Madrid-based Granada Computer Services SA recently reported sales of $12.5m for the 1995 financial year, in which it claims to have increased its market share by 10%. Speaking to Computerworld Espana, managing director of Granada’s Spanish subsidiary Juan Belon said that whereas in other countries, manufacturers were beginning to shy away from competing for maintenance business, in Spain they were still fighting hard with third party maintenance companies. Granada is one of the longest-established of such firms, having operated for 10 years on Spanish soil. Belon believes Granada’s greatest strength lies in the considerable range of equipment it is able to service, from small personal computers to large hosts, together with the variety of manufacturer names it covers. We have the manpower to allot 15 to 20 people to an on-site project if necessary, a service that few others in Spain are able to match. This has helped us gain a particularly strong position in the car industry, for example, Belon explained. He also highlighted Granada’s independence of any one specific manufacturer, giving users total freedom of choice, with costs pared to a minimum. Belon questioned how long the manufacturers would be able to compete with Granada and its counterparts in Spain in a market in which more employees are required, if at the same time they are seeking to downsize wherever possible. As well as providing hardware maintenance, Granada will also diagnose and solve software problems, but it draws the line at selling equipment. Only in very special cases will the company bring in equipment from outside Spain, this when the client is unable to find a suitable purchase on the home front. In an effort to open up new markets, Granada recently launched a new communications division, which will support the installation, maintenance and management of any kind of local network. Belon predicted that Granada SA will continue to grow above the market average during the 1996 fiscal year, adding between 7% and 8%. The company is also offering a new remote support service for Spanish users which gives access to Granada Group Plc’s International Support Center in the UK.
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