International trade?
It’s essential for business success and survival
@I_am_word_struck
Michelle Nicol, Writer, Wordstruck writing and training Michelle is a copywriter, trainer and brand storyteller who helps businesses tell their story through words that attract attention. A former BBC journalist, she loves nosing out a great story and sharing her writing expertise through training and workshops.
A company is more likely to succeed (11% more in the UK) if it does business abroad. But this benefit requires companies to manage the currencies they trade in. We ask the managers of three different types of business about the opportunities offered by international trade and discover what role multi-currency software plays in them being capable of trading globally...
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esara Partners, London and Paris
Aesara Partners provides executive coaching, leadership development and consultancy services to businesses in 15 different countries. Executive coach and consultant Jodie Gibbons says choosing software that made working in different currencies easy and efficient was crucial to their business. Aesara needed software to manage quality control and efficiency across the business and the capability to manage multi currencies was essential. Cloud consultant, Maree Maxfield from Maxama assisted Aesara in selecting TidyWork to meet those requirements. “We’re connecting with Xero as our accounting software and we were looking at Workflow Max,” Jodie explains. “The deciding factor in using Tidy was the currency piece, 40 / Issue 12
without question.” “I would be disappointed if it didn’t save me 25% of my time spent on managing clients and client services around invoicing,” says Jodie. “From my point of view and for coaches who travel a lot, it just makes it a lot easier that the system automates all of that. I don’t have to think about whether I’m doing a quote in Euros or Pounds. I track my hours against it, I put in my expenses and choose what currency and it’s very easy and efficient. And I think it massively reduces the margin for error.” Tidy’s link with Xero accounting software also offers efficiency and costs savings, as Jodie explains: “I am going to hire one less person because of this system. I am expecting that the quoting and invoicing process for the coaches will be so much more empowered.”
Having the flexibility to manage prices and costs in different currencies is key to Aesara’s business strategy: “With Brexit, we’ve made a strategic decision that we will offer our clients the option to invoice in Euros or Pounds,” says Jodie. “We want to send a very strong message to Europe that we’re an international business.” Espresso Road Ltd, New Zealand Espresso Road imports the world’s best espresso machines from Italy and Germany and the spare parts to keep them going, so that coffee loving Kiwis can enjoy the great taste at home, or on the go. To importers and retailers like Espresso Road, multi-currency management is key and their system, TidyStock, helps keep track of over 1,500 product lines ranging from washer rings that cost a few
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