To be a World Champion, Don’t Focus on the World

Leading international expansion initiatives for a growing tech company is a championship move and career-maker when done well. For a successful strategy, managers of logistics, spare parts, global trade, warranties, or products need to look no further than the world’s leading chess master, Magnus Carlsen.

Carlsen doesn’t worry about the world’s 1500 other grandmasters in line to take his crown. Learning all their profiles would be impossible, and besides, he knows he doesn’t have to beat all 1500 to stay on top—just the next one he’ll face. He’s focused, and focus is what outsourcing is all about. By outsourcing your critical spare parts management and service logistics, you can concentrate on the big game and the moves you need to make to achieve career success.

Focus on the game in front of you.

Magnus’s ability to focus is what differentiates him. Imagine what that same level of focus could do for your company and for you as the leader responsible for service logistics. Knowing the limitations and sticking to core strengths is a secret to success. From a company perspective, that means brilliant innovation, product development, and sales. As the leader of service logistics, you get to be the visionary and overseer while leaving the setup, execution, and management of safeguarding your service supply chain and service level agreements to people who have already mastered markets you’re in or are about to enter.

Focus on mission-critical deliveries, too.

Imagine having to grow your own operations to support service level agreements in locations where you don’t currently operate. We can tell you first-hand that it’s not for the faint of heart. Creating the infrastructure, hiring and managing staff, and dealing with local customs in order to satisfy next-day spares commitments—let alone a 2- or 4-hour maintenance agreement—is daunting. Flash can do all of that and more for you. We’re there in the field with over 630 FSLs around the world.

Mission-critical deliveries are Flash’s game. That means you don’t have to worry about how you’ll manage your spare parts and service everywhere. You do you, and we’ll fulfill your SLAs for you wherever you plant your next flag.

Safeguarding your brand reputation should be a focus as well.

Carlsen understands the importance of protecting his brand. He holds the record for the longest unbeaten run in chess. He avoids mistakes that lead to losses by meticulously preparing and reducing his risks. The same is required to avoid gaps in fulfilling SLA agreements abroad, where the variables are endless and brand reputation and future referrals are at stake.

That’s why service logistics is best outsourced. Let’s peel the onion back on one part of successful service logistics: order management. Screening shipments is time-consuming and rife with opportunities for human errors. Flash has the experience to do it right in every country. During the order management process, we screen each shipment to ensure:

The ship-to address is valid.
The recipient is not on the restricted parties list (RPL) or the denied parties list (DPL).
All the necessary licenses (or license exceptions) have been obtained for the shipment. In some cases, we can work with you to attain such licenses or exceptions.
The product valuation is included in your master parts list (MPL).

These and other key steps are required to help ensure successful deliveries, domestically in the United States or abroad.

With international shipping, country-specific expertise and local knowledge are invaluable. Most tech companies don’t know how to navigate shipping internationally and don’t have the financial resources to do it themselves. Flash Global helps you skip the lengthy learning curve by immediately connecting you to a partner network of in-country experts who know country-specific rules and have deep relationships with local customs.

So much can go wrong managing orders and shipping internationally. Working with Flash’s connected and informed experts supports the seamless movement of your replacement parts across borders. Most importantly, we can help you avoid delays as well as violations that could result in substantial penalties, sully your company’s reputation, or checkmate your career.

Focus on seeing the opportunities—and avoiding the bad moves.

Carlsen claims he can “see” 15 moves ahead, sometimes even 20. Amazing, yes. But he only has one game to manage. You may be playing the critical spare parts game in multiple—maybe even dozens—of countries simultaneously. Let’s not forget the plethora of other to-dos on your plate. You’re going to need some help thinking ahead in every one of them.

When you partner with Flash Global, you start controlling costs and igniting revenues that power success in every market you enter. Maintenance contracts are an outstanding source of high-margin revenue and Flash can help you expand your market for these services.

On the cost-controlling front, using Flash Importer of Record/Exporter of Record services can help minimize your duties and taxes to significantly reduce capital expenditures. Furthermore, by leveraging Flash’s extensive global infrastructure and partner network, you’ll control overhead and staffing expenses as you expand. Our FlashTrac technology platform, built specifically for the service supply chain, also helps you reduce inventory carrying costs by optimizing inventory levels globally through near real-time visibility of your spare parts.

Nothing beats being ahead of the game. When you’re prepared, you can avoid emergency shipments that incur exorbitant premium costs that you then have to explain to your executive team or board of directors. That is never a good situation for someone trying to advance their career.

With Flash thinking out your moves for you in advance, you’re free to play. In other words, you’ll have more time to do what you really want, like championing big ideas and driving transformational change. Partnering with Flash Global frees you to keep your eyes on the lookout for opportunities that increase efficiencies and develop strategies that you can bring to your executive team.

Focus on aiming big, winning big.

Carlsen had his eyes on the world championship since he was 13. But he didn’t get there alone. He had former world champion and chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, to show him the way. Let Flash show you the way to success wherever you need to lead your company. Chances are we’re already there, ready and waiting with the warehouses and the people you need—in over 140 countries to date—as well as the technology platform that can put it all together for you on a global scale. We currently help over 100 companies achieve their SLAs within 99% and we can help you, too.

So, what’s your next move? Whatever it may be, make it strong.