SILICON VALLEY, USA – US Correspondent of Korea IT Times, Sam Sung-hwan Hwang, had an interview with MunKyu Pae, Director, and Cy Erbay, CTO of Altibase at K Tech@Silicon Valley 2012 to discuss K-Tech in Silicon Valley.
Q; Hi, Cy, will you please tell me your job function
A; I am CTO responsible to represent Altibase Inc. to customers, and communicate back the HQ in Korea about US market, customers’ expectation and requirements.
The requirements in Asia pacific and the US are not the same. I do all pre-sale activities and some post-sale activities in US.
Q: What do you think the significance of this K-tech in Silicon valley
A; It is a good exposure and give us chance, not only network within Silicon Valley technology companies but also other Korean companies to learn how they operate. It’s a learning event.
This is very good event since we have a lot of interaction with customers, competitions and potential partners.
Q; How many customers have you met in 2 days
A; Almost a dozen of customers. It’s a very good setting with booth, table and arrangement made by Kotra to best spend 30 minutes with customers.
They arranged meeting with the customers we want to meet.
Q; What is US customers’ perception toward Korean SW companies
A; They do not concern much about the origin of the products, but they say ‘we need it”,
“it works”, such attitude.
Q; How do you sell such intangible SW products to US customers
A: We are selling something infrastructure which you cannot provide demo to customers.
So, we articulately explain through use cases and discuss what is the product and how it solve the problems to customers.
Q; Then, the customers’ confidence level is the key to make decision to buy your products.
How do you prove the performance of your products and service
A: Given the history of product performance since 1999, our products are proved to be mature. If not it’s very hard to sell SW to US customers.
Q: I guess it is relatively easy to sell with proven history of the products. But, what do the other new Korea SW companies need to do to penetrate US market
A; It’s very hard to sell the pre-mature products to sell. But with the reference of other major customers, such as Samsung, LG and other financial customers, the customers understand the product value. But it always comes with question about how do you serve the customers with technical problems in the future.
Q; Cy, how do you judge Korean SW industry in general
A: I’ve been in this industry for more than 30 years and worked at the big companies.
In general, the engineering level between US and Korea is not significant different.
But in technical support, marketing and product management are not mature for Korean SW companies.
Q: Hi, Cy, What would be your recommendation to Korean SW companies who try to penetrate the US market
A: I think understanding of US culture, business climates, and of what the expectations are, and the skill to communicate very clearly with US customers, etc. are very important.
Communication is not just English, but make sure the customers are fully understand the value you are offering. And offer customers where to go if they have any question.
Q; What other nations come to US SW market
A: European companies are successful in US, such as German, English, French and some Israeli companies. But except one or two major companies, other’s portion is relatively small in US market. There is no Asian SW companies come to US except Korean as far as I know.
Q; What kind of SW would be attractive to US customers
A: “Horizontal” and generic products are easier to sell than customer-specific, “vertical” products, since it is very difficult to understand customers’ domain.
