`Value-Added' -- From Rhetoric to Practice; What do IT Users Really Want and Expect from Vendors?

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 1998--

by Fernando Parra President

DTS Software Latin America

The increasing demand for integrated solutions that bundle hardware and software in the same package -- along with a complete line of services -- reflects the legitimate desire of today's IT user to surround themselves with a wide range of assurances, promises and guarantees, all providing what is popularly known as "value-added."

As users begin to deal more with a single value-adder, whether they're called an integrator, a VAR or VAD, these users acquire much greater bargaining power in negotiating price and especially when seeking expeditious, quality services. This is the reason why the world market for integrated solutions is growing at an annual rate of 30%, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) statistics.

Moreover, in this age of all in one, the role of services has become increasingly important. This is obvious when one looks at the revenues earned by all vendors. IDC reports that service accounts for more than 40% of this total, resulting in a growing emphasis on the service aspects generally termed "value added." Today it is no longer enough to just provide a solution based on the latest advances in technology. Even once a product has been virtually perfectly attuned to meet a client's business needs, a vendor must be able to add even more value to the hardware and software solutions mix in the form of a portfolio of services. Such services range from diagnosing the problem through definitive implementation of the project, and can also include determination of the project's scope, conception and installation of the solution, training of in-house teams, conducting on-site follow-up and quite possibly, client support to develop pilot projects.

`Empowering the Client through Consulting Services'

One of the most important aspects of service is empowering the client through consulting services, or added-value. This aspect of business in the final years of this century is all the more relevant when one realizes that specific case studies have shown that even the largest corporations often utilize less than half the resources available to them. Other companies, in contrast, encounter problems that go beyond the scope of standard solutions, frequently requiring complex customized solutions. Finally, value-added both presumes and promises the return on one's investment, preferably in the shortest time possible.

Since the advent of the Information Age in the early 1980s, DTS Latin America has gone far beyond the simple incorporation of this revolutionary concept. Simply stated, whenever needed and wherever needed, we put our in-house technical and project support teams to work for our customers. Ever alert to the irreversible process of economic globalization, we have added another intrinsic value: provide services that meet a single, corporate-wide standard. Thus in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico or Venezuela -- throughout Latin America and independent of the individual characteristics of a particular country -- we have found that this service model is required and reaps rewards for all concerned.

This is true in markets where we partner with a local distributor (such as in Peru), true where a new DTS office was recently established to serve local clients and clients in Central America and the Caribbean (as in Mexico City), true where DTS has centralized to prospect and explore for new business opportunities in the Americas (from our Miami headquarters), and true wherever IT users turn to DTS for expertise and know-how.

Representing Top AD Solutions in Latin America

DTS Latin America is the exclusive representative in Latin America for many leading developers of AD solutions including Micro Focus, Intersolv, Synergex, Global, Novadigm, ObjectShare, IQ Software and Select Software Tools. DTS offers a complete line of software for application development, support, and for production and distribution within diverse corporate environments. In addition, DTS maintains close cooperation with the largest vendors of hardware products and services in the territories it serves, including IBM, EDS, CPM and others.

Fernando Parra is founder, president and CEO of DTS Software Latin America, the leading value-added distributor of Application Development Solutions in Latin America, providing sales, marketing and support as well as installation, training and implementation services. Spurred by continued growth and efforts to solve the Y2K Bug problem, Parra projects sales will reach or surpass a record $40 million in 1998, an increase of some 37% over 1997. DTS is headquartered in Miami, with major facilities in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Brasilia in Brazil, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Caracas, Mexico City and Santiago, and resellers in all major business centers in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Attention Editors: Fernando C. Parra is available for interviews at [phone]

    CONTACT:  Ed Baas
               DTS Latin America
               [phone]
               [e-mail]
                     or
               David A. Kaminer
               The Kaminer Group
               [phone]
               [e-mail]