International rescue: Broadband is go

Embracing the latest comms technology is key to maintaining a competitive advantage, but many international companies are failing to get connected.

While opinions vary as to whether Europe and the US are still in recession, international companies are undoubtedly watching their bottom lines rather more closely than they were this time last year.

It is therefore baffling that directors of global organisations are failing to take full cost advantage of the latest technology.

For too many businesses, technology still seems to be something of an afterthought. Even if they do have an IT strategy, it is not consistent across international offices.

With the advent of broadband communications, there is now technology readily available that allows multinational organisations to make big savings. This is achieved by changing the way they deploy their business systems globally through the implementation of a centralised infrastructure.

Adopting such a technology strategy internationally will deliver clear business benefits very quickly. For example, a company that has 12 local offices in different countries can now use a single central server to hold financial details about all 12 countries.

Configuring and servicing a single server from one location takes about half as long and eliminates some of the support requirements. Companies need only one technical support team in one location instead of 12.

This approach removes highly complex upgrade issues every time a new version of a shared application is launched. And because staff in each country will almost certainly never be using the software concurrently, there should only ever be a need for one set of licences.

Countries can still operate independently of each other; the application and data are centralised, but the operation and reporting are localised.

The chief executive or financial director can log onto their company's system from anywhere in the world, generate reports on demand, and send business alerts to international managers at any time of the day.

This is not a futuristic view; it can happen anywhere with a high-speed internet connection. So what are businesses waiting for?

Gary Waylett is managing director of Eclipse Computing.