It has been in the Argentinian market for 11 years and is one of the oldest GeneXus distributors. It has more than 360 clients –about 1200 licenses-, and more than half of them are top-level companies, including among others: Banco Sudameris and Lloyds Bank in the banking sector; the Income Department of the City of Buenos Aires and the provincial governments of Neuquen, Mendoza and Salta in the government sector; and 3M, Loma Negra and Cresta Roja in the private companies sector.
Jorge Labombarda explains that his strategy for selling technology in the middle of an economic crisis has been to identify the sectors which have not reduced their investment. That’s why the company is at present focused on the banking sector and the oil, food and textile industries.
The GeneXus distributor emphasizes that he mainly sells trust. Thanks to the reliance based on the strength and guaranteed performance of the tool, the Bank of the Province of Neuquen –the only Argentinian Province with a financial surplus- chose the company and Bantotal out of 16 possible candidates. The selection process implied a pre-selection of five applicants who were challenged to make the necessary instalments for all the operations in a bank in 3 days.
GeneXus Argentina and Unisys passed the test but it was up to the users to make the final decision after asking to see the tool working on three platforms (AS/400, Microsoft/Compaq and Oracle/Sun). The requirements were: a batch time of less than 5 ½ hours, time on-line less than 3 seconds and in case a branch lost connection, the use of the telephone line would not imply a more than 40% loss of service.
Bantotal fulfilled all the requirements in the three platforms and got 13 votes from the 14 users who made the final decision. On the other hand, Labombarda says that it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel, which is why he supports collaboration within the GeneXus community. This philosophy has enabled GeneXus Argentina to close a US$ 400,000 deal in conjunction with Wise from Brazil –which brought with it the know-how gained from its experience in Nestlé Brazil- to implement an intelligent business solution in Sancor Argentina.
The company, based in Buenos Aires, has a branch in Rosario to serve the riverside region (Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Chaco and Northern Buenos Aires). There is a new sub-distributor this year in Neuquen to serve the southern region, so the whole country is now covered. There were already sub-distributors for the Cuyo region (Mendoza and San Juan) in Mendoza, for the northern region (Salta, Jujuy and Tucumán) and in Mar del Plata. GeneXus is a leading company in the Argentinian applications development market, says Labombarda. He also states that there are no competitors for the tool.