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UniOne unit eyes Peruvian market(BNamericas.com Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) The Chilean unit of IT service provider UniOne Consulting, part of US group NewMarket Technology, is eyeing the Peruvian market as a way to expand its operations, UniOne Chile general manager Randy Vergara told BNamericas. The subsidiary is already bidding for a contract with one company in Peru, and depending on the number of contracts signed and the period they cover, UniOne Chile might consider opening an office there. According to Vergara, Peru is also appealing as it has low penetration of Hyperion solutions, which are part of Oracle's (Nasdaq: ORCL) portfolio and represent UniOne's largest business unit. "For a small Chilean office, [a launch in Peru] is an important expansion. Hyperion has no presence there, there are important mining clients and mining companies overall are acquiring management and planning software, and that will be helpful [for potential business in Peru]," Vergara added. Since 2000, UniOne Chile has focused on sales of Hyperion solutions and in 2005 the company expanded its business areas to sell Siebel CRM software, also now part of the Oracle portfolio. "I believe Hyperion will continue to be more relevant [for our sales], as the domestic market is requesting more enterprise performance management [EPM] software than CRM software," he said. In 2006, UniOne Chile recorded sales of US$1.5mn and Vergara expects flat growth this year, mostly attributed to a restructuring process within the company. "UniOne used to be a local reseller [for Hyperion] and we didn't have the partner close to us. Now [Oracle] has local presence and another business model, and that requires a new definition of the business plan. I believe this year we will be going through this process," Vergara said. UniOne's target market includes large retailers, banks and mining companies. Commenting on the overall software market in Chile, Vergara said a large portion of local companies still base their management processes on Excel files, but they are slowly implementing management applications. "The local market is starting to see the added value of management software, but we are behind the level of adoption seen in developed countries. The room for growth is mainly in the mid-sized to large enterprise segment. Small companies are still far from this stage of adoption," Vergara added. Copyright 2006 BNamericas.com |