Here is an insight on what’s working in the world and ideas on how to make it work for you.
Heading abroad for business in 2025?
One hundred years ago, travelling from London to Sydney or Singapore to New York took weeks. Today, these journeys take less than a day by flight, and online, we can connect instantly with the click of a button. This unprecedented speed, both physical and virtual, has transformed how business is conducted. Yet, the foundational principle of success remains unchanged: preparation is everything.
Some leaders prefer in-person meetings to build trust and understand markets firsthand. Others value the efficiency and lower emissions of digital connections. Both approaches work, but preparation remains essential for success. The benefits are particularly clear for in-market visits.
Reconnaissance - the strategic process of gathering intelligence and insights about a market, location, or people - ensures that any in-market visit yields the strongest possible returns and outcomes.
In the past, preparation often meant relying on government agencies, trade promotion organisations, and economic reports to understand the lay of the land. While these resources still hold value, the tools and methods for market research have evolved significantly.
The Past: Foundational Tools and Support
Traditionally, business leaders embarking on foreign visits relied on resources like government trade missions, chambers of commerce, and in-market consultants. Organisations such as the UK Department for International Trade1 or Austrade2 were heavily utilised for market briefings and business matching meetings with potential clients or partners. Reports from organisations like the World Bank3, IMF4, and industry-specific journals provided valuable macroeconomic and competitive data.
This type of preparation was vital for understanding a market’s dynamics and identifying opportunities. However, it had limitations. The information was often broad, with little granularity about specific local conditions or players. In-person visits filled certain gaps, yet they required significant investment in time and resources, often with no guarantee of outcomes.
The Present: Updated ReconnAIssance
Today, reconnaissance goes beyond general market knowledge. To gain a competitive edge, it’s about gaining real-time actionable insights.
AI and digital platforms are transforming how leaders prepare for in-market visits by enabling them to see, meet, and discover before boarding a plane. These tools allow for precision, efficiency, and higher stakes conversations when meetings occur.
What’s Working
Platforms like Gigwalk5 and Boardy6 demonstrate the shift.
Gigwalk allows businesses to access on-the-ground insights about brands, products, and customer behaviours in foreign markets. For instance, a cosmetics company can use Gigwalk to analyse how its competitors’ products are displayed in Singaporean retail stores.
Gigwalk is a mobile-based platform that uses an app to connect businesses with local freelancers (called “Gigwalkers”). Through their smartphones, Gigwalkers complete tasks such as auditing product placements, verifying marketing displays, and capturing photos or data in real-time. Businesses can monitor progress and receive results directly through the app. The platform is scalable, allowing businesses to deploy thousands of Gigwalkers across multiple markets simultaneously. Gigwalk charges businesses based on the number and complexity of tasks, starting at approximately US$5 per task.
Boardy offers a different angle. It connects businesses with local experts and professionals, enabling virtual meetings to understand market nuances or even validate partnerships before committing to an in-person visit. For example, a German manufacturer looking to expand into Mexico can identify and virtually meet potential distributors before finalising their travel itinerary.
Boardy is an AI-driven platform that connects businesses with local market experts and professionals. Users can access the platform through mobile or desktop to arrange targeted virtual meetings. With its mobile-friendly interface, Boardy allows leaders to join calls, share documents, and receive tailored advice directly on their phones. This flexibility makes it easy to connect while on the move. Boardy is free to use for businesses looking to establish initial connections and validate partnerships.
Additional AI-Driven Tools
Many are available worldwide, including:
Crayon7: Tracks competitors’ activities, including product launches, marketing strategies, and pricing changes, resulting in businesses having real-time competitive intelligence.
Apollo.io8: Combines AI-driven contact discovery with sales engagement tools, helping leaders identify and reach out to decision-makers in target markets.
Perplexity.ai9: Provides concise, AI-generated summaries of market trends and data which allows leaders to quickly grasp key insights about foreign markets.
ZoomInfo10: Uses AI to deliver detailed profiles of potential partners, with verified contact information and organisational charts.
Latana11: Specialises in tracking brand performance in specific markets, offering insights into customer perceptions and competitive positioning.
Why it’s Working
The key lies in the detail and immediacy of the live data that these tools provide. Traditional reports can be outdated quickly and often lack the context or detail needed for high-level discussions. Digital reconnaissance tools bridge that gap as they offer hyper-local insights that are current and relevant. Leaders no longer have to guess what’s happening in a market; they can verify it.
Who it’s Working for
These approaches work particularly well for leaders with limited in-market experience or those without extensive networks in foreign markets. The beauty of these tools is their accessibility - anyone with an internet connection can leverage them to gain critical insights. For instance, a European consumer goods startup considering expansion into Southeast Asia can use these tools to understand competitive dynamics, identify top-performing local distributors, and assess customer sentiment - all before sending a team to Bangkok or Jakarta.
How to Make it Work for You
Despite the advancements in technology, traditional resources remain valuable. Government trade agencies and industry associations can provide a macro view of market trends, including on navigating geopolitical shifts and access to key contacts. However, pairing these with modern reconnaissance tools ensures leaders arrive armed with specific, actionable knowledge.
For example:
A business leader planning an in-market visit to Mexico City uses the International Trade Centre’s free Market Analysis Tools12 to identify tariff benefits under trade agreements. At the same time, they employ Gigwalk to view how competitors’ products are positioned in local stores. They then use Boardy to arrange a pre-trip virtual meeting with a local distributor. By the time the leader arrives in-market, they are informed and prepared for meaningful, high-impact conversations.
The Future: What’s Next for Business ReconnAIssance?
As AI and digital platforms continue to evolve, we can expect reconnaissance to become more personalised and predictive. Tools that combine AI with machine learning could predict market shifts based on real-time data, allowing leaders to adjust strategies before trends become apparent. Virtual reality might enable leaders to “visit” markets remotely, experiencing local conditions in an immersive way.
Despite how advanced these tools become, the fundamentals will remain. Success in foreign markets depends on understanding the people, the context, and the opportunities - a task that requires thorough preparation and a willingness to adapt.
Data before Departure
No matter if you’re meeting partners in Dubai or pitching to clients or investors in Singapore, preparation remains at the heart of success. ReconnAIssance, in its updated form, ensures you move beyond merely visiting a market with vague indicators of success to arriving with clarity on who to meet, what to discuss, and what to confirm to secure deals or achieve other commercial outcomes.
There’s more to the world than what we see.
Viewing and engaging with the world is just a few clicks away. Doing so lays the foundation for greater success when visiting in-person. It is the ultimate leapfrog to drive win-win outcomes.
Where are you traveling to for business in 2025?
What preparation will make the most of the visit?
Join a community of globally-minded leaders sharing insights, strategies, and practical tools to expand beyond borders. Whether you’re exploring new markets or scaling internationally, this space is designed to help you navigate the journey with an international ecosystem of leaders, updated tools and technology, and the clarity needed to make meaningful impact.