Nowadays, technologies play very important role. They have become an integral part of many business processes, and today even small companies use in their work such technologies as CRM-systems and marketing online platforms. So, there is nothing surprising in the fact that people, understanding the growing role of information technology, are increasingly deciding to start their own IT companies.
In this article we will tell you how to determine whether you should register your company as a local or a resident of a free zone; which free zone to choose, if you still choose the option with registration within the free zone; what type of license would suit you best, and what activities you should include in the license. It is necessary to be always on time, especially for the business meetings-hire a car in Dubai Airport and you will not be late!
Also we will consider the most economical solutions for the needs of your company. When we say “IT”, we are talking about the information technology in a very broad sense. Therefore, when you decide to start an IT company, it is extremely important to understand what specific niche you want to occupy.
Conditionally, IT industry can be divided into 3 main sectors: consulting services in IT sphere, IT services and IT products trading. The license for the provision of consulting services implies advising on IT, for IT services – the provision of services, and for the sale of IT products – the distribution of products such as software, keys to programs and other developments that can be distributed both online and offline.
Before you begin the process of registering a company, you need to ask yourself a number of test questions. The most important of them are about the type of services or products you are going to provide and whether you will need to leave your office to provide services, or you will deliver goods to customers (for example, you want to design websites and provide IT support to customers by coming to their office a couple of times a month to check the operation of programs and equipment). In both cases, you provide services, but when creating websites, you simply work on your computer (in the office or at home), and for the IT support rendering, you need to visit your clients’ offices.
If you decide to provide services outside your office and to visit customers, you need to register your company as a local company. Nevertheless, if you want to work exclusively from the office, then the registration of the company in the free zone is the best choice. In the case of web design, you can work from your office or home, in the case of IT support you need to visit customers in different parts of the city. Therefore, in our example, it is necessary to register a company as a local company. The same principle is applied when you are creating websites and at the same time selling software.
If the software that you are selling can be downloaded from your site and you also post video instructions on how to install it, you provide services from the office. And since two types of services are carried out from the office, you can register a company at the free zone. However, if your software is sold on CDs and you need to come to a client to install software, you need to register the company as a local one. So, the first test that you need to go through is to make a list of all the services and products that you are going to provide, and then ask yourself whether you will work exclusively in the office or you will have to visit customers.
If the provision of at least one service or product requires a visit to client offices, you need a local company. After you have decided on the type of company, you need to choose the type of license and the activities that will be listed in it. You need to ask yourself, whether you will sell something or provide services, what exactly you will do. If you are going to conduct a website or a platform where the online support will be sold, you should choose a commercial license or an e-commerce license, if one is available to you.
If you plan to provide services, you need a license to provide services. The types of activities that you must include in your license will largely depend on the registering authority for which your company will be assigned. At the moment, all the registration authorities in Dubai have a single list of activities for the companies, the only difference is that not all activities are allowed in the free zones.
The main task for every entrepreneur is to choose a suitable free zone. If you are going to start a company in Dubai, then first of all you think about the ‘Dubai Internet City’, (after all there are offices of the largest international IT companies), or about ‘Dubai Silicon Oasis’.
So, as for the free zones, then you have different options: to register a company in Dubai or in one of the northern emirates. If you want to cut expenses as much as possible, we advise you to pay attention to ‘Fujairah Creative City’. But you must remember that when your business starts to grow, you can not move a company from Fujairah to Dubai, so you either have to liquidate the company in Fujairah, or sell it and start a new business in Dubai. The list of activities in the northern emirates is very specific. There you will find such activities as the provision of online marketing services, web design, media services, etc. But this does not mean that if online marketing services are not included in the list of activities in Dubai, you cannot provide such services. In Dubai, broader concepts are commonly used, so a certain type of activity can simply be included into a general concept. We recommend you to discuss in advance your plans with the employees of the free zone where you are going to register the company.
Now you know what you need to do before registering your IT company: determine your services and products, decide whether you will work exclusively from the office or will also come to customers. If you choose to register in the free zone, consider several options, perhaps the ‘Sharjah Media City’ (SHAMS) or ‘Fujairah Creative City’ will seem to you the most cost-effective. Finally, do not pay too much attention to the name of the activity, it is best to consult with the registrar’s staff. Perhaps you can find a more general name for your activity.
