Latin America's Business Information Leader
"The new BNamericas.com is already available for you, Get to know it here"
http://www.bnamericas.com/
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* IT needs in the mining sector focused on operational field, says Mincom - Regional
* BancoEstado to invest US$78mn in 2010, focus on technology, processes - Chile
* Toshiba sees 2010 as the year of ultramobile PCs - Regional
* McAfee calls on govts to design centralized security plan - Regional
* Roundup: Cuti-Aesoft, Teclógica, HP, IT Partners - Regional
* Gechs signs contract for construction of Santiago tech hub - Chile
* Brasscom calls for more tax cuts to boost ICT industry - Brazil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* IT needs in the mining sector focused on operational field, says Mincom - Regional
After having mostly covered their needs in the backoffice space, the main IT demands from the Latin American mining sector are now concentrated on the operational field, heavy industry enterprise software provider Mincom's Latin American president, Gary Poole, told BNamericas.
The mining industry contribution to Mincom's Latin American operations is over 80%, while globally it is around 45%.
Poole said the biggest problem in mining is related to lost opportunities in the operational area. "Companies lose a lot of money when they have large reserves, or underground reserves, as you won't know what's there until you mine it. Then you have to excavate, transport and crush it, and in each stage there are losses," he said.
According to the executive, today mining firms need solutions that provide transparency regarding where the losses are in the whole production chain.
Mincom has developed a new strategy to target the mining industry, which includes a new segmentation of the vertical.
"In the past we treated mining as mining. Now we are segmenting the market into commodities, and we are developing solutions for each of the commodities, in order to offer more value to those particular mining companies, over and above what we offer with our standard products to mining," Poole added.
The fastest growing segment within the mining industry is, according to Poole, the mid-tier market, including those that are just finishing exploration. For them, Mincom has launched its Accelerator solution, which comes preconfigured for their segments.
"We expect much of the revenue of mining to come from those mid-tier companies," Poole said.
By Cristina Molina
Business News Americas
* BancoEstado to invest US$78mn in 2010, focus on technology, processes - Chile
Chile's BancoEstado will invest US$78mn in 2010, with about half of the figure going to updating technology and improving processes, the state bank's president José Luis Mardones told BNamericas.
"The only way to have a massive, low-cost bank that remains profitable is through economies of scale and technology," Mardones said.
"In order not to lose money you have to have cheaper production functions. And I'm not talking about continuous improvement, gradual cost reductions or increasing productivity by 3% a year; that is not enough. We need to make very radical changes here."
After gaining three percentage points in market share but sacrificing profitability last year, the goal in 2010 is to defend the current market share by improving customer service, he said. The bank also outlined a three-year plan that calls for improving its efficiency ratio to 54-50% from today's 58%, among other measures.
Thanks to an aggressive price reduction strategy, BancoEstado grew loans 22% in 2009 while total loans in the financial system shrank by around 5%. This allowed the bank to increase its market share to 16% from 13%, although pre-tax profits fell to around 110bn pesos (US$224mn) for an 11.2% ROE from 125bn pesos in 2008.
"We aim to grow in all segments and we will keep operating with convenient prices although not as cheap because we aim to improve our profit margins. We hope to improve profitability this year to 12-14%, and towards 2013, return to the levels we traditionally had," said Mardones.
The bank plans on growing loans this year by 12% in nominal terms, which would be in line with that of the financial system, he said.
BancoEstado operated through 344 branches and 1,681 ATMs as of December 31.
By Jorge Porter
Business News Americas
* Toshiba sees 2010 as the year of ultramobile PCs - Regional
Japanese electronics manufacturer Toshiba believes 2010 will be the year of ultramobile PCs, just as 2009 was the year of netbooks, the company's laptop product manager for Mexico, Sócrates Huesca told BNamericas.
During 2009, sales of netbooks drove the PC market growth, as it targeted a segment of users that were looking for an economic and mobile solution, according to Huesca.
"We are talking about 100% growth quarter after quarter. And we believe it was because it was an innovation and oriented to a segment that couldn't easily access PCs. Regular laptops recorded more moderate growth of 10-15%. The netbook was 'the product' of 2009" Huesca said.
According to the executive, this year's flagship solution is expected to be a new PC that comes to fill a space between netbooks and laptops, and which Toshiba calls the ultramobile PC. Huesca said this solution is oriented to users that need more computing capabilities than those offered by netbooks, but on mobile equipment.
"These are machines with ultra low voltage processors, spending less energy and that's why batteries last longer [6-8 hours]. We believe these types of products will see exponential growth this year," Huesca added.
By Cristina Molina
Business News Americas
* McAfee calls on govts to design centralized security plan - Regional
Governments in the Southern Cone region ought to follow the global trend of identifying an entity in charge of defining the security standards for all public organizations, Loreto Serrano, Southern Cone general manager at US software security firm McAfee (NYSE: MFE) told BNamericas.
Today, the security initiatives are left in the hands of each organization, "but it would be really productive if there was a centralized security program, in order to establish some minimum requirements for operations," she said.
Serrano said in conversations with customers in the public sector, executives have said that all approaches to a centralized security program have been led by specific ministries, but nothing has been formalized.
"This is a global trend that governments from different countries are following," she added.
Serrano also said that it is important to establish centralized security standards because of the continuous communication between public entities both within the same country and between different countries.
"Sometimes problems occur because one entity might be highly protected, but in the day-to-day activity they communicate with another entity that is not protected. Then, the operations of all entities involved could be compromised," she said.
By Cristina Molina
Business News Americas
* Roundup: Cuti-Aesoft, Teclógica, HP, IT Partners - Regional
Uruguayan IT industry association Cuti and Ecuadorian software industry association Aesoft have held roundtable negotiations between IT firms from both countries, which took place as part of the bilateral IT project called Puente Tecnológico, magazine InvesorLatam reported.
According to the report, there were 13 meetings held by entrepreneurs from both countries following the trade mission, and there are already six commercial agreements operating.
***
Brazilian IT firm Teclógica has reached level 2 in the CMMI certification, in a process led by compatriot Crest Consulting, and is now working to achieve level 3, online news source Baguete reported.
IT firms GVDasa and Interact also reached CMMI level 2, after participating in the "Internacionaliza-RS" project led by Brazilian quality processes certifier ESICenter.
***
HP (NYSE: HPQ) has appointed Octavio Márquez as the new head of its Mexican subsidiary, replacing Carlos Guzmán, the company said in a statement.
Márquez, who is currently the general director for the enterprise business unit in Mexico, will assume the position starting March 1.
***
Brazilian governance and IT services management consultancy IT Partners has appointed Carol Lapa as its new consultancy manager, online news source IT Web reported.
With over 12 years of experience in the IT market, Lapa is now responsible for the IT services management process, and she will also lead ITIL certification training.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Gechs signs contract for construction of Santiago tech hub - Chile
Chilean software and IT services industry association Gechs has signed the contract with construction firm Stitchkin for the building of the first IT hub in capital Santiago, which is to be called Polo de Innovación Tecnológica de Santiago (PITS), Gechs said in a statement.
The building is expected to have eight floors and 6,000 m2, and there are already 30 companies interested in setting up their operations there, including firms such as Angecom, Builderhouse Ingenieros, Ciclo 2, DBNet, Genbiz, Intermedia, Ingnova, Representaciones Virtual 21, VMK and Browse.
Gechs still needs to define the construction site to start works. According to the report, the "green" building will help save up to 60% of energy in summer and 30% in winter.
According to previous reports, Gechs plans to invest US$12mn in its IT hub.
With the creation of PITS, Gechs aims to promote the development of local IT companies while helping foreign entities working in the IT innovation area establish a presence in Chile. In addition, PITS will also work closely with local universities, Gechs president Álvaro Portugal previously told BNamericas.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Brasscom calls for more tax cuts to boost ICT industry - Brazil
Brazil's association of IT and communications companies, Brasscom, considers there is plenty to do in the country in terms of tax regulations in order to increase the competitiveness of the local ICT industry, Ultimo Segundo reported.
According to Brasscom president Antonio Gil, the recently approved law 11,774 - which reduced the taxes paid by IT exporters to Brazil's federal social security system for private sector workers INSS - is a positive move, but only represents a 10-15% reduction in export taxes.
Gil said the cost of local professionals is higher than in other countries, which increases the value of the services and solutions exported.
"Our IT capability, which is well recognized globally, will help us create a differentiated offering because in terms of workforce [costs] we cannot compete," he said, emphasizing the need to reduce taxes related to labor.
The opportunities for the Brazilian IT industry are considerable, according to Gil, both in the domestic and international markets, with the financial services segment having the highest growth potential, followed by the distribution and manufacturing industry.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In-deph interview
* The year of Linux
Carlos Muñoz
General manager
Linux Latin America
Regional
http://www.bnamericas.com/interviews/technology/Carlos_Munoz_,Linux_Latin_America,/169252582
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Main companies covered in today's news
* Microsoft Corporation
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Microsoft_Corporation-Microsoft/169252582
* Global Crossing Ltd.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Global_Crossing_Ltd,-Global_Crossing/169252582
* McAfee, Inc.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/McAfee,_Inc,-McAfee/169252582
* Hewlett-Packard Company
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Hewlett-Packard_Company-HP/169252582
* Empresa de Servicios Sanitarios del Bío Bío S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Empresa_de_Servicios_Sanitarios_del_Bio_Bio_S,A,-Essbio/169252582
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Products
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click Here to subscribe Now!
http://www.bnamericas.com/web_subscribe_now.jsp?idioma=I&login=atlantm1210@ukr.net&idForm=95
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Share the news, give your friends and colleagues a two weeks free trial
http://www.bnamericas.com/share_the_news.jsp?idioma=I&Act=
Business News Americas Ltda.
Latin America's Business Information Leader
eMail: info@BNamericas.com
© 1996-2010 All Rights Reserved.