and taxes’ Benjamin Franklin – 1789

Or so Franklin thought. According to stats recently released by the European Union, tax evasion costs the EU around €1 trillion a year, a figure that dwarfs the collective spends on healthcare on education. Clearly, a lot of people aren’t coughing up.

As such, senior figures in the EU are urging members to claw their tax back and usher in a new era of compliance. An admirable aim, but one that poses significant difficulties.

As far as cultural nuances go, there’s few more pronounced in Europe than the varying attitudes towards paying tax. Delving deeper into evasion figures you’ll find a clear disparity between the Northern and Southern states, Italy and Spain boasting tax deficits significantly higher than the likes of the UK and Germany.

Italy tops the table with €285bn lost in tax every year, whilst Spain doesn’t fare much better, €240bn thought to be lost to the tax evaders. In contrast, estimates suggest that the tax evaders cost the UK £69.9bn billion per year, whilst in Germany, studies suggest that tax evasion cost German coffers around €65 billion last year.

Italy and Spain have a big job on their hands then, and one that’s likely to be tougher than the job facing Britain and Germany, as not only will they have a huge amount of tax to claw back, they’ll have a huge amount of mind-set shifting to do, too.

Evasion is rife throughout public life, especially in Italy. You only have to look at the bruised and battered career of Silvio Berlusconi to see that. During a rally in the noughties, the former Italian PM remarked that tax evasion was a ‘right’ … it won’t surprise you to know that he was recently convicted for tax evasion.

If those in the highest office are at it, you dread to think what the man on the street is up to. With deficits ever burgeoning, and bail out funds dwindling, it’s an issue that needs addressing. And quick. Increase compliance and we might get EU finances back into the black.

Biography:

Darren Fell is Managing Director at Crunch, Brighton based accountants for contractors and Go Limited, online company formation agents.

Culture

So accepting that there is at least a perception that local is ‘easier’ on both sides of the supply chain, I also think that there may be more subtle forces at work here. We all spend our lives linguistically and culturally adapting communication assets for our clients. Clearly, if there is a monolingual Korean speaking client who wants localization services, Conversis is not the supplier for them as I have no Korean speakers on staff. So even in the Language services industry, in some instances language is occasionally a barrier.

But interestingly, I believe that cultural preferences are also a barrier. There is not the space in this article to do justice to the works of Hofstede, Trompenaars or other culture academics and commentators, but suffice to say the dynamics that affect our clients also affect the localization industry. Clearly, there are obvious differences in Eastern and Western cultures, but also more subtle ones between Americans, British, Scandinavians, Germans, and French and so on. As human beings our temptation is to migrate to that which is familiar and comfortable. Communications that are styled in a way that is suitable to our upbringing, experiences and preferences. That guy in the next town seems a lot like me, I like him!

On the doorstep

We continue to strive to be relevant and attractive to buyers on the international stage. The aspirations I have for my business means that it is worth the investment and commitment to do so. On a personal level, I will continue to rack up the air miles. Often this is in the hope rather than expectation of winning a new client. The long lead in times mean that the commitment needs to be there in a situation where, ultimately, they will either deal with you or not and it is only through this courting period will you find whether there is a match which will lead to a mutually rewarding relationship.

But in doing this we will not forget the opportunities that present themselves on our doorstep whether they are local offices of MNE’s or domestic companies looking to break foreign markets. Sometimes easiest is also best.

This is the challenges that face all small and medium LSP’s. In the end it depends on what the ambitions are for the business and the way you want to do business. In reality there should be no barriers that cannot be overcome for LSP’s to sell internationally or for clients to buy out of their domestic market. But, as always the decision will come down to a balance of factors and often the geography is a heavily weighted one.

Economics

If we accept this premise, the rest is down to economics. It’s less costly in terms of expense and time to manage local clients rather than international ones. Conversis generates around 50% of its income from our domestic market. The other 50% of the revenue is split equally from our clients in the USA and mainland Europe. Consequently I spend around a third of my working life traveling to these destinations as well as the trips made by other members of the team. It works for us, but takes some business and personal commitment and I can understand the temptation to stay local.

The alternative to this relationship style would mean supporting the drift towards commoditization of translation services. Personally, I think there is a place for commoditization of some of what we do. Price competition for words at its purest. But without the human element it becomes the default setting and clearly there shouldn’t be a one size fits all approach. It depends on what the assets are, who the consumers are and what is the purpose of the communication. It’s this diversity that makes the need for consulting and exploring best practice and the best approach so important. Value for money is important, quality that’s fit for purpose is important and a drive for continuous improvement is important. And, I contend, that face to face is important.

Horses for Courses

In saying all this I am aware that Conversis occupies a place in the market that is not shared by everyone. What works for us, doesn’t necessarily work for other LSP’s. We tend towards the external communications end of the market, typically we deal with large multinational corporations and have multiple and multi layered relationships within that corporation. I therefore consider effective relationship management to be a core competency of the business.

Long conversion cycles

This is all well and good with clients we already hold. But what about winning new ones? I calculated, on average, that it takes 20 interactions to win a new client for Conversis, with 3 of those face-to-face. These interactions typically take place over many months and in some cases years. It takes real commitment and often leaps of faith to stick with this level of activity over a period of time where there is no guarantee of success. So much easier if that client is less than 100 miles away!

Another area in which we may differ is our lack of international offices. At the risk of being provocative, I have a sign in my office which says ‘keep it real’. This is not me trying to be cool (that ship sailed many years ago) but that I want my business to have a ‘what you see is what you get’ approach to our clients and prospects. Not for us virtual offices where we pretend to occupy geography just for appearances sake. So we want to develop international offices when and where it makes economic sense to have a proper presence and there is a real demonstrable benefit for our clients.

In the meantime I, and some of the team, will continue to be British Airways, American Airlines and Lufthansa’s favorite people. We consider our physical presence, at our client’s place of work, interacting with them and their colleagues a critical part of what we do. Whether they are domestic or international clients.

Part three coming soon!

I arrived in this industry ten years ago fresh from a global bank – ‘the world’s local bank’ no less – and fully expected my newly minted company to sit here in rural Oxfordshire, UK serving clients from every corner of the earth.  A bit like HSBC in fact. Or at least a very small bit like HSBC. So we engaged the services of a Texas based PR firm, identified translators from every continent and I racked up the air miles and waited for those exotic clients from foreign lands to beat down our door and our email inboxes.

But as we sit here celebrating 10 successful years in business in 2013, I reflect that the core of our business is still in our domestic market. Of course, we serve many clients in the USA and Europe, but in many instances, the origins of these relationships were via contacts here in the UK. It seems that we are not unusual in this regard, according to Common Sense Advisory, geographic location is the third most important factor for translation buyers after price and speed.  So why is this manifestly global business so often still bought locally?

Relationships

It’s all about relationships. And even in this digital age of email, video conferencing and telecommunications you still cannot beat face-to-face. I think that locally sourced translation is a consequence of needs and pressures on both sides of the client/vendor relationship.

From the client side, we need to understand the real trust needed in selecting a translation supplier. I know it’s a business cliché and that trust is required in all business relationships, but this need is heightened by us sending completed materials back to our clients that they often have no way of validating until it leaves their inbox. Put another way, how are they able to assess whether the Japanese translation of their website we have just completed is of the correct quality and what they wanted until it is validated by a Japanese speaker, likely a country manager in their own organization?

Most of the clients we deal with (the people not the companies) are in large corporations, fighting for influence, driven by time and budget pressures. Their reputation is on the line as well as ours. It’s much more comforting to be dealing with the business you see, ‘local’ to you, faces you know. On your doorstep if a problem needs to be solved. I am talking here about the individuals who manage the projects day to day from the client side and not necessarily procurement or purchasing professionals.

Practical issues

Throw into the mix the inconveniences of time zones, different currencies and clashing national holidays there is a temptation to stay local. But even amongst the smallest of LSP’s there is now the ability to flex the service offering to meet client needs wherever they are in the world. At Conversis this is a regular occurrence and we should see these issues as perceptions rather than problems in reality.

Consultative Sell

The  natural inclination therefore, is for clients is to go local and that is mirrored on the vendor side. I am aware that there are schools of thought that consider relationship selling to be dead. But, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. For me, with either existing or new clients, localization is still a consultative sell whether this is with expert or inexpert buyers. It is necessary in building the relationship to get underneath the skin of the particular clients localization challenge. Understanding their needs, providing insights, challenging norms and suggesting solutions.

This is particularly important for businesses like Conversis. We are constantly competing in MNE’s for large volumes of business with some much larger competitors. In terms of size we can only lose out to competitors that may be 20 times our size. So we win our business by being light on our feet, more competitive, more innovative, more flexible and quicker to react. In my view, it is only possible to present those attributes with people with whom you have solid relationship based on trust.

Part two and three coming soon!

While both men have contributed significantly to the football world, they have also contributed a lot to the business world: Ferguson from a leadership prospective and Beckham from a branding perspective.

In 2011 we wrote an article about brand Beckham ‘Brand Beckham: Five lessons on international marketing from Posh & Becks‘. The article was one of our most read article since we started writing The Conversation, so we thought what a fitting time to recap on what it is about the Beckham’s that has made the international phenomenon that is Brand Beckham.

1. International recognition: Visiting foreign countries to gain new business is fine, however if you want to truly succeed then you must have a stronger presence there. To fully understand the culture you need to live in a country. By living there, you then have a presence and will receive recognition. The Beckham’s have lived in Spain and LA, and most recently David’s base has been in Italy. While living abroad they still frequently returned to the UK. If you want to expand abroad – don’t forget about your roots!
2. Victoria was always reluctant to move to Spain, and her reluctance meant she spent very little time there. For those of you who might not remember – this led to problems for the Beckham in the form of ‘Rebecca Loos’. If you want international success you must be committed to it and be available to manage the processes.
3. Learn the Language: When Becks moved to Spain both he and his children fully embraced the culture and language. If you want a global brand then you need to have people working with you that can speak the necessary languages to communicate with local customers.
4. Make friends with locals: David and Victoria very quickly built close friendships with the celebs in LA, Tom Cruise, Eva Longoria, Will Smith – this not only got them media coverage but also gave them credibility. When going international make friends with the right (influential) people.
5. Don’t lose your identity: David and Victoria have not lost their English accents, culture or commitment to England and English football. People are attracted to your brand in the first place for a reason – don’t forget that reason when operating internationally.

Read more:

The Conversation, Management Lessons from Ferguson, May 2013

The Conversation, Brand Beckham: Five lessons on international marketing from Posh & Becks, April 2011

As the army troops continue their evacuation out of Afghanistan back to the UK, there is an ongoing battle facing interpreters who have worked alongside the British Army throughout the war. Unlike the interpreters in the war against Iraq, these interpreters are not being offered any asylum or protection when the army leaves putting them in grave danger.

Last week, British veterans who served in the Helmand province called on the British Government not to abandon the interpreters who worked with them, enduring the same risks and hardships. Their appeal was supported by a petition signed by 78,000 members of the public. A non-profit charity Red T is fighting for this specific cause.

Colonel Stuart Tootal, who led the Helmand battle group in 2006 said “They absolutely saved lives. They read the ground, judged the temperature, interpreted our intelligence. They would have faced considerable risk on leave. I think we owe them a lot of gratitude”.

Offering asylum to interpreters is one of many ways to help them when the army leaves. Offering support, protection, insurance, guidance and safety within their own country is another. The point is the UK government need to help.

The Times, We can’t forget debt to interpreters, say soldiers, May 2013

Red T