First contract signed in the Pacific-Asia area

We made it, we are achieving business development in Asia. The rumour was going around the block (well, the blog) for a long time now, but we wanted to wait for the first deal to be closed before letting you know more about it.In addition to enhancing its production capacities by setting up the new branch office in Cluj, Romania, at the end of July this year and very likely another one in Tunisia shortly, the Pentalog group strives to increase sales in other parts of the world as well, namely in Israel, in the US, in Poland, and, of course, in Asia as we have been present in Vietnam for the past 3 years now!We knew right from the very beginning that selling in Vietnam would be (quite) different from our trade habits in Europe, so we had to carry out proper market research in order to establish where, how and what to sell. The numerous meetings we had with our potential buyers enabled us to define some of the market requirements, the purchasing habits and, above all, the services which definitely set our IT outsourcing company apart from local players.Our expertise in large-scale IT projects, our industrialized work processes, our certified quality assurance system, our recruitment and training capacity, as well as our highly proficient international team are so many of our strengths. However, the fast growing market in Vietnam has the following distinctive characteristics:- Mandatory face-to-face contact (online purchase is still faraway), referral-based contact is strongly recommended- Services are seldom purchased, instead customers look for solutions including customization and maintenance services- Difficulty in defining the needs (and in the same time the fixed-price contract is seen as a standard), the customer does not have the required proficiency to follow up and control the project development- A few issues related to the transparency of the supplier selection process, to say the least Therefore, we most definitely have to add a client control and a project management support layer to our regular services. Already, we have been chosen by THE very first Vietnamese customer in the insurance business sector to assist them in their strategic portal project from scratch, namely to draw the list of requirements, to plan the progress and to implement it.Apart from the Vietnamese market, we are also aiming at reaching nearshore destinations – with reference to Vietnam – like Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore in the near future. I am well aware that, in the past, we already targeted Japan and canceled it out because of the global recession, but this time we are definitely going to make it.Taking advantage of the presence of our CEO, Frédéric LASNIER, in Vietnam, on Thursday, November 3rd, we set up a meeting in the Hanoi office with potential buyers from different business sectors: banking, telecommunication, consulting, industrial production… Our dear visitors had the opportunity to better understand Pentalog and the IT services we provide, to visit our production site which is in compliance with European standards, to have a chat with our employees and enjoy a lovely lunch together. Many thanks to them for what we see as a win-win situation as there are some promising collaboration opportunities underway following this meeting.For further information on the services we provide in Vietnam and in the Pacific- Asia region, you are welcome to contact us in order to set up a meeting or a visit to our premises:Phone.: 00(84) 43 79 50 699E-mail: hightech@pentalog.vnWebsite: www.pentalog.vn