New Opportunities for Your Business to Grow Internationally

International postal services are no longer simply carriers of letters and parcels. They’re using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to transform the way they can distribute information, which offers your business more ways to make money globally.

The following are some examples of how international posts are currently using ICT. Use these examples to generate ideas about how you can grow your business by taking advantage of things international posts are currently doing around the world.

Basic banking services offered through Brazil Post’s retail network
In 2002, the Banco Postal project was launched with a goal to reach millions of adults who didn’t use banks, and by 2009, they were servicing 8.8 million of these “unbanked” people. The result included more than 700,000 loans and led to Banco Postal becoming a major player in the microcredit market.

Now that individuals, municipalities, and businesses can keep their money at the local Banco Postal branch, the bank has the ability to offer credit to local businesses and farmers, which helps them expand and increase employment in their area.

Russian Post uses ICT to implement “Cyber Money”
In 2002, the Russian government approved “e-Russia (2002-2010),” which is a multi-sectoral plan to develop the information society. Cyber Money is one of the projects, and it acts as a postal money transfer service, which is important for people in rural areas who may not have convenient access to banks.

Millions of Russians who need an easy, quick method of transferring money are attracted to Cyber Money, which replaces paper-based postal money orders and offers the reliability of the postal network.

What all this means is that businesses have more access to markets that were functionally inaccessible in the past, and the people in these markets have the financial pipeline to securely deliver payment for goods and services. Could your business tap into this market?

What is now being done in Russia and Brazil can be done just about anywhere. Technology is helping third-world countries catch up with the rest of the world.

For example, some of the expensive physical infrastructure (like running wire from one end of a country to another) can be bypassed with less expensive wireless alternatives, thereby lowering financial investment barriers.

That should get you thinking about what global markets may be a good fit for your products and services. Maybe, international borders aren’t an obstacle if what you have to offer can be bought, distributed, and paid for via the Internet.

So, think about how you can put one, or more, of these information and communication technologies to work for you.

Are you a software company? Maybe you could be selling your products internationally as a digital download. The same goes for information products like E-books and audio or video learning programs. If you offer financial services, there seems to be numerous opportunities to find a growing niche abroad. And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

As the rest of the world steps further into the digital age, it would seem that your only limitation for developing an international business is your own imagination.

New technologies are making it easier to get your marketing message to a growing international audience, and secure digital financial systems are making it safer and easier to do business in areas all around the globe.

If you have the type of business that lends itself to the online digital world, then you don’t need a physical presence to do business internationally. So, what are you waiting for? Get creative and find a way to sell your products and services around the world.

---Source: Universal Postal Union (UPU) New Services and the Transformation of the Post (www.upu.int)