How to develop an internationalization strategy

In an event held by ABES, representatives of Softex and Gartner
talk about the challenges of conquering new markets 

Where does your company want to go? The answer to that question is crucial. Any entrepreneur in the ICT sector needs to be clear about the direction he wants to follow through an internationalization strategy. Does your company have a globally scalable product? This is another fundamental point in all the scenario, competition and market analysis, which will support the plans and decisions.

These and other issues were discussed by Mariana Yazbeck (photo), director of operations at Softex – Association for the Promotion of Excellence in Brazilian Software, in a lecture promoted by ABES, on April 16, in São Paulo.

Mariana also pointed out that a company that plans to go international will also need to invest in innovation, to compete with hundreds of players on a worldwide level. “We know that the effort of Brazilian entrepreneurs to innovate is greater than in other countries. But the national scenario has changed in recent years, with the increase in the number of lines of financing, laws that encourage companies and the integration of innovation systems – private initiative, government and academia. We must always remember that the DNA of an ICT company is innovation”, he pondered.

Internationalization potential
With the mission of boosting the Brazilian Software and IT Services Industry, Softex, an OSCIP (Civil Society Organization of Public Interest), has several programs that aim to guide companies of different sizes to develop innovations aligned with internationalization.

 “Internationalization can be done to access new markets, gain production efficiency, obtain cheaper financial resources, promote the appropriation of technologies not available in the domestic market, among other objectives”, added Mariana.    
In a first step, entrepreneurs have at their disposal the tool “Evaluation of the Internationalization Potential of their Company”, available on the Softex website (www.softex.br), developed in partnership with Fundação Dom Cabral, with funding from APEX Brasil. “It's an interesting way of assessing competitiveness. We also have the Inter-com TI program and we will soon launch a new training program for companies in innovation strategies, among other projects”, he concluded.

Qualified information and analysis 

Relevant data are essential for the definition of any strategy. In this sense, Vânia Moralez, director of new business at the Gartner Group, a world leader in information technology research and consulting, explained that the company has been strongly active in the country in projects for the internationalization and growth of Brazilian companies. “Gartner excels in research and advisory programs, has offices in 85 countries and around 12,000 organizations as clients. Brazil is our main market in Latin America, where we have 250 customers”, he informed.

Gartner's analytical data provides an x-ray of local and global markets - with assessment of the customer's own positioning, competition, technology and business potential - which allows to reinforce offers, decide on marketing and sales actions, in addition to establishing the more different management strategies.
 

Carlos Sacco and Vânia Moralez

The founding partner of Dualtec Cloud Builders, an ABES member company, Lauro de Lauro approved the lectures and commented: “innovation is essential for the software market. I was very impressed with Softex's projects. Every entrepreneur should familiarize himself with the different instruments and methodologies, even if internationalization is not a short-term objective. I already use and recommend Gartner services. Studies have been paramount in our decisions.”