SAS gets ready to take new steps in the Brazilian market
Valor Econômico 02/11/2009
Márcio Dobal hasn't had much time to enjoy the pool table set in the new "decompression" room ‑ a room where employees go to cool down ‑ in the head office of SAS, in São Paulo. But as the CEO of the American company in the Mercosur, it is up to him to keep up the pace of the game of the software producer in the country and, mainly, make the new moves planned for this year a success. The strategy foresees two main actions: the offensive action towards the clients that operate in areas which are, so far, poorly served, and the introduction of a commercial model based on the lease of the programs, instead of the traditional sale of licenses. The programs for campaign management are another bet of SAS in the country. The software identifies different profiles of clients, crosses that base with the products of the companies and helps formatting promotional packages made to measure, besides suggesting the channels to be used to get to the user, like e-mail, cell phone messages, telephone assistance, and so on. At the end of the process, the software also measures the financial return of each kind of action. Besides new programs, SAS will also start a model of sale together with the main license business. In April, the company begins the model of software as service in the country. Instead of acquiring a user license, the client pays a rate, as if it was a lease. The programs are also not installed in the client's equipment - instead, they run via Internet, from the SAS database installed in the United States. Under that model, SAS expects to attract smaller companies, for which the cost influences even more in deciding for the purchase of technology, and stimulate large companies to use the software in projects of more restricted range, but that may be expanded at a subsequent stage.