SageCreek Partners Team Leads Altiris Latin America Sales

Achievements Include Significant Revenue and Growth Rates, Robust Infrastructure, Productive Sales Team, and Active Channel and Alliances

Established in 1998, Altiris Inc. was an independent software vendor which developed solutions to reduce the cost and complexity of managing the entire PC and IT Asset lifecycle. The company was acquired by Symantec Corp. in 2006. This success story covers a period from 2002 to 2008, but only discusses Altiris in Latin America.

In 2002, Altiris Inc. annual revenues were at $62 million. The company was flourishing in North America and operations had been ramping in Western Europe. In February of that year, Chad Latimer, VP International, hired Russ Warner to do a feasibility study on entering the Latin America market.  The results of the study were positive and the division was launched.

THE PLAN
The first phase launch involved establishing an Account Manager and Pre-Sales Engineer in Mexico and in Brazil. In Colombia, a Technical Account Manager was engaged (dual role).  After a  successful inaugural year of closing deals, recruiting channel partners and initiating relationships with HP and Dell, the next phase included expansion into Argentina and Chile with an Account Manager and SE in Buenos Aires. From Bogota, the team also started prospecting Peru, Ecuador and Panama. Customers in various other countries in the region were prospected and closed but
were managed by the established team or channel partners.

The third phase included partner recruitment in the Caribbean and engaging a Technical Account Manager (dual role).  Over time, in addition to sales managers and pre-sales engineers in each country, the Altiris team included a regional director for Mexico/Central America, a regional director for the Southern Cone/Brazil, a sales operations clerk in Utah, a field marketing manager for the region, and some administrative support. Final headcount reached 22 people in five offices.

THE TEAM
The management team responsible for success was Russ Warner, the original Director of Latin America Sales; Marcelo Lava, Regional Sales Director for South America, and then Director of Sales, replacing Russ; Victor Giles, Regional Sales Director for Mexico & Central America, and subsequently Marcos Valencia in the same region. Russ, Victor, and Marcelo are members of the SageCreek Partners Latin America Practice.

THE RESULTS
At most software companies around the globe, Latin America typically represents 2 to 3 percent of global business. In FY 2008, Altiris Latin America business accounted for 4.2 percent of the company’s overall business; revenues reached $11.8 million that year. Total revenues during the tenure of the management team were $34 million from 2002 to 2008.

In comparison to the overall company growth rate, Altiris Latin America’s sales growth rates exceeded the company’s growth rate normally by 2 to 3 times each year.

Over 125 channel partners were recruited, but eventually 24 top Partners and two Alliances Partners across the region were more fully developed. The team sold to Customers in over 18 countries.