By Erika Sena – DCI Newspaper

The premise that the financial crisis can be a synonym for business opportunities is coming true in the Brazilian information technology (IT) market, which in certain cases sees companies rethinking their growth plans and even double in size this year. The segment is one of the few that have found, in their clients difficulties, a large pillar of growth, helping companies from several segments to reduce costs and increase productivity, all with the help of technology.

The market is so stimulated that according to the expectations of IDC consulting and the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (Abes), the software and service segments will grow approximately 9% this year, with sales reaching US$ 16,36 billion. In 2008, the sector presented financial transactions of approximately US$ 15 billion, a growth of 35% in comparison with the previous year.

Benner Systems, a Brazilian business management software company, took advantage of the good moment experienced by the sector and recorded sales of R$ 54,3 million in 2008, a growth of 18,68% in comparison with 2007. "This year our expectations are quite positive and, despite the current economic scenario, our goal for total growth is of 45%. The companies are now seeking to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of their processes, and outsourcing has appeared as the best alternative ", explained Severino Benner, director of Benner Systems.

The executive affirmed that another bet the company is making this year is in operations in the health system segment, a market in which Benner began to operate more intensively after the purchase of TopMed (specialized in the management of health programs). According to Benner, the company develops software that monitors the health of the employees of a certain company, reducing costs with the company’s health insurance plans, besides improving the productivity of the collaborators. "The companies are seeking to improve the productivity of the collaborators and in order to do so it is necessary to take care of their health, reducing costs with medical assistance ", he explained. It is also in the company’s plans this year, to enter the public health market by means of purchases or of a joint venture.

Currently, the outsourced processing services correspond to 10,09% of Benner’s total sales, only lower than the businesses related to solutions for the area of health (37,28%) and those regarding licenses and services of the ERP Benner corporative (28,83%). The solutions for the area of corporative governance correspond to 9% of the company’s total sales, while tourism, transportation and business intelligence (BI), added up, are responsible for 14,51%.

Sales

CIMCORP, another Brazilian company specialized in IT infrastructure management, ended 2008 with a growth of 20% and sales equivalent to R$ 170 million. Tadeu Fucci, president of CIMCORP, explains that the good results are a consequence of the reformulation of the range of solutions offered by the company, which began to attract clients who needed to reduce costs and increase productivity. "Our solutions are helping our clients to do more with less ", said the executive, who will invest approximately R$ 7,5 million in the country this year.

Another sign that the good results will be repeated is that the numbers of the first quarter of this year already indicate a growth of 50 to 55%. "In December of last year, our prediction was that we would grow approximately 8%, but we have already revised our growth prediction to 55%", said the executive. By the end of March, CIMCORP had already achieved 40% of its goals and the expectation is that by the end of the first semester, the volumes obtained will represent 80% of last year’s sales.

This year, in order to increment the results, CIMCORP created a business unit exclusively directed to providing services, which already represents 40% of the company’s sales. The expectation is that with the new area, this percentage will increase to 60% in three years, the first of which, a revenue of R$ 8 million resulting from direct sales, with 30 new clients, is expected.