Hi everyone, it is good to be blogging on our new web site.

This blog is for anyone who is considering international expansion for their software. Our focus is on business-to-business software for on-premise enterprise, SaaS and Cloud software vendors that focus on medium and large businesses and/or organizations. How large is a “medium and large business“? The definition is a little fuzzy, but from the point of view of the software we focus on, a medium or large organization has more than 20 computer users and operates at least one server.

Another definition so we are on common ground is “enterprise software,” which is what International Revenue ACCELERATION does. A country’s total software market is divided into:

1. Consumer Software
2. Small Business Software – all the way from a sole proprietor running QuickBooks up to a business or organization with 20 users and a server
3. Enterprise Software – used by a businesses or organizations the next size up from a small business as defined in bullet point 2

The total software market worldwide is estimated to be US $325 billion. Gartner Group, the leading IT market research firm, estimates the 2010 worldwide enterprise software market at US $245 billion or approximately 75% of worldwide total software. Each country’s split between sales of consumer, small business, and enterprise software varies. The less developed countries tend to have lower shares of enterprise software as a percentage of their total software markets. For example, according to Gartner, China’s enterprise software accounts for 35% of its total software market, much lower than the worldwide share of enterprise software at 75% of total software.

Why would a U.S. or Canadian software or technology vendor want to expand outside the U.S.? Well, companies that don’t might be leaving lots of revenue on the table. Though the U.S. accounts for 20% of the world’s GDP (using the International Monetary Fund’s–IMF– measure of GDP using purchasing power parity or PPP), 72% of the world’s technology spending is outside the U.S. and 60% of the world’s software is sold outside the U.S. (WTSIA’s 2010 report entitled Digital Planet). The 2010 total for technology spending outside the U.S. is something like $2,700 billion US dollars according to the same report. A company getting their share of this total is our goal.

This blog will discuss interesting tidbits about software and technology markets around the world. It will draw on information from our experience and consulting work that we will soon be publishing into a book (see http://intl-rev-acceleration.com/purchase-e-book/) and other things we hear about in the course of learning more about international markets.

A little about us: I (Jay) have worked in enterprise software companies managing 65 countries in sales, channels, product, operations and M&A and lived in London, Paris and Singapore. Edward Chow, has worked in Taiwan, Singapore, France and other European countries in strategy consulting and journalism and speaks French and Mandarin Chinese. We have contractors ready to help in Singapore, Australia, South Korea, Brazil, UK, France and Southern Europe. Our common interest is the cultures and business environments for technology in all the countries of the world. Stay tuned for more!