With help from the Department for International Trade (DIT), Risk Decisions finds global success with 70% of new trade coming from the international marketplace.
Founded in 1983, Risk Decisions have been providing clients with a tailored risk management platform to help identify risk and achieve core strategic goals. Val Jonas, CEO, recently appointed a Director of New Business Development, Fiona Racher, to help drive international growth.
At the heart of Risk Decisions is its global risk management platform Predict! The software enables global corporations, Government organisations and SMEs to realise potential by embracing risk to understand and capitalise on the right growth opportunities.
Predict! puts business and programme managers back in control, enabling better decision-making based on a sound understanding of the actual risks involved. At the same time, they can be confident that strategies are in place to mitigate risks and respond quickly and effectively to any changes arising with the specific information they need available in real-time. In an increasingly uncertain world, risk management can help organisations be more proactive about their future.
With overseas sales driving 70% of new business, growing the international marketplace was a key priority for the leadership team. Risk Decisions needed to understand how to access markets successfully and position themselves as a truly global player if they were to accomplish their priority.
“We had consistent guidance and support to help take our international growth plans forward.”
Risk Decisions first approached DIT back in 2012 where they undertook several Overseas Market Introduction Services (OMIS) in markets such as Australia, Denmark, South Africa and Qatar.
Fiona Racher explains, “Working with DIT meant we had consistent guidance and support to help take our international growth plans forward. Their in-market knowledge was vital in terms of saving us time and money to navigate what was a new market for us.”
She continued, “Our ITA also had a great deal of sector knowledge and this meant he could sanity-check the viability of our growth plans in this new market, helping us identify the right partners and future customers.”
Since then, they have gone on to benefit from further DIT assistance by working closely with an International Trade Adviser (ITA). Clients can tap into support which provides new exporters with training, planning and support to grow their business overseas. Working closely with their ITA, Meirion Jenkins, Val and Fiona were able to understand more about exporting considerations like tax implications, legal advice, and marketing. In addition, the team leveraged in-territory support ranging from tailored events through to marketing activity.
Val and Fiona leveraged these services to explore the Australian market and better understand how their brand and business would work locally. Vitally, they were able to identify the right partnership, with in-country expertise and networks, to develop Risk Decision’s Australian presence. The team opened up their first global office in 2006, as a hub for the Asia-Pacific market, located in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Meirion Jenkins, ITA for Risk Decisions said:
“Risk Decisions have worked with us to promote sales of their risk analysis application both to end users and via partners in a variety of overseas markets. DIT have been able to advise on all these undertakings. This has occurred at the same time as building a UK based sales and marketing team, the strategic and tactical objectives of which we discussed on many occasions with management.”
Today, Australia is Risk Decisions’ second market outside the UK with customers including Australia’s leading naval ship and submarine builder, ASC Pty Ltd, the Australian Department of Defence and Hatch, a professional services firm. With hopes of taking growth into Asia and strengthening their North American base, Risk Decisions are on track to thrive internationally.
“Our ITA also had a great deal of sector knowledge and this meant he could sanity-check the viability of our growth plans in this new market, helping us identify the right partners and future customers.”
If you would like to find out more about how you can work closely with an ITA, please contact us on T: 0330 3000 012, E: info@tradesoutheast.com or visit www.great.gov.uk.
