The global marketplace is transforming the way Australian manufacturers and distributors need to operate as their future survival is being determined by global influences that cannot be ignored. The hard truth is that we operate in a truly global marketplace and if Australian businesses don’t make necessary changes to their business models to join this marketplace, they risk disappearing all together.

Factors out of the control of these businesses have provided the greatest threats, particularly the strong Australian dollar, government policies, union power, higher direct costs, a relatively small domestic market, the impact of cheap imports and goods into Australia and the fact that Asia competes so fiercely for manufacturing opportunities. Australian manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors that want to survive essentially have two choices. They can seriously think that they have something very unique that will enable them to survive in the Australian market for a long time, or they can say that their business needs to look beyond their traditional borders. If businesses continue to do nothing different and solely source and distribute within Australia, they will most certainly be faced with eventually going out of business.

How can a globally-minded company grow their business by distributing to different markets beyond Australia? How can they diversify into new markets or even simply outsource a part of their business, such as their manufacturing operation?

These are complex business questions that require a case-by-case market analysis. However, what is increasingly universal is the way that leading Australian manufacturers and distributors re-engineer their supply chain to achieve the greatest efficiency and competitiveness.

Simply putting in an efficient manufacturing or supply chain system isn’t going to save a business. To keep up with the global marketplace, businesses need to be able operate in real time with complete visibility into the entire business.

That’s only possible when you operate your entire supply chain from one system on the internet—giving you deep and up-to-the-minute visibility of every interaction, transaction and relationship occurring in your business in every market, anywhere in the world.

This is exactly what cloud computing does—it provides businesses the ability to operate in global markets in real time and establish a core platform for manufacturing, wholesale distribution, customers and supply chain, with built-in support for multiple currencies and foreign exchange. A business can have all of these components in a single system that they can replicate for whichever supplier, distributor, retailer or wholesaler they forge a relationship with.

Cloud computing gives you a way to enter new markets without being encumbered by IT infrastructure and huge costs, and provides the agility and flexibility to grow and expand your business globally. Additionally, you can dictate to your suppliers and distributors the system that you need them to use to operate with you effectively. This will give you a key differentiator, not to mention greater power and control over your business.

At a minimum, you need to look globally at how you expand your business and opportunities around that. Everyone is looking at Australia and Asia as a market for growth. If you are going to be a part of that growth story, you need to pick the best technology to make that possible.

- Mark Troselj, Managing Director for Asia Pacific