Last week was an interesting week for me. I met with a team of 13 sales professionals from Latin America, all from a global ERP vendor. They came to Miami, Florida from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Mexico (and despite the title of this blog, half the attendees were women).
They came because they wanted a subject matter expert to weigh in on some important issues that they have been working through. This was a classic case of “coopertition”. XLerant (my company) and this ERP vendor sell to different markets and different company sizes. But we’re all trying to improve planning and budgeting.
I was impressed with the level of commitment and energy this team had, and for the vision of the leader that brought us together in Miami. They were a well studied group, who took the subject very seriously, and apparently had an earnest desire to improve corporate planning (and not just for the finance professionals who orchestrate the process). In short, they care. With all the challenges associated with corporate budgeting, that’s an essential quality for any vendor to have.
Needless to say, while I did what I was asked to do — which was share my perspective on a wide range of subjects related to planning and performance management — I listened too. What I heard left me with confidence that there was at least one earnest ERP vendor out there looking not just to sell software, but to make life better. That’s a corporate value at XLerant, and it’s nice to know it doesn’t have to disappear when a company becomes a global leader.
A mis nuevos amigos en América Latina, gracias.
