If you are not viewing the newsletter, click here.

 
 
 
 
The recently-created FiLife, produced by young journalists for an also young target-public, is one of the newest and most original sites for financial information. The initiative is the result from a partnership between Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal publisher, and IAC, considered the most admired American company in the internet services and sales area by Fortune Magazine.  Dynamic and agile, this site has been displaying these qualities since its inception. FiLife is extremely pleased to have chosen Ci&T to develop a large portion of this technology project. "Ci&T´s team went beyond our requirements and is helping us to define the system itself.” says Chupp Bryan, FiLife’s SVP Product, Marketing and Business Development.

Another area where Ci&T has been innovative is their capacity to put together IT services with marketing, communication and creative design. The marriage of these worlds is very rare in the industry. Taking advantage of the widely recognized creative Brazilian inheritance, as well as from its cultural and time zone proximity, Ci&T is supplying a differentiated array of interactive services to its clients.  “The true value lies in offering the competitiveness of an offshore, but with the cultural closeness and the effective contribution of a local partner”, assures Mattiazzi, Ci&T’s VP International Business, responsible for the company’s International Operations. Ci&T’s Development Center is located in Brazil, with only an hour time difference. “It’s a true competitive advantage, since we don’t need to be on-site in order to maintain daily communication”, Mattiazzi points out.

Agile Methodology was used to meet the aggressive deadlines – within 8 weeks the first version of the software was ready. “This methodology takes a very different approach. It uses the least possible documentation, focusing on quick and frequent deliveries. This has enabled us to better meet the lead-time requirements, with less bureaucracy, more interaction and visible efficiency gains”, reminds Mattiazzi.

According to Bryan Chupp, Ci&T has proven that there’s no need to sacrifice quality in order to achieve the competitive level of an offshore vendor. Quite the contrary. “While others continue using Flash, Ci&T has been using Flex and other cutting-edge technologies ", says Chupp enthusiastically.
 
 
Fortune’s 2008 Global Outsourcing 100 ranks Ci&T as one of the highlights of this year’s edition. Specialized in information technology services, the company is among the 10 best outsourcing companies in the world for the Media and Entertainment industry. “Specifically in the Media area, for instance, I’m sure that our competitive advantage lies in our interactive services solutions, since we add a strong technical background in SOA to our creative services with a special take on marketing,” explains Leonardo Mattiazzi. The list published by Fortune ranks the best and not the largest IT service companies in the world. Their criteria are centered on quality, innovation and excellence in services. “We’re always searching for new ways to add value to our clients’ businesses. And if you take into account the sheer number of IT service firms in the Media and Entertainment segment, certainly in the thousands, this is a very important recognition”, celebrates Mattiazzi.

The company has been growing internationally at a higher rate than that of the domestic market. Ci&T’s subsidiary in the United States, located in Philadelphia, has been gaining visibility, with a consequent increase of the local staff and installations. “Our forecast for 2008 is to increase exports to over 40% of total revenue.” According to Ci&T’s VP, the timing is just right: we’re experiencing today the second wave of offshore firms when, through cost reduction continues being an important aspect, equally critical are factors such as full understanding of a client’s objectives, as well as quality, agility, capacity of communication, and innovation. “We count on specialized teams and are continually investing in innovation, besides being pioneers in the use of SOA, Web 2.0 and social technologies”, affirms Mattiazzi. In the Fortune’s 2008 Global Outsourcing 100 general list, Ci&T is also the only Latin American company in the ranking.
 
 
One of the reasons leading Ci&T to be selected by Fortune as one of the 10 best in the world in outsourcing services in the area of media and entertainment was its ability to combine IT and marketing, communication and creative design. A rare ability in this industry and also difficult to be found in countries where the main driver is low labor cost, it requires high capacity and cultural proximity. These are the factors that sustain Ci&T´s interactive services success. Offering highly differentiated services, the solution gained strength and the market responded so well that the company decided to create a business unit dedicated to this practice.

Ci&T Creative services include portals displaying frequent digital marketing campaigns, usage of social networks, website design, micro-sites design, search engine optimization, e-mail marketing, viral marketing, information newsletters, blogs, wikis and interactive games, among others. “The new social technologies have created an unprecedented level of interaction between companies and clients. This opens a huge opportunity for us to add value to our clients”, states Leonardo Mattiazzi, Ci&T Creative’s main executive. The main focus is to engage the consumer. “Together with the implementation of these new types of applications, Ci&T offers digital communication services, focusing on differentiated design and innovative experiences that captivate the user. “Our growth in this segment is mainly due to our cultural proximity, favorable time zone and robust investments in core competences. These three factors are essential in overcoming the inherent risks to these new technologies which, for its very interactive nature and large scale, are a challenge to the traditionally used architectures”, adds Mattiazzi.
 
 
Eaton, the American multinational company, offers a portfolio with over 40 thousand products, generating annual revenue of about 13 billion dollars. It is the main producer of systems and products for the automotive, hydraulic, electric, industrial filtration and aviation industry in Brazil. In this exclusive interview, Jedey Miranda, Eaton’s Global Telecom Director, overseeing IT-Latin America, discusses the importance of innovation and investment in Information Technology as a supporting area to the creation and sustainability of the company’s value.
(International Webnews) Recently, you were “called up” by Headquarters and moved to Cleveland, OH, where you took on a few more responsibilities, especially in the infrastructure area. Many – and ever so more frequent - are the cases of IT executives “made in Brazil” receiving worldwide recognition.
(J Miranda) In the past years, the Brazilian IT professionals have been developing skills and competences that are highly valued. Among them, we can point out leadership (especially in hard times), strategic thinking, result-driven focus and team-building skills. The Brazilians’ professional qualification is very competitive, what can be confirmed by the fact that many multinational companies have chosen Brazil as part of a career plan development for some of their high-potential executives.

(IW) Eaton arrived in Brazil in 1957 – in fact, it was the first plant outside the United States. Now, it is the subsidiary exporting technology. How do you see this evolution?
(J Miranda) I think that, in general, Brazil is experiencing very positive momentum, so we at Eaton’s Information Technology area have decided to pioneer the first phase of this Horizontalization process by leading the creation of Centers for Excellence. While some people view this process as a threat, our team saw it as an opportunity, what ended up being confirmed by time.

(IW) Are the certifications – including the ones for outsourcing services – a clear sign of maturity?
(J Miranda) Consistent approach, effective metrics and continual improvement are key factors for success in any organization. Our professionals’ and partners’ ITIL certification, reliable project and portfolio management methodology coupled with management and governance are some of the factors helping our organization to demonstrate its maturity. As a result, we are able to produce deliverables within the agreed scope, timeframes and costs, in addition to our clients’ greater satisfaction.

(IW) Can the focus on Project Management best practices and IT governance be a decisive factor in a company’s strategy?
(J Miranda) I’m absolutely convinced of this correlation. Our results directly reflect the investment put into our professionals’ and partners’ development. This shared-governance model where management is done in partnership with the client has resulted into a solid alliance of all the divisions where both results and concerns are shared in such a unique way.

(IW) Can IT as the supporting area for the creation and sustainability of the company’s value summarize the spirit of modernity?
(J Miranda) The great challenge is to change this equation, namely reducing the time spent on maintaining and operating, investing most of that time just in development and innovation. Initially, we spent approximately 85% of our time maintaining the current applications and environments, with only 15% in innovation. With a model of efficient governance between IT and business units, we began to change this relationship. The partnership with the business resulted in efficient portfolio management. We invest time in solutions that will bring the greatest impact and result for the business. Our partners have also assumed a role of utmost importance to the maintenance of our current environment, freeing our internal resources to activities of higher value. From this stage, we created an internal group with the sole focus on innovation, proving in practice our commitment.

(IW) How are Brazil and its global IT services perceived by Cleveland?
(J Miranda) Brazil has taken the leadership role in the creation of our Centers for Excellence, receiving a very positive response from the whole organization in Cleveland. Currently, we’re working towards bringing some of our global services to Brazil, not only in operations, but in the added-value services area as well. This initiative has been very well received and supported by the whole global Eaton organization.

(IW) If the IT evolution in the last 10 years could be divided into phases, which one would we be entering now?
(J Miranda) I would describe the first phase of this transformation as an intense search for cost reduction, with sudden moves towards outsourcing, low focus on SLA (Service Level Agreements) and a consistent process approach and continual improvement. On a second phase, we can see a consistent movement in the market in search of operations and services quality improvement, with, for instance, SLA’s, processes in alignment with ITIL and project management methodology. Currently, most of the companies have a very stable operational environment, though still using a utility-provider model, focusing most of the resources on maintenance and operations. The biggest challenge lies in leaving this model behind. This is not only an incremental move, but in fact, it is revolutionary as to the company’s resources positioning and investment.

(IW) Is the idea of “low-cost solutions” compatible with quality? And what are the major competitive advantages that can transform an IT service provider into a player in the global market?
(J Miranda) I believe that most of the large service providers have a good maturity level regarding processes, metrics and services. Therefore, I think that the savings versus services quality ratio is quite attainable, provided the service scope is well detailed and the service levels/metrics are defined and properly followed-up throughout the project. I believe that the ideal IT partner is the one who will help transform your business, moving from the utility provider model to that of strategic partner, bringing innovation and helping sales increase and contribution margins.

(IW) What does the automotive sector look for in its IT service partners?
(J Miranda) I believe that the whole sector, not only the automotive, is searching for vendors who act as an agent of change, breaking taboos, innovating, reinventing the business, rather that raising obstacles and difficulties before new opportunities and challenges.