Making it in the City: Why Global Relationships Matter

The world has got smaller. High-speed communications, global branding and the ability to make deals on a 24 hour basis in global markets have ensured that business relationships have changed. Further, the developments in mobile devices allows for businesses to be constantly contactable and to be able to deal with matters when they arise. Physical presence is no longer a necessity and the opportunity to hold meetings globally, utilizing services such as conference calls with Powwownow, are breaking down the barriers of traditional business relationships.

Some will see this as the increasing influence of globalization, the seemingly modern phenomenon that allows the consumer to buy the same cup of coffee anywhere in the world, whilst shopping for the latest brand of trainers.

Thomas Friedman, the renowned economist has described it as 'the inexorable integration of markets, nation-states and technologies to a degree never witnessed before in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before ... the spread of free market capitalism to virtually every country in the world.'

This may well be true. Globalization has opened markets to new opportunities but there is more to this than just the spread of the free markets. For business to take advantage of the opportunities that now exist beyond the framework of their localized sphere of influence, the technology must be in place to make communication simple and cost-effective.

A mobile device such as an iPhone is able to provide this ease of access to global partners or contacts that may not just be in another country but a different time zone as well.

What the advance in mobile technology has done is free business leaders from the shackles of an office environment and introduce a concept of virtual office space with the ability for companies to hold global meetings without the need for mandatory physical attendance.

Conference calls, either through audio or visual means, can now be organized to suit the needs of the participants.

Global conferencing companies such as Powwownow offer the ability to 'get together whenever' simply by installing an app (another integral part of the modern business world) onto a mobile device.

The Powwownow app is able to easily handle up to fifty individuals on one call with minimal fuss. The company has also seen the potential of web conferencing with many global relationships now formed through a computer or laptop screen, another example of how business has adapted to the communication opportunities that exist away from the physical environment.

Traditional business relationships rely on individuals working together to achieve the desired results. The increase in global opportunities through technology hasn't diminished this need for a successful business to require a team pulling together.

In many ways, however, these relationships have been cemented by the ability to be able to communicate whenever required. For far too long, companies were only able to conduct business in their own time and space. Globalization dispenses with this archaic model and encourages the individual the chance to set the agenda.

The importance of global relationships is not a new concept; the disciplines and ideologies of globalization have existed for possibly hundreds of years.

Economists would argue that the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Vasco de Gama in the late 15th Century were fundamental in creating European empires that straddled the globe, so the principles of trade would certainly seem to have been founded long before the communications explosion.

Globalization has not just emerged from the shadows, however, it seems to have been allowed to become a more dominant force due to advances in sociological patterns of living and by the pace of technology.

It is this technology that defines the global business community, which Friedman (again) glorified in an address to the Council of World Affairs in 2001 when he commented, "Globalization is all about the communications revolution. It's about the Internet. It's about how you can sit in your bedroom, buy shares in Amazon.com and send emails to Eskimos all at the same time, wearing your pajamas."

It is undeniable that a successful business relies on interpersonal relationships. Third-party companies that provide reliable audio communications and web-conferencing are an essential part of allowing individuals to get to know each other, developing friendships that may last for many years.

For too long global businesses relied on the physicality of a handshake to seal a deal, technology has ensured that these relationship can be virtual and just as successful.