US software provider Attachmate plans to expand its direct presence in Latin America by opening an office in Buenos Aires, Argentina, most likely in June, before analyzing opportunities in Chile, Attachmate Latin American general director Víctor Pichardo told BNamericas.
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Currently, the firm has offices in Mexico, Brazil (in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), Colombia and Puerto Rico.
Attachmate is now in the process of recruiting an executive to head up the Argentine unit. Once the office is up and running, the company will decide whether to expand directly to Chile or have business in the country supervised from Argentina.
Pichardo said Attachmate had an office in Argentina about seven years ago and it was one of the most profitable in the region. The unit was closed because of the economic crisis.
"I believe the Argentine market is mature in terms of IT consumption. In addition, the adoption of new technologies because of the improving economy is increasing and the adoption of regulatory compliance solutions [one of Attachmate's focuses] is growing there," Pichardo said.
Latin America as a whole is the second fastest growing region for Attachmate, with an 18% increase in revenues in 2007 compared to the previous year. The Company's growth in Latin America was only surpassed by Asia Pacific, where revenues rose 22% in the same period. Globally, the company saw a 6% revenue growth in 2007.
Pichardo highlighted Brazil's performance last year, as well as Argentina and Puerto Rico. Sales in Mexico recorded moderate growth, mostly attributed to its close location to the US and increased levels of competition in the market.
In 2008, Attachmate Latin America aims for a 12% growth, driven by sales outside the Mexico and Central American region and Brazil.
"Most of the growth is expected to come from the ROLA [Rest of Latin America] region because this is where we are investing in offices and human resources and because the economy there is more solid than in previous years," the executive said.
Created as a provider of information integration solutions, Attachmate merged with competitor WRQ in 2005 which resulted in the addition of solutions over several platforms. In 2006, the company acquired On Demand Software, expanding its portfolio with management solutions. Attachmate then bought NetIQ, which specializes in security.
According to Pichardo, the company sees an increasing interest in Latin America in solutions related to regulation compliance, since globalization forces companies to meet with certain regulations in order to be considered reliable and do business with firms in other countries.
