Page 8 - World Trade Center - 2017

STAT INTERNATIONAL
SHORT-TERM EXECUTIVE OFFICE SPACES GO GLOBAL
Earlier this year, Lori Davis found herself climbing the uneven steps that led to the first tower of the Great Wall of China in the middle of a terrible heat wave – an experience that left her awestruck, in more ways than one.
“To be in one of the Seven Wonders of the World, to just see that, I get goose bumps when I talk about it,” Davis said. “I am so blessed that my boss allowed me that opportunity to go over there.”
As the executive operations manager of Stat International, Davis had travelled to China on a trade mission to survey and explore the possibilities for opening a Stat office overseas. The changing face of Stat is a testament to how much international trade has changed our perception of what it means to provide office solutions to businesses in a global economy.
When the company that would become Stat International launched in 1994, the concept of an executive office center – with desks and conference rooms and administrative staff services available for short-term rent – was a brand-new idea. While Stat still provides office space and conference rooms (now equipped with amenities
like 70-inch screens for Skype conferencing), much of the work has shifted to providing virtual office services to companies that are doing business in Delaware, but located on the other side of the world.
“You name it, we can do it, based on the needs of the client,” Davis said. “We customize a business package that can help your business grow, connect and thrive.”
That could mean collecting and forwarding mail, providing a prestigious Delaware address, depositing checks, referring registered agents for companies looking to incorporate in Delaware, or providing ideas for local tax-free shopping excursions when clients visit from out of town.
For Stat, the increasing number of companies that use virtual offices to open satellite offices in foreign markets represents a growth opportunity that can’t be ignored – and Davis believes offices
in China could strengthen that pipeline.
Lori Davis, executive operations manager of Stat International
“There are only so many physical services I can lease,” Davis said. “Virtual services, I can grow that business without having to grow office space.”
Many clients use a combination of Stat’s traditional and virtual services, such as the Chilean produce company that rents additional office space during the six months of the year when their fresh fruit is arriving at the Port of Wilmington, and relies on virtual office space for the other half of the year.
Davis regularly refers clients seeking to navigate trade issues to the services provided by World Trade Center Delaware, and she receives referrals back when people need physical or virtual space. But she also places great value in the personal connections that she’s made with people in China during her travels, and has met with members of foreign delegations from Africa, the Dominican Republic and France who have visited the area at the invitation of World Trade Center Delaware.
Stat International provides office space and conference rooms, and also provides virtual office services to companies that are doing business in Delaware, but located on the other side of the world.
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