Background
3i-Strategy has helped to build the go-to-market strategy for a fast growing US based IT Services business into the APAC region. Collaborating with the founders and their teams we identified the growing emergence of transaction taxes such as GST and VAT as an instrument of public policy, economic growth, transparency and financial transformation in emerging and developed markets. 3i-Strategy helped the business to successfully setup and expand into the region.
Setting up
Setting up a new business in another country requires careful planning around legal agreements and structuring. Fortunately 3i-Strategy was able to connect with local government providers, accountants, lawyers and banks. The next step was to localise the product for Australia which meant building an ecosystem with the tax office, relevant industry associations local accountants and partners to assess the market needs and formulate a go-to-market strategy.
Journey
Building the eco-system allowed the company to build a proof of concept and test it, initiating interest from government, local enterprise and Big 4 accounting firms. The journey took a turn when markets such as Malaysia, India and the UAE all announced a transition to GST/VAT. The owners made the decision to work with their back-office and local team in India to scale the platform. A daunting task, the largest financial transformation in history where the country subsumed 16 different taxes into a single goods and services tax. 3i-Strategy leadership was brought in to lead the local team and hire the best talent globally. Having tested the platform in Australia meant that the company was able to leapfrog any local and global competition.
Outcome
Despite challenges of working with multiple stakeholders, constant legal updates by the government and quickly doubling the team from 100 to over 200, a frantic 12 month journey meant the solution was adopted by hundreds of the largest local and global companies in the country and used by all the major large accounting firms for their clients.