For years, the ease of doing business has often been measured by what happens at the point of entry: how quickly a company can be established, how straightforward the licensing process is, what it costs to set up and what facilities are available. All of these remain important. But they represent only the beginning of the business journey. Once a company is established, a different set of questions emerges. How easily can it open a bank account, hire and pay employees, maintain its financial records, manage tax and compliance requirements, secure approvals, arrange insurance and keep up with the many administrative obligations that come with running a business? The question for business destinations is therefore evolving from “How easy is it to establish a company?” to “How easy is it to run one?” That shift reflects a broader change in customer expectations. A 2023 report by Salesforce involving nearly 17,000 customers globally found that 91% of business buyers considered the experience a company provides to be as important as its products and services. In other words, the quality of the interaction around a core offering has become part of the value of the offering itself. That distinction matters because operational friction is rarely caused by one major obstacle. More often, it comes from dozens of smaller processes competing for the attention of business owners and management teams. RAKEZ has extended its business-support offering beyond traditional company administration. A company may have access to every service it requires and still find the experience difficult. If banking support comes from one provider, accounting from another, payroll from a third and compliance expertise from somewhere else, the business remains responsible for identifying the right suppliers, explaining its requirements repeatedly, coordinating documents, following up on different processes and managing multiple points of contact. The individual services may be available. The experience can still be fragmented. Research increasingly shows why that matters. A 2024 Gartner survey found that only 14% of customers who experience a high-effort service interaction say they are likely to continue doing business with the company in the future. While the contexts in which companies experience friction may vary, the underlying principle is clear: the more effort customers must make, the poorer their overall experience is likely to be. This is where the definition of good customer experience is becoming more sophisticated. It is no longer simply about offering more services. It is about reducing the number of steps customers need to manage themselves. Business customers use an average of 10 interaction channels during the buying journey - McKinsey B2B Pulse. The same expectation is visible across the wider B2B environment. McKinsey’s 2024 B2B Pulse found that business customers use an average of 10 interaction channels during the buying journey, while more than half want a truly seamless omnichannel experience. The lesson extends beyond sales: adding more channels, providers or services does not automatically make the customer journey easier. What matters is how well they connect. For economic zones, this represents an important evolution in their role. Traditionally, much of the focus has been on facilitating market entry: licensing companies, providing premises and supporting government-related processes. Increasingly, however, the opportunity is to look beyond individual transactions and consider the operating experience as a whole. That means moving from being administrators of business establishment towards becoming orchestrators of the wider business experience: understanding the recurring needs companies face, connecting them with relevant expertise and reducing unnecessary complexity as they operate. There are already examples of this shift taking shape. Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ), for instance, has extended its business-support offering beyond traditional company administration into areas including banking, tax and accounting, auditing, compliance, insurance, HR and payroll, invoicing and payment management, business communications, industrial support and AI-related services. Many of these services are also accessible to businesses outside the RAKEZ community. The more significant point, however, is not the number of services on offer. It is the model behind them. When different operational requirements can be accessed through a more connected support ecosystem, businesses spend less time navigating providers and administrative processes. That matters because every process made simpler gives management time back to focus on operations. Support also needs to evolve as a company does, with requirements around people, finance, compliance and expansion becoming more complex over time. A strong business-support ecosystem should be able to respond to those changing needs without leaving companies to build a new network of providers at every stage. This is why business support should extend well beyond incorporation — and why the quality of the operating environment is increasingly becoming part of a destination’s competitiveness. The next generation of business destinations will still compete through infrastructure, cost, connectivity, incentives and regulatory efficiency. Increasingly, however, the quality of the operating experience will become part of that equation. In that sense, customer experience is becoming a form of business infrastructure. Just as physical and digital infrastructure enable companies to operate, a strong support ecosystem removes unnecessary friction and allows businesses to focus more of their resources on creating value. A licence opens the door. The real measure of the business environment is what happens after a company walks through it.
For years, the ease of doing business has often been measured by what happens at the point of entry: how quickly a company can be established, how straightforward the licensing process is, what it costs to set up and what facilities are available.
All of these remain important. But they represent only the beginning of the business journey.
Once a company is established, a different set of questions emerges. How easily can it open a bank account, hire and pay employees, maintain its financial records, manage tax and compliance requirements, secure approvals, arrange insurance and keep up with the many administrative obligations that come with running a business?
The question for business destinations is therefore evolving from “How easy is it to establish a company?” to “How easy is it to run one?”
That shift reflects a broader change in customer expectations. A 2023 report by Salesforce involving nearly 17,000 customers globally found that 91% of business buyers considered the experience a company provides to be as important as its products and services. In other words, the quality of the interaction around a core offering has become part of the value of the offering itself.
That distinction matters because operational friction is rarely caused by one major obstacle. More often, it comes from dozens of smaller processes competing for the attention of business owners and management teams.
RAKEZ has extended its business-support offering beyond traditional company administration.
A company may have access to every service it requires and still find the experience difficult. If banking support comes from one provider, accounting from another, payroll from a third and compliance expertise from somewhere else, the business remains responsible for identifying the right suppliers, explaining its requirements repeatedly, coordinating documents, following up on different processes and managing multiple points of contact.
The individual services may be available. The experience can still be fragmented.
Research increasingly shows why that matters. A 2024 Gartner survey found that only 14% of customers who experience a high-effort service interaction say they are likely to continue doing business with the company in the future. While the contexts in which companies experience friction may vary, the underlying principle is clear: the more effort customers must make, the poorer their overall experience is likely to be.
This is where the definition of good customer experience is becoming more sophisticated. It is no longer simply about offering more services. It is about reducing the number of steps customers need to manage themselves.
Business customers use an average of 10 interaction channels during the buying journey - McKinsey B2B Pulse.
The same expectation is visible across the wider B2B environment. McKinsey’s 2024 B2B Pulse found that business customers use an average of 10 interaction channels during the buying journey, while more than half want a truly seamless omnichannel experience. The lesson extends beyond sales: adding more channels, providers or services does not automatically make the customer journey easier. What matters is how well they connect.
For economic zones, this represents an important evolution in their role.
Traditionally, much of the focus has been on facilitating market entry: licensing companies, providing premises and supporting government-related processes. Increasingly, however, the opportunity is to look beyond individual transactions and consider the operating experience as a whole.
That means moving from being administrators of business establishment towards becoming orchestrators of the wider business experience: understanding the recurring needs companies face, connecting them with relevant expertise and reducing unnecessary complexity as they operate.
There are already examples of this shift taking shape. Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ), for instance, has extended its business-support offering beyond traditional company administration into areas including banking, tax and accounting, auditing, compliance, insurance, HR and payroll, invoicing and payment management, business communications, industrial support and AI-related services. Many of these services are also accessible to businesses outside the RAKEZ community.
The more significant point, however, is not the number of services on offer. It is the model behind them.
When different operational requirements can be accessed through a more connected support ecosystem, businesses spend less time navigating providers and administrative processes. That matters because every process made simpler gives management time back to focus on operations.
Support also needs to evolve as a company does, with requirements around people, finance, compliance and expansion becoming more complex over time. A strong business-support ecosystem should be able to respond to those changing needs without leaving companies to build a new network of providers at every stage.
This is why business support should extend well beyond incorporation — and why the quality of the operating environment is increasingly becoming part of a destination’s competitiveness.
The next generation of business destinations will still compete through infrastructure, cost, connectivity, incentives and regulatory efficiency. Increasingly, however, the quality of the operating experience will become part of that equation.
In that sense, customer experience is becoming a form of business infrastructure. Just as physical and digital infrastructure enable companies to operate, a strong support ecosystem removes unnecessary friction and allows businesses to focus more of their resources on creating value.
A licence opens the door. The real measure of the business environment is what happens after a company walks through it.
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