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The Internet, the social networks and the mobile technology have created new challenges by changing consumers’ behavior. These will be the themes addressed at the Forrester's Consumer Forum 2008, coming up in October, in Dallas, TX. It will be an excellent opportunity for a cutting-edge company like CreativeLab, Ci&T’s Interactive Agency, to showcase its unique distinguishing advantages. “We have an awarded team coming from Marketing and Advertising coupled with solid technical expertise, as attested by our CMMI-5 certification, which makes us stand out in this sector. There’s a long pathway from creative inception of marketing campaigns and their actual implementation in practical technologies, and in most agencies you get one or another. However, in our case, we were able to overcome this problem by having two very strong teams working in total synergy”, says Gustavo Guimaraes, Ci&T’s Creative Director. Additionally, we’re able to deliver services at a cost 30% to 50% lower, but still with the same quality as North-American agencies. CreativeLab is a Silver Sponsor at the Forrester's Consumer Forum 2008, where consumer companies from all over the country will be learning and sharing experiences about trends in integrated marketing. “Our main focus is to promote our creative ability, tools and solutions. We want to show we are extremely competitive, and extremely capable of developing campaigns geared towards social and mobile technology”, points out Guimaraes. According to him, the influence of consumers and community networks has been increasing and this public also influences content in general, not only of the internet, but also that of movies and music, for instance. Understanding how this public influences, interacts with and reacts to a brand is crucial to the business. With this knowledge, it’s possible to improve our marketing while ensuring a better return. “We work with environments like MySpace, Facebook and Orkut. We develop applications and gadgets for communities, searching for specific niches, like sports, where users can add content and make it happen”, Guimaraes elaborates. Interactive media services also include portals with digital marketing campaigns, website design, micro-sites creation, e-mail marketing, viral marketing, newsletters and games, brand monitoring, ratings or reviews, blogs, podcasts, wikis, knowledge management and the open social gadgets. “The star, the hit of the moment, is Open Social. Though still in its infancy, it’s already clear it will be very powerful. Take the twitters, for instance, miniblogs where you post details of your everyday life using minitexts. They allow us to understand a person’s routine, enabling us to learn about the habits of potential consumers”, reminds Guimaraes.
 
 
In 1988 John Lima – a Brazilian named Joao de Deus Rego de Lima, who altered his name to make its pronunciation easier in the United States –founded Cyclades, a company specialized in equipment and software for communication networks. The company was born in a garage in Sao Paulo, with an investment of little over US $2.5K. In the beginning of 2006, with subsidiaries in 15 countries, Cyclades moved its headquarters to California, right in the middle of Silicon Valley. Its products, pioneering the use of Linux, were used by 85 of the 100 top Fortune's ranking of the world's largest companies. The result: after 17 years, Cyclades has been just sold for US$ 90 million dollars.
(Webnews) How did you reach the decision to sell your company to Avocent, the American manufacturer of network equipment?
(John Lima) We wanted to capitalize on the effort we had made over the past 17 years.

(Webnews) Is it true that, during the initialization of the system, Linux would ask whether “a Cyclades board was used”?
(John Lima) Yes, indeed. Linux was very important for positioning our company in the US. We were very attentive to the market, and when the opportunity to adapt our products to Linux came up it was like adding fuel to the fire. Our competitors didn’t realize what was happening. We took the correct posture by sharing our source code and we were then able to count on the open source initiative to leverage a very creative and successful business.

(Webnews) Cyclades boards were chosen by access providers of the then-emerging Internet, right in the heart of Silicon Valley in the 90s. Have you ever imagined yourself being part of this history?
(John Lima) No, not really. It was all a gradual, natural evolution. We became a global company because of the technology we and our clients were using. Linux technology enabled us to succeed. After entering the data center management area, we started catering to global clients. These companies had operations all over the world – we just wanted to serve them and it all worked. We focused our efforts on business, sales and marketing relationships. We simply followed our clients abroad. If a technology company really wants to do business, it has to understand the local culture and its people.

(Webnews) You have already managed a company which operates in 16 countries, from Germany to Japan, from Switzerland to South Korea. Would you have an infallible tip to give us?
(John Lima) The pointers I have are generic and apply to every human being, regardless of their country. First, look inward; arm yourself with self-confidence and compassion. Make your business plan, gather all pertinent information, but don’t let yourself to be intimidated, don’t get lost in the analysis. Be moderate. Any plan will only work if it incorporates compassion, self-confidence and effective leadership. Make your dreams come true, but they have to be based on solid plans. I like to compare it to bicycling. The plan is your bicycle front wheel, but it’ll only turn if you apply force to the pedal – it all depends on the energy you put into it.

(Webnews) One of the great dividers was your move to the United States. How was it to face this market, especially Silicon Valley, the heart of the global technology industry?
(John Lima) Silicon Valley is fantastic. That’s where ideas flow and capital is abundant. All you have to do is to take your business plan and go ahead with it. However, you must pay close attention before committing all your money – make sure your product does have a market and that it will be well accepted.

(Webnews) Did Cyclades have its R&D team in Brazil developing products for the global market?
(John Lima) We had these teams both in Brazil and in the US. The contribution of the Brazilian team was very important. Brazilian engineers are less locked onto process and, therefore, more creative. Brazilians always devise a way to solve problems.

(Webnews) What has led you to open Coffee Beans Technology, a new software company?
(John Lima) This is a company that provides tools for small companies to practice strategic marketing. My biggest problem at Cyclades was to meet my clients’ needs. My dream was to have a panel where I could view my clients’ routines, in their own context, and know how to help them. “To be market-oriented” is our motto in the American market. For a company to grow, it’s necessary to be much more intelligent than the market and the competitors. It’s necessary to understand our clients and our competitors and develop products that can actually meet the market’s demands. This generates added-value, increases profit, reduces risks and creates a new culture in the company, engaging every one, leading it to be, in fact, a “market-oriented” company.

(Webnews) How did your other initiative, a company geared towards the use of chips in the security area, Neocatena Networks Inc. evolve?
(John Lima) It’s an inheritance from the six years I lived in Germany, where I met great specialists in security, that’s to say, good hackers. Nowadays we are using RFID technology (Radio Frequency Identification), with remote automatic data identification, recovery and storage with the use of radio signals. We provide security equipment to guarantee an application remains safe. It’s a start-up company. It’s a little plant we have been nursing.

(Webnews) What is "The Click Company" concept?
(John Lima) It’s a simple concept, to motivate our clients. They’re changing thanks to IT. And as they change, so does their experience. This way, we have to be attentive as to where these experiences will take them, how these experiences will lead our clients to adopt new consumption patterns, while always making sure we don’t become obsolete. The Click Company creates value based on the customer’s experience and it’s geared towards this customer’s experience. Napster and iTunes are good examples of this principle.
 
 
The development of applications for sites where the "social" concept is used became one of the current technological challenges. Ci&T was one of the first companies in the world to develop an application for the social network Orkut using the OpenSocial platform, a set of routines, patterns and functionalities made available by Google. Believing in this idea, the media company Globo Online sponsored the "Soccer Social Club" for Orkut users. This application developed by Ci&T's Technology and Creation team allows the personalization of users' profile through the addition of a new tool which enables soccer fans to communicate with their peers, tease friends that root for other teams, as well as receiving soccer news and having a direct channel to access the Globo Online sport pages content. Once installed, this application allows users to create chat rooms and interact. "Soccer Social Club" has been on the air since July 10 and, after just a month after its implementation, this "gadget" has already become one of the 10 most popular Orkut applications, among over 360 available, with an average of over 30 thousand hits a day. Currently, we have a second application in place, "Me at Globo Online", also developed in partnership with Ci&T. Basically, it's a tool that puts together a users' participation within Globo Online, with the ability of displaying their comments and sharing them with their friends. "Besides being part of the current Web 2.0 collaborative environment, having the name of our company linked to these applications is a great advantage, mainly for its viral dissemination and multiplying power", exclaims Marcio Cyrillo, Ci&T's Senior Business Manager.
 
 
After being considered by “Fortune - The 2008 Global Outsourcing 100” as one of the 10 best service outsourcing companies in the world in the media and entertainment areas, Ci&T is once again recognized for its people management. For the third consecutive year, Ci&T is among the 100 Best Companies to work for in Brazil. This ranking by Great Place to Work Institute selects the top 100 companies with the best environment to work in and the best policies for motivating employees. The survey, conducted in 41 countries, also ranks the top companies in specific categories. In this award’s 12th edition, Ci&T was ranked among the top ten companies with highest education. According to José Tolovi Jr., president of the Great Place to Work Institute-Brazil, “great places to work are more productive and, consequently, more lucrative”. Ci&T, which was also ranked as one of the 50 Best Companies to work for – IT & Telecom 2008, agrees with Tolovi’s statement, and continues to believe it has a winning team.
 
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