In Finland there are about 20 000 companies running import or export business or both. According to Asiakastieto Group they are quite well established and profitable but still growing slowly as the Finnish companies typically are.
Many Finnish companies think that they are very local. Still, globalization is a growing trend and external trade would be a great possibility for most businesses. As a part of BIGnet Alliance Asiakastieto is always encouraging its clients to utilize their potential and grow their business abroad.
“We build trust. A typical misconception for entrepreneurs is that you cannot reliably investigate the companies’ trustworthiness or ability to pay when the potential customers, partners or vendors are foreign. But yes, you can”, Simo Peho, Product Owner in Asiakastieto Group says.
It’s crucial to know your customer in all business but especially when you are expanding in new markets or countries. When you don’t have the data, you might end up avoiding risk and lose some great opportunities. Or you could face some serious losses. According to a study made by the Finnish Chamber and Finnvera (the public financier and guarantor for internationalisation risks arising from exports), about every third of the Finnish export companies have faced some significant credit losses within few last years.
“Still, the fact is that with the help of our BIGnet partners we can provide company data from about every corner of the world – comparable and up-to-date”, Simo Peho reminds.
As trading locally, the same principles apply: You should always check all the data before signing up with a new client and then set up monitoring for the whole lifecycle of the customership. That way you won’t get surprised when something changes.
The best thing is that BIGnet companies are constantly improving their collaboration and their services. Asiakastieto Group, for example is always seeking for new data and markets to help its clients to grow.
“We are growing together. The international monitoring, for example will soon be available also for Estonian companies. This is an important market for our Finnish clients, that’s for sure”, Simo Peho ends.