I was positively blown away by the overwhelming response to NetSuite's recent Business Cloud Tour of Latin America. We held a total of seven events in four key business hubs for two weeks this past November, and we're still following up with customers and partners seeking to move to the Business Cloud with NetSuite. By meeting in person with potential clients, VARs, SIs and developers, our Latin America team confirmed the pent-up demand in these hot emerging markets and brought the benefits of the Business Cloud directly to where our future customers and partners live and work. Businesses in the Latin America region are so ready to adopt cloud business management solutions.
Each stop had its own highlights, but three events particularly stand out in my mind. The first was our customer event in Mexico City, which produced a standing room-only crowd. I do not exaggerate when I say that the audience was absolutely locked on to the entire presentation, which featured an executive panel of three Mexico-based, Spanish-speaking NetSuite customers. After seeing hundreds of potential new customers so deeply engaged in their peers' NetSuite success stories, I knew the rest of our tour would be a positive and productive one. Our solution provider partners agreed. "This event was exactly what we needed to attract bigger and more qualified prospects," said Hector Garcia, CEO of NetSoft.
In Lima, Peru, we attracted an audience twice as large as expected when we first planned the tour. Four NetSuite customers held court that day, including one customer executive who was so committed to helping spread the cloud message that he connected via Skype while on business travels in Miami. Our Peruvian partners that turned out to support the event were very pleased to see we hit the mark when the attendee evaluation forms showed a strong interest in embracing cloud business solutions. Carlos Zumaeta, the president of One Systems, told us that a major prospect decided to switch from SAP Business One to NetSuite OneWorld shortly after attending our session.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil we confirmed that experienced ERP channel partners were absolutely ready to bring the cloud to their market. I'm positive the partners that deliver an estimated 90 percent of the MS Dynamics revenue in Brazil were represented amongst the channel partners who attended our Sao Paolo partner recruiting session. Heavy rains further complicated the city's notorious traffic, but the major players in ERP still didn’t miss our event. Some of our attendees told us they braved two and a half hours of gridlock to arrive on time. Can you imagine the advantages of anytime, anywhere access to real-time information with Cloud based business management solutions for companies in Sao Paulo, Brazil? Clearly, Brazilian business wants the freedom and flexibility that on-premise solutions just cannot offer.
Special thanks go out to our established regional NetSuite solution provider partners who helped us plan for and hold successful events in each city. Expanding the number of NetSuite solution providers in a region brings an added boost to the awareness of cloud solutions in the region, and seeing our partners embrace that spirit is extremely encouraging.
This trip was both tremendously productive and gratifying for me, personally, and I can't say enough about the warm reception NetSuite and the Business Cloud received as we thundered through each city. If you're looking to help companies succeed in the cloud in these markets, drop me a line and we can discuss why hundreds of companies in Latin America took time out of their busy schedules to meet with us.
-Craig West, VP, Channel Sales
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