Avanquest offers international software publishing

NEW YORK - The question of how to achieve growth in international markets has been a perennial problem for software companies, especially smaller developers that do not have a large marketing and product localization budget. With the Wednesday launch of Avanquest Global Software Publishing, BVRP Software Group is stepping in to help.

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Avanquest is essentially a network of software publishers presenting, through the new venture, a one-stop shop for developers who want to grow internationally through retail and reseller channels. The network includes companies in which BVRP has stakes or owns, as well as third-party partners, according to Bob Lang, director of North American operations for Avanquest and president of BVRP North America.

BVRP parent company BVRP Software is a public company based in Paris offering communications software, and has subsidiaries and affiliates in the U.K., and U.S. The Avanquest network partners now are offering services including product marketing, product placement, packaging, localization and customer support in North America, Europe, South Africa and Australia, according to Lang. Deals in other areas are in the works, he said.

"A developer can come to us and use our entire range of services to enter a new market, or order 'a la carte;' for example, someone might be fairly strong in the reseller channel but may need help increasing their presence in the retail channel," said Lang, based in Denver. His European counterpart, Bertrand Michels, is general manger for Paris-based BVRP and directs European operations for Avanquest.

There are three possible beneficiaries for Avanquest's services, Lang said: software developers; resellers and retailers looking for new products to fill holes in their offerings; and members of the Avanquest network itself.

Even software companies that have made strides in a particular region or channel may not want, or have the resources, to deal with the intricacies of launching products in new markets, he said.

One of Avanquest's initial clients, Brendan Nolan, chief executive officer of Waterford Technologies in Waterford, Ireland, agreed.

"Being a small Irish company, it would be very difficult to set up operations in the U.S.," Nolan said. "The standard figure talked about is about $2 million; that's what it takes to set up operations to sell and market a product in the U.S." Waterford has contracted with Avanquest to sell its MailMeter enterprise e-mail management package in the U.S. "We have a republishing type arrangement with those guys to package up the product and push it through the channel. They're working with us on messaging: How to position the product."

Waterford is paying an up-front monthly fee for Avanquest public relations services, but hopes to reap about $3 million in revenue in the U.S. over the next year. Waterford has a standard Avanquest deal, where it takes 75 percent of revenue in the markets where Avanquest is pushing the product. Avanquest will also sell Waterford's product in France and Germany. The Avanquest network members in each country get a 25 percent cut of revenue from the products they take care of, though deals will vary depending on services ordered and amount of sales of the product.

Retailers and resellers also can benefit from the Avanquest network since it may make it faster and easier to find new products, according to Anne Norland-Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for software company Elibrium LLC, an Avanquest network partner based in San Mateo, California. Elibrium also distributes software products to various retailers through the U.S. from a central warehouse

"Retailers like Staples come to us and ask us to fill holes in their product line, or maybe when they want a second product to supplement something they already have, when they only have one product in a certain product category," Norland-Anderson said.

"The benefit for members of the network is lead-sharing, the network partners can offer software developers the ability to get into any of the markets where Avanquest network partners are located, which also makes each network partner potentially more attractive to the developer," Norland-Anderson said.

Since several companies in the network are wholly or partly owned by BVRP, the Avanquest network is a natural, worldwide extension of services the company is already offering, Lang pointed out. BVRP has on its own already been offering software re-publishing services, he said.

The big question is whether Avanquest can succeed where other companies have failed.

"Other companies have crashed and burned in the republishing business," said Jeffrey Tarter, editor and publisher of Softletter, an industry newsletter based in Watertown, Massachusetts. "They have not been able to offer enough value-add to make it worthwhile."

What Avanquest has going for it, however, is that it is international, and it already has lined up customers whose businesses, at least regionally, are thriving, Tarter said. Channels in many industrialized countries, especially the U.S., are well-developed but even successful companies can use help getting into foreign markets, Tarter said. "The biggest value is taking products overseas ... you need a local presence to market them," he said.

Though the Web has dampened the retail market, brick-and-mortar stores still play a major role in product sales and marketing in countries where dial-up costs are high, Tarter said. In addition, even in the U.S., a presence in the retail channel still confers a stamp of legitimacy on a product, he said.

The initial roster of software companies using Avanquest services includes ACD Systems, Boomerang Software and WinZip Computing. There are nine companies participating in Avanquest in North America, Western Europe, South Africa and Australia, and negotiations are under way for deals with companies in Asia, Lang said. Avanquest hopes to finalize a deal with a Taiwanese company over the next month, he said.