More U.S. Solution Providers Going International

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Mark Hawkins wasn't looking to do business outside the United States. The opportunity found him.

Now, three years after the vice president of sales and CFO at I.T. Works, a Bellaire, Texas-based solution provider, took on that first project, the opportunities keep coming in. He couldn't be happier. And he's not alone.

I.T. Works joins a number of other U.S. solution providers that are already going global or thinking of conducting business outside the U.S. More than one out of five solution providers, 22.8 percent, currently do business outside the U.S., according to a CRN/CMP Channel International Expansion Study, and another 14 percent plan to expand their sales to other countries within five years.

The VARs cite a number of factors driving their international expansion plans, including new customer prospects that require their IT solution providers to have a multinational presence, as well as demand from current customers, as was the case with I.T. Works.

The strategies VARs use to expand their presence internationally vary greatly, as do their expected benefits and impediments. But one constant is they see opportunity outside the U.S. as a means to drive growth.

"I think the world is definitely getting smaller," Hawkins said. "As companies open up more offices both in the U.S. and internationally, it will lead to demand for more business outside the U.S."

For I.T. Works, it was a Houston oil/gas client that got things started. The customer, which also had offices in the U.K., wanted I.T. Works to handle a Cisco Systems unified communications rollout overseas.

"I've done business here in Houston since 1991, and there's been an influx of international [business]," Hawkins said. "Being an oil/gas city, we're influenced by people all over the world. Just in our own city, our local dealings with more international people are getting more and more prominent."

Next: Expansion Strategies

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