Who knew a flak jacket was essential equipment for an IT manager? Executives who go abroad to manage foreign IT activities might expect to face some culture shock, but many also have to contend with gunfire, natural disasters and political strife that can threaten their systems and their lives.

Take Gregor Bailar. Now CIO and executive vice president for operations and technology at Washington-based Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., he formerly was Citibank's managing director for the advanced development group at its global relationship bank division, where he oversaw the building of 39 data centers around the world.

In his career, he's had to grapple with everything from feuding guerrilla groups in Africa to a shaky national infrastructure in India when setting up IT operations there.

Bailar remembers that a Citibank colleague who was setting up an IT office in Arkansas glibly compared the region to the Third World.

"Right compare Arkansas to security in Africa," says Bailar. "When I lose two people to gunshot wounds, and this person is saying the market in Arkansas is an emerging market, I say, 'Get a grip.'"

When doing business in Africa for Citibank, he says, it just wasn't reasonable to expect the same level of security that's present in the U.S.

"In the African market, you couldn't go in and put in a Brinks truck for every delivery. It would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars," Bailar says.

In India, however, Citibank became the largest delivery service, because it wanted to ensure that its own deliveries were made safely. It then spun off the delivery service into a business.

The key to success, Bailar and his peers say, is to plan ahead but expect surprises.

IT leaders warn that careful study and planning are necessary before opening an overseas office.

"I think we've been very careful in looking at those situations," says Frank Butstraen, vice president of corporate IT at Amsterdam-based Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV.

Philips, like many other companies, looks to developing nations to host local or regional IT support operations for its businesses. In Eastern Europe, India and Southeast Asia, there's a plentiful supply of skilled IT workers, Butstraen says.

Before deciding to open an office abroad, however, Philips conducts cost and risk analyses. And with

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