Skunkworks IT Ltd,

 a growing IT services company based in Telford, UKwith no presence in Europe.

Challenge: In addition to providing regular marketing and corporate advice andservices as part of the existing retainer arrangement, the aim was toinvestigate the possibility and implications of either or both:A. setting up a French subsidiary, sister company or partnering with anexisting SME orB. Providing IT services to the French market from its base in the UK.

Project Date: March 2022 – May 2022

The solution: 

SPT Business undertook to make initial enquiries with industry specialistswithin and outside of its contact network and put together anapproximate Minimum Start-up Investment cost and risk analysis toprovide some or all of Skunkworks’ IT services to French customers.

The result:

It was decided by Skunkworks IT that due to the administrative andregulatory complexity, start-up costs and potential costs of any exitstrategy, that option A was to be shelved indefinitely since lower hanging fruit existed easily in the UK for the time being. A partnership with a suitable existing structure would be a future possibility.

With regards to option B, it was noted that Skunkworks could most likely provide certain services – such as consulting, procurement assistance or virtual helpdesks – to English-speaking companies based in France at a lower price and for better value than their French counterparts.

However, it would not be a target market worth significant investment at this stage given their inability to provide a complete service – notably in the areas of infrastructure, on-site support and language. These informed decisions were made with minimum expenditure thanks to the prior local knowledge, language skills and network of SPT Business.