"Unleashed" inventory management software, which since its first sale two years ago is now sold in 17 different countries, including China, UAE, India, US and the UK, via its channel network of more than 100 partners.
UNITEC's participation in the GEM project proved New Zealanders, (and especially Maori) are among the world's most innovative and entrepreneurial people.
However, if you have organised specialised software to manage some aspect of your niche business - probably because you found nothing was available internationally - then the New Zealand market for your software will be very limited.
However the international SME market for your innovative niche market software could be huge as the following figures demonstrate: New Zealand has a population of 4.43 million people and of its around 325,000 businesses, over 320,000 SMEs employ fewer than 50 people.
A very small niche New Zealand market for your product could be confined to perhaps only say 1/10,000th of these SMEs - ie only 32, and sales to them won't make you a millionaire!
However, the world's population has just passed 7 billion, and to be very conservative, if potential sales of your niche software were to only 1/100,000th of the world's SME market, then the potential market for your specialised software, interfaced with Xero, could be around 50,000 sales.
The major advantage of becoming a "Xero Add-on Partner," is that your product will be marketed by an ever-increasing number of the world's accountants, who will see the need for them to actively market cloud based Xero and its Add-ons, including your software, in order to stay in business!
Creating a relationship with large New Zealand companies who are successfully marketing internationally, products or services similar to yours.
In last week's column, details were given suggesting one way for people or organisations with innovative products or even ideas, to maximise their reward, is for them to make contact with an established, innovative organisation which is already successfully marketing products or services in the same sector, with the goal of establishing a mutually beneficial ongoing relationship.
(Obviously they would first need protection of intellectual property.)
One such company is Rakon Limited.
Rakon's 2010 sales were almost $190 million, and virtually its entire production was exported.
It has a global manufacturing base with manufacturing operations in New Zealand, England, France, India and China. Rakon is a manufacturer of frequency control devices based on quartz crystal technology.
Rakon's main markets are into consumer devices such as smart phones and GPS devices, telecom infrastructure equipment, and space and defence applications, and the majority of its sales are to Europe, North America, China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
Article contributed by the Wanganui Employers Chamber of Commerce UFB Business Strategy Group.
To suggest initiatives for inclusion in the group's Strategic Plan, or to contact the group, drop an email to john.patty@xtra.co.nz
