The Argentine Conquest of the United States

The markets are located in the North, the talent in the South, and the technology is everywhere; that is the formula, in so many words, by which Globant.com — the Argentine business software company — built its strategy. And it works: Created in 2002 with just $5,000, it now has 2,500 employees, four U.S. offices, one in Great Britain and 20 in Latin America. On its long list of clients are found some of the most competitive companies in terms of innovation, from Google to Electronic Arts to LinkedIn and Zynga.

The recipe: 90 percent of their revenue comes from the North, while 80 percent of their technological and artistic development is produced in the South. “The big markets lack talent, while relatively small cities abound in it, in unexpected corners where no one worries about giving them an opportunity,” Guibert Englebienne — director of technology (CTO) of the company — tells me in his Buenos Aires office.

The “talent” that interests Englebienne are the “designers” and the developers.

He uses this combination, indispensable to whoever is concerned with innovation today, inside the context of open innovation.

“All of my employees are anxious to participate in the process of creation,” assures Englebienne. When a client presents a new problem, the company opens a list where whoever wants to reflect on the matter can make a note. They have completed several brainstorming (always in English) sessions to “to give better audience to the intelligence distributed throughout the organization.” “We are in the business of ‘fitness’, of getting into shape”, he continues. “We allow our clients, our employees and the countries where we operate to always be ready to enter that competition from which the world of tomorrow will emerge.” He thinks that the world is more flat (in the sense of more open) and that “the necessities are so great that the innovations coming from all over the world will be used without outsourcing becoming a sign of bad quality.” The challenge lies in taking in a sufficient number of talented people in order to be able to operate at a global level.

In Argentina, as in many places, education is charged with being 50 years behind, at least.

Hence his constant effort in formation and in the Globant Labs to do investigations about future projects such as robotics, biotechnology, virtual reality, games, etc… Globant is not interested in Southern markets. “90 percent of the global demand for digital services stems from the U.S., Great Britain and Japan. We would lose time in other places,” he says.

“The markets that matter to us are those where corruption has disappeared, that support a strict meritocracy and where decisions are made quickly.” But when it is asked if he is thinking of settling down in New York, he responds: “Not necessarily.” The cultural component matters enormously to companies built on people. It is necessary to take care of them constantly. “We strive to always have one foot near our employees and the other in the door of the airplane.” The world is flat, he says, but his experience indicates that it is not homogenous.