PRESS RELEASE

04/17/09

Prepared by: Technology User Database, Latin America, Infonertia LLC-Gary Gorton

Subject: The Economy and Technology Spending in Latin America

Introduction: Technology spending is slowing in the Latin America Region but not to the same extent that it is in other regions of the world or with respect to other product categories. The most interesting factor is that the demand for technology is on the rise but the acknowledgement of budget is on the decline. What will it take for vendors to make a difference in this market dynamic?

Analysis: You will note in the chart below that in the most recent timeframe, the past two months, the mention of a need for one category of technology, Phone Systems, has more then doubled since a year ago, but the number of IT Decision-Makers that responded that they were planning a phone system was down 11% from a year ago. When TUDLA phone interviews the IT Decision-Maker, thousands per month, and in this case asks the question regarding their installed and planned PBX, the answer can fall into three purchase plan categories:

• On-Order-actually already ordered for delivery soon.
• Planned-definitely going to be purchased and budget is approved.
• Interested-have a need but not sure of the budget or necessarily approved.

When you go back a year ago before the Economic down-turn out of the 3,000+ phone interviews in that time period there were 31% of the time an occasion for the respondent to note that they had New Hardware or Software or Networking or Services plans. That was lower then the 47% of mentions that occurred at the peak of the Economic down-turn. So during the slow economy in Latin America the demand for new technology increased. The only measure that went down was the number of On-Order PBX. Now in the most recent timeframe, the demand has gone up even more but the biggest difference is the 11% swing from planning and having a budget and interested where there is a need but the budget has not been determined or approved.

Conclusion: There is a popular term being used for qualifying prospects in particular when in support of indirect channel partners, it is called BANT which stands for Budget, Awareness, Need and Timeframe. In our next Press Release that will go out in two weeks we will examine why this philosophy may not work in this current market situation where the IT Decision-Maker due to the Economy is looking for a creative solution provider to assist them with first determining the best solution for their requirements and the most cost-effective way to acquire that solution so that they can get the budget determined and approved.

Gary Gorton, ggorton {at} tudla(.)com

Founder of TUDLA

619-442-4445 www.tudla.com