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Digital Transformation Takes a Front Seat

Peter Kroll - everis México
CEO

STORY INLINE POST

Sat, 12/01/2018 - 12:54

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Q: What are your main goals for your first year as CEO of everis?

A: We have 14 accounts in Mexico, most of which belong to the banking and telecommunications sectors, representing about 50 percent of our operations. We want to open new accounts in three target segments: the finance services industry, consumer products and manufacturing. The Mexican finance industry is at the forefront of innovation, investing heavily in technology. In the manufacturing industry, our presence is too small and Mexico has high potential in this sector. Around 40 percent of IT investment in Mexico goes into this industry. Only a small percentage of our revenue is in this sector but we have a big presence in other countries.

Q: How important is Mexico for everis’ global business?

A: It is important for our Latin American operations. everis is a company that will probably close the year with US$1 billion in revenues, 30 percent of which comes from Latin America and the other 70 percent from Europe. We have presence in Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Chile and we see Mexico as the key Hispanic hub in Latin America. We also have a local digital lab in which we are working on innovations such as artificial intelligence and chat bots. We will build other competence centers focused on customer experience with state-of-the-art technology through which Mexico will become a knowledge hub for Latin America. Lastly, Mexico is the most profitable operation in Latin America and one of our objectives is to maintain that.

Q: What is your strategy to maintain that profitability?

A: We have an organization built around three dimensions. First are sectors, where we have deep industry knowledge about every industry or client. The second dimension is focused on the services we offer to our clients. The third dimension is the country: each CEO of everis Mexico is focused on bringing the knowledge of everis to the clients we work with in Mexico and to maintaining the company’s profitability.

Q: What are the main services you provide to your clients in Mexico?

A: Most of the services today are based around technological needs: developing IT solutions, implementing enterprise solutions and the maintenance of those solutions for our clients. That represents about 65 percent of our activities. But our fastest-growing services are around business consulting and digital transformation.

Q: How responsive are Mexican companies to digital transformation?

A: Mexico is moving forward with digitalization but there are countries in Latin America that are more advanced, like Chile and Colombia. In Mexico, the reaction to digital transformation is that everybody wants to do it but sometimes they get lost in understanding what it really means. The world is changing and millennials are all the same across the world, so they have certain expectations of products and services to which companies need to adapt. Banks in Mexico have already embraced digital transformation, specifically when it comes to customer experience.

Q: How do you promote Mexican innovation through programs like Premio Everis?

A: In 2016, we launched the first Premio Everis competition organized by the everis Foundation in Mexico. It is a prize of MX$1 million for projects that integrate innovation and social impact. We had three different categories through which participants could apply: new business models in digital economy, biotechnology and health and new technologies in the energy and industrial space. There were 447 project submissions in Mexico. There are 2,000 startups created every year in the country and only 25 percent survive the first two years. The purpose of this prize, besides providing economic support, is to guide entrepreneurs on how to go to market and on how to create a business through professional advisory delivered by everis.

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