Taking your business global this year? Here are 6 ways to make it easier

So – you're taking your local business onto the world stage! Make sure you have the right support tools in place.

According to Airwallex, an estimated 35% of Australian SMEs want to take their business global. But if you don't get set up properly, you'll pay more in fees and lose track of where your money's going.

1. Set up an international account

Having an account that can handle international transactions and a variety of currencies is essential for anyone looking to take their business international.

An everyday Australian business account isn't always equipped for the task. You can find yourself facing all sorts of additional fees, transfer costs (more on those in a minute) and other hassles as part of the process.

This can cause significant problems for you – for example, not having proper visibility into your transactions. It can also cause problems for customers looking to buy from you.

So it's worth opting for an account that addresses these issues.

Let's look at the Airwallex Global Account as an example.

An Airwallex Global Account can help streamline the process of setting up international transactions for your company.

You can have local currency accounts in your business' names that come with local bank and branch codes and dedicated account numbers.

This makes it easy for you to receive funds domestically and internationally into your Airwallex account from multiple countries and regions.

Customers can pay in their preferred currency. You're able to see the different balances you currently hold, across a range of different currencies.

Additionally, there are no account opening fees, monthly maintenance charges or minimum transaction requirements for account holders.

2. Avoid excessive FX and transfer fees

FX and transfer fees are, to some degree, a cost of doing business internationally. Suppliers and employees around the world need to be paid, and that incurs costs.

But this doesn't mean you need to pay excessive amounts for the service.

Airwallex offers an FX and transfer service that allows you to transfer funds to more than 150 countries, using more than 60 currencies.

It's also able to integrate with your bookkeeping services, allowing you to keep track of your costs as you go.

Having the right partner onside can allow you to save on costs while still meeting your fiduciary duties.

3. Automate bills and other expenses

Paying bills and managing your expenses is really important as a business owner. Yet it's often time-consuming, and a bit of a hassle.

So opting to automate your payments can obviously save you time.

But did you know it can also be an effective way to manage risk and increase your oversight of business spend?

Airwallex accounts feature a payment automation service that can create a range of approvals and workflows, based on individual roles and company spend policies. You can then customise who has the ability to sign off on approvals.

4. Monitor your finances closely

Keeping a keen eye on where your funds are going while you're expanding is essential. Unexpected costs can arise when you're dealing with a new country or culture, but this doesn't mean you should throw caution to the wind either.

So being able to track expenses in real time is key. Part of that is having the right accounting tools and software in place.

For example, part of the Airwallex suite includes Expense Management tools that allow your employees to track expenses on the go. They just simply upload a photo of the receipt, submit the necessary details and it's noted immediately in the company expenses.

This also lets you get a macro and micro view of expenses. You'll able to look at company costs as a whole or hone in on an individual's spending, as necessary.

5. Opt for an international card

Using an Australian card when you're trying to grow internationally can present several problems. You're likely paying hefty transaction fees, your card may not be accepted by all vendors, and then there's the FX costs involved!

So if you're looking at growing, it's time to look at an international card that can tackle these issues.

Let's look at the Airwallex Borderless Card for a moment, to get an idea of the sort of features to look for in an international card.

The Airwallex Borderless Card features 0% charges on international transactions and also auto-converts your funds at leading market rates.

However, it also ties to an Airwallex Global Account, so you're able to pay in the holdings you have in a particular currency. This means that you're able to bypass FX fees entirely.

Additionally, you're able to provide your employees with virtual cards, with expenses still tracked centrally.

6. Leverage software integrations

In the old days, it was often necessary to look for a range of different software solutions for an international business. Software that worked in one region wasn't necessarily appropriate for another, files had to be sent manually, and computing power itself could be wildly uneven from country to country.

This didn't make for a good internal – or customer – experience.

Today, cloud computing has solved a number of these issues. But you still need to have the right product suite underpinning things.

This way, you're able to provide consistency for customers and staff alike, no matter which part of the world they're from.

All of the Airwallex tools we've discussed today can integrate with a wide variety of software solutions. This can help enable a much more natural scaling process, rather than the stop-start experience of the past.

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