Exporter Spotlight: Digital Element
A Q&A interview with Jorgelina Striedinger, VP of LatAm at Digital Element
County: Gwinnett
Industry: Technology
Digital Element has been providing global geolocation data and services that bring anytime, anywhere relevance and context to online initiatives―from desktops to mobile devices―for more than 20 years. The company’s patented technology delivers real-time access to accurate and reliable location intelligence without invading a user’s privacy. For nearly two decades, many of the world’s largest websites, brands, security companies, ad networks, social media platforms and mobile publishers have trusted Digital Element’s technology to target advertising, localize content, enhance analytics, and manage content rights as well as detect and prevent online fraud.
How long has Digital Element been exporting?
Our company has been in business since 1999 and started expanding into international markets in 2007. We opened our first international office in London to purse the opportunities there. We are a global local intelligence data provider that can be used anywhere by any company that needs Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation and other important IP-based data parameters that non-invasively provide context about online users. We operate through a network of resellers (who sell our product to end-users), referral partners or directly through our own sales representatives located in the region.
What motivated your company to start selling internationally?
We saw a surge in advertising budgets being moved from traditional media to digital media. The United States was ahead of the curve in this regard, the United Kingdom was also beginning to follow the trend of digitalizing advertising – this was one of the first verticals we pursued. Germany, the Nordic countries and southern Europe were our next target markets. During this time of growth in Europe, we also hired resellers in Japan, Korea and China. Soon after that we expanded our business to Latin America. We have been doing business in Latin America for eight years.
What is the biggest lesson your company has learned about exporting? How have you been able to incorporate past lessons learned to navigating the current crisis?
One of the biggest lessons that we learned is that you have to understand and adjust to the market where you want to do business. Not all markets function the same way and you have to be flexible. Excellent customer service has to be the gold standard everywhere Everyone wants to feel valued as a client, and your company has to be ready to deliver that – you must be ready from a language and cultural perspective, as well as an operations perspective and technological perspective. For example, we have a lot of clients who are companies that work with DRM (digital rights management), this means that content providers like Disney, provide content to operators – and these operators need to uphold those contracts. Digital Element’s role is to allow them to uphold their contracts by only showing the content within certain geographical parameters (whether by country, state, city). Assuring that there is no gap in service is a critical necessity in our business. Understanding that and being ready to respond means that if a server fails we have backup, and backup of the backup; so our customers can trust us. We have seen that when we build trust with our customers, it resonates across the globe. During the COVID- 19 crisis we have focused on taking care of our customers and ensuring our data continues to fuel their mission-critical applications.
How has GDEcD’s International Trade Team helped your company? Or What outside resources have been helpful in achieving success internationally?
GDECD has been very instrumental to me in my role as VP of Latin America, and in the export of our product in Latin America. We have been able to identify which countries are strong players and determine which countries to leave on the back-burner based on recommendations from GDEcD. This has saved our company much time and financial resources. Getting reports from the GDEcD team in those international markets has been an integral part of our success. We have used a variety of consulting services – some worked out great and others were challenging for us. Every interaction our team has had with GDEcD, in the Latin American market, as well as other markets where we have used your services markets, such as Israel for example, has been invaluable. I would recommend to any company looking to export, use GDEcD as a resource. We hope to continue using GDEcD’s resources in more markets.
What advice do you have for companies that are just starting to export?
Understanding and practicing diligence when it comes to getting into contracts with resellers. We often find, specifically in Latin America, that customers are eager to get into relationships without fully understanding what the expectations are, U.S. companies often expend a lot of their resources without seeing the results of those labors come to fruition. Know the expectations on both sides and use KPIs (key performance indicators).
Contacting GDEcD is our first course of action get an understanding of what resources are already available for us to use. When we compared how the GDEcD team helped us, to the paid consulting services, we found tremendous value.
I recommend not getting too excited, and taking the time to understand what is happening on the ground in your prospective market, have hard conversations, understand exactly what your partner is going to provide and how – go into the nitty gritty of all the operational details in that market. This will save you a lot time and headaches later on.
What has been your biggest export achievement?
Getting into the Brazilian market and winning one of our largest potential customers in that market, was one of the biggest wins for us. We have been working with that Brazilian customer for several years now.
What business/export challenges have you faced during Covid-19 and how have you responded/been forced to respond? How has the global Covid-19 crisis affected your company and your international business?
We are not stopping or slowing down in terms of how we continue to work our markets. However, this has been a really good opportunity for us to reflect and understand where our business has gone thus far; and look at where we want to go next and how we do that.
We are asking ourselves if the same approach we’ve used in the past is going to give us the same results moving forward or are we looking for better results and what will it take now to achieve that?
How has COVID-19 impacted your future plans for export growth? Do you have any advice on how exporters can re-evaluate their international strategy to adapt to the changing global landscape?
It has impacted our sales growth in certain international markets but not all. This is a good time to take care of our customers by paying closer attention to their needs. Because of the nature of our products and services, some of our verticals are experiencing more activity, while others have halted for the time being. Digital Element is committed globally to stand by our customers and deliver the highest level of customer care.
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