It is both extremely exciting to build up a brand new market, and at the same time very challenging, especially when you meet or talk with people that have never heard of your company.

Why the UK?

No doubt that the UK is an attractive market for an enterprise software company. We were attracted far earlier than 2010, and we actually went to the UK both in 2006 and 2008 to "feel the market." The feedback and response at the time made us feel that both eZ was not ready for that market and that the UK market was not ready for eZ. Indeed, the adoption of open source has been slower, at least compared to the markets we know well like France or Germany, and being an open source vendor was not necessarily attractive for enterprise customers. To give a comparison, the French government was already pushing open source in 2004, and this is why the timing of our efforts on the French market was right back in 2005. Another important parameter is the number of references, and this seems to be more important in the UK than any other country I have been in. Do not expect to get any attention from a UK prospect if you do not have local relevant references. For some reasons, it is all about brand. Brand, brand, brand! And it is not a surprise to have some of the best media agencies in the world located in London.  

So why is 2011 the right year to "attack" the UK? Well, obviously because open source is now step-by-step adopted even in the enterprise market. But mostly because we have now an interesting customer base in the UK with for instance, The Financial Times. I also think that the way WCM (or should I say WEM or CEM) is evolving and suits the UK market much better than it used to. WCM now serves the marketing part of any organization and help marketers to power their brands in a consistent way and generate leads. Brand, brand, brand. Remember? :-) 

This is basically why I started to focus on the UK market 10 months ago and I have spent a lot(!) of time in London in the last few months.

How do we open new markets?

We now have a lot of experience in how to approach a new market and how to ramp up a new region by doing the right things. There are so many things you can do when you start from scratch. Where should you focus your energy?  On events?  Telemarketing campaigns?  Cold calling?  Find as many partners as possible? I think the key factor of success is to find the right partners that are willing to be the "first" ones in a new territory. Working with committed partners is the key factor of success, and I prefer working with 4 committed partners on a new market than 10 purely opportunistic ones. In parallel, I think it is very important to take care of the existing resources that eZ has had in those regions - both existing clients and partners if we have any.

Building the UK developer community has also been high on my list. I had the chance to get help from our Community Manager, Nicolas Pastorino, who held a 1 day free training even this spring. He also was attending the PHP Conference in London, which is a great way to meet developers and tell them about eZ. Thanks Nico!

If all this is done in sync with the corporate marketing and messaging, then the sales will start to happen. I guess there is no real recipe, but those elements are the ones that have worked for me in several countries.

2012, here comes the UK team !

So yes, we are hiring. We are opening our UK operations on January 1, 2012, and we are looking for :

• A Country Manager for the UK being in charge of all operations and sales
• An Expert Consultant to be close to our new partners and bring them up-to-speed and to assist our most experienced partners in the most advanced tasks

Stay tuned, job descriptions will be published very soon on ez.no.