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Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Today's News Headlines
* Sonda Procwork readies new business areas, data center - Brazil
* Intel hones focus on 3 segments this year - Regional
* Latin American companies face less risk with on-demand CRM - Oracle - Regional
* Roundup: MoadBus-Vasco, Kofax, Atos Origin, Xerox, Linx Sistemas - Regional
* Govt frees up US$17mn for technology research - Brazil
* ERP market moves US$620mn in 1H09 - Brazil
* Ziva opens field office in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
* Telium inks alliance with SonicWall - Brazil
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* Sonda Procwork readies new business areas, data center - Brazil
Sonda Procwork, the Brazilian unit of Chilean IT systems integrator Sonda, plans this year to form business areas focused on the pharmaceutical and utilities sectors, the company's executive president, Carlos Henrique Testolini, told BNamericas.
Sonda Procwork has formed teams that will be responsible for extending the company's offering to both industries. Business opportunities in those sectors include consulting and solution integration.
"We feel that those clients are starting to utilize solutions that are complementary to ERPs," he said. "We're talking about BI, and BPM adoption is also starting to pick up. These companies are becoming aware that business is constantly changing, and that having an ERP is not enough."
The new business areas come as Sonda Procwork has started to segment its sales areas by client size and importance, according to the executive.
"We're striving for closer relations with our clients," he said. "Clients are looking for the closer ties that existed before when we were a smaller company."
Important vertical markets for Sonda Procwork include manufacturing, telecommunications, energy, oil and gas and services.
OFFICE AND DATA CENTER
Henrique said Sonda Procwork is putting the finishing touches on a new office and data center complex in Tamboré, located in São Paulo state. Whereas Sonda Procwork previously relied on partners' data centers, the new facility will be wholly owned and operated by the company.
The structure, which required 20mn reais (US$11.2mn) in investments, will be operational in June.
"This data center will make us more competitive and allow us to better serve medium-sized clients, which need more flexible solutions than those offered by global companies," he said.
INVESTMENT PLANS
In December, Chilean newspaper El Mercurio reported that Sonda expects to invest US$500mn between 2010 and 2012, with the funds aimed at increasing Sonda's presence in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.
Henrique was unable to provide further details regarding the percentage of the investment that will be channeled to Brazil, but affirmed that part of the monies could be used for acquisitions.
"We're looking for companies that can extend our client base," he said. "We're not looking for companies that have a different offering. We're looking to extend our penetration."
Sonda Procwork's offering includes IT and BPO outsourcing, software development and data center services. The unit, which represents roughly 40% of Sonda's overall sales, has just under 1,000 clients nationwide.
By Matthew Malinowski
Business News Americas
* Intel hones focus on 3 segments this year - Regional
US chip manufacturer Intel's (NYSE: INTC) focus this year for Latin America will be threefold: consumer, SMB and education, Jesus Maximoff, Intel's general director for Latin America, told BNamericas.
"Growth is going to be led by consumers in the next couple of years. The ratio of first time buyers and those renewing PCs is about equal... now, many users are changing their systems, renewing their PCs and refreshing the technology," he said. "There's still a low PC penetration in Latin America, so there are a lot of first time users buying PCs, but we're also refreshing the installed base."
The SMB segment is "promising," added the executive, who also highlighted government efforts in boosting education via IT. While governments may have held up investment in their own programs due to the international crisis, they still focused their attention on education.
"Argentina just bought 250,000 Classmate PCs, Venezuela has implemented a project of 500,000 PCs that will go to 1mn in 2010. Brazil is also in there, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica. You see a whole line of governments focusing and investing much more in education. That will be a driver," he said.
Intel's fourth quarter revenues in its Americas division increased 34.2% to US$2.09bn. Worldwide, the chip manufacturer posted Q4 profits of US$2.28bn, surging 875% from 4Q08, and revenues of US$10.6bn, 28% higher year-on-year.
The full interview with Jesus Maximoff will be published in this week's Information Technology Perspectives, for subscribers only.
By Christian Molinari
Business News Americas
* Latin American companies face less risk with on-demand CRM - Oracle - Regional
Latin American companies encounter fewer risks if they adopt on-demand CRM rather than traditional solutions, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) Chile's application sales representative, Darío Medrano, told a gathering of journalists.
Traditional CRM software has more rigid core features to which companies must adopt, the executive said. Any attempts to modify those central features might generate additional costs as well as delays in implementation and return on investment.
Meanwhile, on-demand CRM can be more easily pre-configured to meet an organization's needs.
Solutions such as CRM offered through the software as a service (SaaS) model have traditionally appealed to smaller firms with less technological resources.
Still, Medrano said that trend is changing in Latin America as larger companies are adopting hybrid CRM with on-demand solutions mixed with traditional licenses.
Globally, Oracle has more than 5mn CRM on-demand clients. Within Latin America, clients include the Brazilian division of US credit reference agency Equifax, as well as financial and transportation sector firms.
Oracle saw global profits increase 12% to US$1.46bn during its fiscal second quarter, ended November 30, driven in part by advances in software license update sales. Quarterly revenues inched up 4% to US$5.86bn.
By Matthew Malinowski
Business News Americas
* Roundup: MoadBus-Vasco, Kofax, Atos Origin, Xerox, Linx Sistemas - Regional
Suriname's largest bank De Surinaamsche Bank has tapped US financial solution provider MoadBus and Belgian data security software firm Vasco (Nasdaq: VDSI) for mobile banking solutions, MoadBus and Vasco said in a joint statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, De Surinaamsche Bank will adopt MoadBus' MBanking solution, which comes with Vasco's authentication and e-signature program Digipass.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
De Surinaamsche Bank is Suriname's first bank to offer mobile banking.
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Brazilian midsize banking association ABBC has awarded US document capturing and exchange software provider Kofax a US$500,000 software contract, Kofax said in a statement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Kofax will implement software to capture and extract data from more than 20mn checks and related documents that ABBC receives at its Sicredi Bank locations.
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Franco-Dutch IT company Atos Origin has named Alexandre Gouvêa as CEO for Brazil and Latin America, regional press reported.
Gouvêa has more than 28 years' experience in the ICT industry, having previously worked at corporate communications service provider Orange Business Services.
The executive has a degree in electrical engineering and a graduate degree in business administration.
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US printing solutions provider Xerox (NYSE: XRX) has tapped Ricardo Karbage as Chile country manager, online news source Channel News reported.
Karbage has more than 19 years' experience in Xerox and most recently held sales and marketing posts in the company's Brazil unit.
The executive has an MBA from Brazil's Universidade Federal de Río de Janeiro.
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Linx Sistemas, a unit of Brazilian IT services and systems provider Grupo Linx, has disclosed plans to launch ERP Linx Global Fashion 8.0, online news source Baguete reported.
The new solution, which will be available at the end of January, is geared towards wholesalers and clothing firms.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Govt frees up US$17mn for technology research - Brazil
Brazil's science and technology ministry (MCT) has earmarked 30mn reais (US$17mn) to support research in technology, innovation and science, the ministry said in a statement.
The funds will finance initiatives aimed at developing technological products or processes. Qualified projects could use innovation to improve competitiveness, improve production lines and increase overall technology use.
The MCT will provide each receiving organization up to 300,000 reais, which will be used to defray the costs of hiring researchers or experts.
Project proposals will be received in three rounds. Deadlines are January 22, April 30 and August 27, with corresponding winners being announced in March, July and October.
Last year, the MCT, in conjunction with the national government's investment firm Finep, freed 160mn reais to implement the so-called Sibratec program, which aims to employ IT to help domestic firms modernize, innovate and increase production capacity.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* ERP market moves US$620mn in 1H09 - Brazil
The Brazilian ERP market moved 1.1bn reais (US$620mn) in licenses during the first half of 2009, compared to 924mn reais in the same period in 2008, according to a study by consultancy IDC.
Revenues from the ERP market are expected to reach 2.5bn reais for full 2009, a 17% increase from 2008, IDC said.
According to IDC senior analyst Mariana Zamoszczyk, many companies continued to invest in ERP systems during the economic crisis to support business growth.
The manufacturing segment accounted for 43.5% of the market's revenues during the first half of 2009, followed by the services segment with 16.5% and commerce with 13.1%.
ERP systems penetration in large corporations is very high in Brazil, while there is room to grow in the SME segment, IDC said.
According to the consultancy, Brazil accounts for approximately 50% of ERP license sales in Latin America.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Ziva opens field office in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Brazilian IT firm Ziva has opened an office in Rio de Janeiro to meet market demand and to target the corporate and government segments, local IT news site Reseller Web reported.
In the government segment, Ziva will offer unified communications, IT infrastructure virtualization and security solutions.
The company also expects to increase presence in other states such as Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais, according to the report.
Among the company's main partners are 3Com, Citrix, F-Secure, FlexVision, Cisco and iVirtua.
Some of the company's clients include Infraero, Droga Raia, Burger King and Casas Bahía.
Headquartered in São Paulo, Ziva also has an office in capital Brasília.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
* Telium inks alliance with SonicWall - Brazil
Brazilian data center operator Telium Networks has formed an alliance with US security solutions provider SonicWall (Nasdaq: SNWL), online news source IT Web reported.
Under the terms of the agreement, Telium will begin to offer IT security management solutions through the integration of SonicWall hardware and software. The new products will be offered through the hardware as a service (HaaS) model.
SonicWall and Telium are currently hammering out marketing, product training and customer service plans, and both companies expect to release solutions during Q1.
Founded in 2004, Telium has data centers in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Campinas and Santos, as well as a presence in the US.
SonicWall has Latin American offices in Mexico and Brazil.
By Business News Americas staff reporters
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In-deph interview
* Software exports to continue expanding despite crisis
Alvaro Lamé
President
Cámara Uruguaya de Tecnologías de la Información (Cuti)
Uruguay
http://www.bnamericas.com/interviews/technology/Alvaro_Lame_,Camara_Uruguaya_de_Tecnologias_de_la_Informacion_,Cuti,,/170693446
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Main companies covered in today's news
* Intel Corp.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Intel_Corp,-Intel/170693446
* Banco de Bogotá S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Banco_de_Bogota_S,A,-Banco_de_Bogota/170693446
* Tata Consultancy Services
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Tata_Consultancy_Services-TCS/170693446
* TIM Participações S.A.
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/TIM_Participacoes_S,A,-TIM_Participacoes/170693446
* Associação Brasileira de Bancos
http://www.bnamericas.com/company-profile/en/Associacao_Brasileira_de_Bancos-ABBC/170693446
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