Mexico’s Mining Industry

20 Negocios ProMéxico Negocios ProMéxico 21
Nearsoft,
an ally In
Software DeSIgn
In just seven years, the MexIcan
fIrM has won clIents In the us and
canada and Is ranked hIgh on the
great Place to work lIstIngs for
latIn aMerIca.
____
by sandra roblágui
photos archive
Nearsoft takes the business of
other software companies seriously.
Since its creation in
2006, the firm established in
Hermosillo, Sonora, has specialized in
solving its clients’ business needs with
such an innovative approach that now it
holds a portfolio of 14 customers in the US
and Canada.
Roberto Martínez, co-founder of the
firm, explains that Nearsoft focuses on developing
programs and intellectual property
for other companies. The firm this
young entrepreneur represents grew out of
a merger between the business he founded
just after graduating as a systems engineer
and that of his partner, Mateo Pérez.
In Hermosillo, the company works for
other software developers during the creation
and improvement of new programs.
“We don’t do ‘projects’, we work hand in
hand with our clients to create high-impact
products. We assemble a specialist’s
team to work as a seamless extension of
our clients’ development team. We value
commitment, leadership and teamwork
and we measure our results against these
standards,” the founders explain on Nearsoft’s
website.
Most of the Mexican firm’s clients hold
the patent to their programs, although in
some cases they use only licensed products,
where the intellectual property owner
is the Mexican developer.
For a long time, Mexico has trained
highly-skilled engineers capable of creating
top-quality software products: “Talent
abounds in Mexico,” says Martínez, who
believes that the country is emerging from
a manufacturing nation to an economy
based on high levels of production of intellectual
property.
Flexibility and added knowledge are two
of the most valuable features amongst the
services offered by the company, which is
why it comprises a pioneering work team
that offers advanced solutions to its clients.
Currently, Nearsoft employs a staff of 95,
most of them engineers, among which are
Germans, Peruvians, Venezuelans, Canadians,
French and, of course, many Mexicans
working to achieve the firm’s goals.
“Our customers need to get their products
quickly into the hands of users. They
need engineers who understand that a
product with fewer features that is widely
used is better than one with hundreds
of features that is not used,” explains
Martínez.
Nearsoft makes use of agile working
methods and its extensive experience involving
the concept of “time to market”.
“How can we create a customer base that
owns and uses the products as fast as possible?”
Martínez asks. “Beyond solving that
technical question, we advise our clients to
learn quickly from their users and customers
in order to apply the market needs into
its products,” he answers.
As Martínez explains, the firm’s staff
combines technical skills with knowledge
of their clients’ business, to which is added
innovation and a lower cost than they
would pay for similar products in their
home countries.
Even though Nearsoft could very well
be the competitor of its customers, it has
chosen to be an ally and to correct deficient
processes in their software. Clients
value the closeness of the Mexican engineers
and, above all, their creativity. “We
have a slimmed-down, horizontal organizational
structure, so that our customers
always find it easy to talk to the engineers
who they have dealt with from the beginning,”
says Martínez.
This understanding of technology has
enabled other software producers to see
the Mexican company as a strategic partner:
“From the get-go we show them that
their business success is our success,”
adds Martínez.
And regarding business, Martínez is
a specialist. Since 2006, when he left for
Silicon Valley in search of new customers
and encountered his business partner
Mateo Pérez, the company began a period
of growth that was only slowed –not halted–
by the 2009 global economic crisis. Before
that, and again after 2010, the Mexican
company has grown by between 25% and
30% annually.
Furthermore, Nearsoft is proof that
business growth and good work conditions
are compatible. In 2007 the company began
to assess and improve its organizational
environment. Just one year later, in 2008,
it was included in the top-20 places of the
Great Place to Work rankings in Mexico.
In 2012, it moved from 16th to sixth place
and entered the ranking for all of Latin
America, where it occupies the 49th spot.
Recently, the developer Mark Patiño
stated: “Working at Nearsoft as developers
means feeling proud of our professional
work culture and environment […] Many
people working in the computer industry
tend to make too many assumptions and
are scared of asking questions if they have
doubts. At Nearsoft that is not the case. We
are passionate about what we do and that
is evident for the client […] I believe that’s
why customers stay with us even when
there are other options available.”
That is the story of a company that
builds software, leadership and ethics. n
www.nearsoft.com