Established in 1993, ArtiCAD Ltd develops and markets CAD (Computer Aided Design) software principally serving the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom industry. With the ArtiCAD Headquarters situated in Watford, England, all product development presently takes place in the UK.

As a long-standing UKTI client and having participated in the Passport to Export programme, ArtiCAD won the prestigious “National Passport to Export Award” in 2005 in recognition of its success in accessing international markets after having established three successful subsidiary companies in the USA, Ireland and South Africa.Theresa Turner, the company’s Marketing Director, explains: “The support we received from UKTI in opening new markets has been truly invaluable.Of course, we were not faced with real language barriers in these particular three markets, but we plan to expand further into other international markets where languages may well be an issue.”She goes on to explain: “Participating in the Passport to Export Programme has opened our eyes to the important issues to consider and has made us aware that we need to take a much more structured approach to our new markets.”

With this in mind, the company recently met with their local RLN East adviser who briefed them on the support available with regard to language and culture.Theresa and her colleagues are very keen to use all the help and advice available and have registered for the Export Communication Review through her RLN East adviser.The company is currently undergoing a thorough strategic business review with the aim to work out its key strengths, and on that basis, its future target markets.“We would like to be able to deal with our new markets confidently and hope that the Export Communications Review will help us to develop an action plan for our international communications”, Theresa explains.“Our staff has some language capability already and we are keen to build on this.It will be viewed very positively if our staff is able to answer phone calls and e-mails in the language of our customers.”Theresa and her RLN East adviser are currently discussing 50% match funded, tailor-made language training at the company’s offices by accessing the Language and Culture for International Trade (LCIT) funding scheme.

Only recently, negotiations with a potential Spanish distributor showed how important it is to overcome language barriers.“We had been in contact with this individual for some time, but his English is very limited and we never got anywhere.We took advice from our RLN East adviser who recommended three reliable translation providers, one of them a local company.They put us in touch with a Spanish native speaker who has since translated e-mails and spoken on the phone to this potential Spanish distributor.Thanks to this intervention we have since made considerable progress with our negotiations.”

Theresa also knows how important it is to gain an understanding of the culture and business etiquette of the local markets: “Even in markets where you assume everything is very similar, the differences can be enormous.The way business is done in Australia, for example, is very different to how business is done in the UK.If your local contacts realise that you do not understand the local business culture, doors will close before you have even started.”

Particularly dealing with business contacts from the Middle East requires sensitivity and understanding of cultural issues, as Theresa knows from her own experience:“Some time ago, a colleague went to meet a prospective Arab business partner at the Dorchester hotel in London where he was staying with his entourage.My colleague did not know anything about Arab business culture and so became very nervous when he was made to wait for hours until finally our Arab business contact appeared accompanied by his whole entourage.When you do not know anything about Arab business culture, this can be a quite intimidating, but thankfully, we were able to brief him.It is important to know the basics, for instance never to use your left hand, not to ask personal questions, and not to pull away from an extended handshake, to name only a few.”

As a next step, updating the company’s website is very high on Theresa’s agenda: “Dealing in computer aided design programmes, our website is our shop window and has to look at its best.Once the English version of the website has been redesigned and our future target markets have been determined by the strategic business review, the plan is to also translate the website into the languages of our main markets. The same principle applies to our written materials which are being updated and streamlined at the moment.Once they have been redesigned and are easy to duplicate into different language version, they as well will be translated.”

For Theresa it is reassuring to know that the ECR review will address all these different issues by analysing every aspect of the company’s international communications.The company will learn where they are strong, where they are weak and where they can improve their current systems enabling them to deal with the issues that arise in their new markets efficiently and confidently.The result will be summarised in an action plan which their RLN East adviser will help them to prioritise and implement.

If you would like to learn more about the ECR, please see the RLN East website at http://www.rln-east.com/ecr/.

www.articad.cc

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>