The Indian company, part of Zoho Corporation, has been growing by almost 30% over the last three years in the IT services environment in the region. The next step will be data centers, which would possibly be installed in Mexico or Brazil.
Digital transformation in Latin America is experiencing a significant boom, and companies like ManageEngine are playing a crucial role in this process. Zoho Corporation’s enterprise IT management division has achieved sustained growth in the region, taking advantage of the growing demand for advanced technological solutions.
During a presentation of its half-year plans in Santiago, Chile, the Indian firm highlighted that in the last three years it has registered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 30% in Latin America and 31% in Chile, particularly in the financial services sectors (BFSI), social organizations, retail and IT services.
This is a reflection of the broader IT sector panorama in Latin America, since, according to data from the consulting firm Technavio, it is estimated that the size of the information technology market in Chile will increase to US$ 4.76 billion between 2024 and 2028, with a growth rate of 9.59% during this same period.
Subin George, Regional Manager for Latin America at Manage Engine, explains the company's expansion strategy. "Initially, the focus was on Brazil and Mexico. These were the biggest markets, where we started to see some customers and interest. So that's where we started with partners. Then, over time, it started to expand."
This gradual expansion, which later took them to Chile and Colombia, has allowed the Indian-based firm to establish a solid presence in the region. The company has created an ecosystem of partners, system integrators and consultants, which has enabled them to offer localized solutions and closer support to their clients.
"Today we have a number of partners that we work with. We work with value vendors, we work with managed service providers (MSPs), we work with system integrators, and so on," George adds.
Although they have offices in Brazil, ManageEngine's strategy in Latin America has focused primarily on Spanish-speaking countries, and over the past four years they have stepped up their efforts to establish and expand their local presence.
“Colombia has become a key pillar of this strategy. The base of operations in Bogotá has experienced considerable growth, doubling the size of the team in the last year and expanding the partner ecosystem. From there, ManageEngine serves not only the local market, but the entire Latin American region,” George explains.
FUTURE DATA CENTERS
The company currently has more than 60 business IT management products and more than 280,000 clients globally, of which 10,000 are in Latin America.
ManageEngine’s focus is not limited to a specific sector, although the financial services sector (BFSI) has been one of the major consumers of its products. This is largely due to the strict regulations and need for rigorous controls in this industry.
However, the company serves a wide range of sectors, recognizing that the need for advanced technological solutions transcends industrial boundaries.
Wilson Calderón, technical manager at ManageEngine, underlines the importance of this approach and calls it "digital maturity of Latin American companies."
"All companies began to digitally transform themselves with the pandemic, almost forced, taking some small steps and now they are realizing that they have to achieve digital maturity," says Calderón.
This digital maturity implies addressing different challenges.
"Cybersecurity remains the first priority, followed by democratization, employee experience for the end customer, and the issue of observability of all processes," explains the executive.
In Chile, specifically, a significant increase in investment in cybersecurity research, development and innovation is expected. According to Chile Digital, investment as a percentage of GDP should increase from 0.1% in 2025 to 0.2% in 2030, and 10,000 cybersecurity professionals will need to be trained.
The public cloud market is also experiencing significant growth. Revenues in this sector are expected to reach US$1.13 billion by 2024, with software as a service (SaaS) dominating the market with an expected volume of US$413 million.
“Companies increasingly need to be much more agile, and to do so, they seek cloud adoption, that is, public or private clouds. But when you upload the cloud, you adopt, you sometimes lose visibility, so you need to have help from providers that help you have complete visibility of your operations,” explains Calderón.
In terms of data centers, the market in Chile was valued at $741 million in 2023 and is expected to reach $1.37 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 10.83% during the forecast period.
Although the firm has made clear its intention to build at least one data center in the region in the coming months, it is considering building one in one of the two largest Latin markets: Brazil or Mexico. For the moment, the Latam region is supported by the firm's data center in Dallas, one of two that ManageEngine has in the US.
Looking ahead, ManageEngine remains committed to investing in Latin America. The company plans to continue expanding its local presence and strengthening its ecosystem of partners, system integrators, and consultants.
In addition, it will continue to focus on developing products that respond to emerging trends, such as generative artificial intelligence and identity-focused cybersecurity.
At the same time, the firm, which is part of Zoho Corporation, believes that Latin American companies must continue to invest in technology and in the development of digital skills to remain competitive in the constant race for digitalization.
