SAP consultancy Dataflo has identified Southeast Asia as a key area in which to find more growth in the next five years, moving into the region on the back of client expansion.
Southeast Asia has 600 million inhabitants, but the tech footprint is not easy to measure, the Internet and technology are not as widely adopted as the West or its neighbouring China, and external expertise needs to be brought in to make the financial commitment work for investors.
Dataflo CEO Donovan Lawrence says the group has seen more fast-moving consumer goods clients operating more plants within the region. "These clients want to export the IT systems they currently use in other markets, to these new markets."
Top line growth
COO Rogan Moore says, although the company has not expanded its physical presence, it is following international investment and areas of high economic growth. "Our motivation is obviously revenue growth and the best place to get that is in areas where there is little established competition - so hot emerging markets anywhere are interesting to us, and this corner of Asia ticks all those boxes."
Moore says the company earns around half its revenue from SA, with the rest from international operations. He adds it has "aggressive growth plans and expects both of those components to grow considerably".
Dataflo is a Port Elizabeth-based business, with a satellite office in Johannesburg, employing more than 100 SAP consultants. It is an internationally active SAP and bespoke software solutions provider, with clients including Appletiser, Aspen Pharmacare, BASF, Coca-Cola, General Motors, San Miguel, and Volkswagen.
Moore says Dataflo is increasing its headcount to deal with demand in these new markets, but will service them from SA.
"With the explosion of cloud services, we are able to run SAP systems for companies in these territories from SA. Obviously, the implementations and consultative engagements do have a big impact on travel, but with the use of collaboration technologies like Webex, Skype and video conferencing, we can keep these costs to a minimum while still having global reach."
Moore adds that Dataflo is also keeping a close eye on Latin America with some exploratory visits to the region. However, competition is reasonably well established in this region and local language is more of an issue - so the model may have to differ, leveraging strong local partners to deliver niche expertise, he says.
Dataflo will also follow the expansion of its established multinational client base to service them in new geographies as they expand, says Moore.
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