With sales operations already throughout Europe, Verity’s international expansion reflects the emerging market opportunities for business infrastructure software in these other regions. Verity’s e-commerce and corporate portal software help companies search and organize vast amounts of information quickly and accurately with support for all major business languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Swedish.
Verity’s new offices will allow us to take greater advantage of the expanding market opportunities in these regions, said Anthony Bettencourt, President of Verity. However, we’re not new to the international arena. Our business outside of North America generally accounts for about one-third of the company’s revenue. International sales were strong before, but our direct sales presence in these areas will enhance our ability to make them even stronger.
Verity has had channel partners in these countries for many years, and I’m very pleased that we’re now setting up direct operations to enhance our sales efforts, and to bring us closer to the customer, says Deborah Lyon, Director of International Sales. Because of our existing revenue base and referenceable customers, we’re positioned to hit the ground running with our own local sales teams. I’m confident that this reinforced presence will give us the opportunity to expand Verity’s success in these regions.
The Regional Offices
Capital improvements are spurring rapid business growth in Latin America. Verity expects to be able to benefit from its new offices in the area’s largest information technology economies Brazil and Mexico. For example, Mexico’s recent boom in Internet use and increased interest in business portals offer an attractive market opportunity, while the country’s economic viability and geographic proximity to the United States make it a convenient gateway to other Latin American markets. Similarly, Brazil constitutes a promising e-commerce opportunity, as the country’s 3.9 million users represent 40 percent of Latin America’s Internet users, according to a recent eMarketer report. The report also predicts that the Brazilian e-commerce market will explode twenty-fold from USD2.47 billion last year to USD52.7 billion in 2003.
The regional office in South Africa gives Verity direct access to the greatest market potential in the African Continent, where almost two million of Africa’s three million Internet users reside. Additionally, according to analyst firm Acuity Media Africa, South Africa experienced dramatic growth in online retail sales in 2000 where overall online retail spending was USD10.2 million.
In Singapore, Verity gets centralized access to the rest of the South East Asian region, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan, while benefiting from the country’s multicultural environment and business-friendly government. One of Verity’s key markets in Singapore is the governmental organizations, where the development of electronic services is highly advanced. Singapore also leads Asia in terms of Internet penetration, with 47.5 percent of its population online, according to a study by NetValue.
Sweden remains the world’s foremost information economy in terms of the country’s ability to access and use information and information technology, according to the 2001 IDC/World Times Information Society Index (ISI). A high rate of PC penetration and Internet adoption as well as a prosperous economy offer Verity an attractive business opportunity in terms of both e-commerce and enterprise portals. Over 50 percent of Swedish adults (3.9 million people) are active Internet users, says analyst firm eMarketer.
