Shipping to global offices

IT departments often find it difficult to standardize and streamline their office deployments, especially if their business has thousands of employees spread across dozens of offices worldwide. In order to maintain their company’s existing office infrastructure and stand up new ones quickly, IT teams need to have flexibility in their supply-chain. Flexibility means that teams need to be able to buy hardware wherever they can find the inventory, and wherever it’s cheapest, instead of only buying locally in the international country. If the hardware is not purchased in the end destination, then the challenge is making sure that the hardware gets where it needs to go.

Why is shipping end-user and office IT globally so difficult?

Offices need a mix of end-user equipment, like laptops, keyboards, monitors, and networking equipment, like switches and routers. Countries around the world typically have regulations surrounding the import of this equipment, which is what makes out-of-market sourcing more difficult. For example, to import a laptop, an IT team may have to obtain regulatory certificates for end-use, brand permission letters, wireless permits, so on and so forth – and that’s just for one laptop SKU! This is a massive lift for any team and it’s the reason why companies tend to source in-market for end user and office tech.

FGX Go solves the IT shipping part of the problem (including all of the interrelated parts, like compliance, commercialization, tax, abiding by import regulations, customs clearance, etc.), which enables companies to have full flexibility over how and where they source their office equipment. In turn, teams can standardize IT purchases for their global offices.

What is FGX Go?

FGX Go from First Global Xpress is our turnkey, door-to-door shipping solution that’s built for companies of all sizes and industries. Whether you’re looking to setup a new or existing office, we’ll manage everything from the time you order the equipment from your reseller or OEM to the second it’s delivered to its destination.

How does FGX Go work?

FGX Go is a service level that enables our clients to obtain quotes on a shipment-by-shipment basis, and doesn’t lock you into any contracts, allowing you flexibility to scale up and down as needed. When we provide our quotes, we’ll also do an import check to make sure that the equipment is eligible for use in the country you’re looking to ship to. We’ll also let you know what we’ll be executing on your behalf (for example, applying for permits, funding international deferment accounts, etc.) and how long it’ll take so that you can plan your deployments in advance.

What’s special about FGX Go is that our quotes take into account your company’s international footprint to look for cost reduction and operational efficiency wherever possible. For example, the reduction or elimination of import VAT in certain countries or the capability to reclaim it in others.

After a shipment’s quote is approved, First Global Xpress will prepare all of the documentation and licenses, perform all of the necessary compliance work, fund duties and taxes, etc., prior to anything being shipped out. By doing so, we limit the amount of time your hardware is sitting in international customs, thus reducing uncertainty and risk in the process. Once all of the documentation and pre-shipment work have been approved, your equipment will be routed via our private supply-chain to its destination’s port of entry, where our in-house customs brokers take over.

During customs clearance, officials may inquire about the import by asking questions, requesting backup documentation, and more – all of which First Global Xpress will manage on your behalf. After customs clearance has been completed, we’ll arrange for the shipment to be delivered via a direct drive to the data center or colocation site and provide you with a POD (proof of delivery).

How much work will I have to do?

As little as possible. There are, however, situations where our clients want to commercialize their shipments in a specific way and in order for First Global Xpress to make that happen, we have to work with their international counterparts. In cases like that, our clients have to do a bit of administrative and communication work, but throughout the entire process, FGX acts as the project manager and takes ownership over moving things forward. But in 99% of shipments, FGX is able to manage all of the shipments with zero end-user interaction.