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October 22, 2012
Dear Colleagues,
As some of you may know, StatSoft has launched a program to offer free Enterprise Business Analytics software to aid struggling companies in Greece, Portugal, and Spain with the intent to reduce the terrible social cost for people who live in those developed and, until only recently, thriving nations, and where now 25% of the population cannot afford the most basic necessities such as adequate nutrition or health care.
The purpose of this letter is to invite you to join this initiative, which will not only reduce human suffering but which has also global, long-term benefits of reducing the risk to the Euro and the European economic system, which could unravel should the Euro fail.
In our (software) industry, we are in a unique position to help tremendously those companies that are now in the paradoxical situation where (a) on the one hand, their highly educated workforce and developed infrastructure is prepared to greatly benefit from software designed to increase productivity and international competitiveness, but (b) on the other hand, their lack of credit prevents them from making any investments and acquiring the critical tools (software) that would radically increase their chances for a quick recovery.
These companies need not only the Advanced Analytics software that StatSoft is providing, but they also need software for database management, enterprise resource planning, factory automation, and many other software tools and solutions.
The cost of this program for our industry (while not negligible) can still be considered extremely low compared to the tremendous benefits in terms of the reduction of human suffering that it can generate. The anticipated (caused by this program) loss of revenue for our industry from these cash strapped nations will be – in the case of most midsize software companies – limited to just a few million dollars; but, the “Return” on this small “Investment” in terms of the social benefits – increased employment, accelerated recovery, and also the reduction of the risk to the Euro – is virtually priceless given the depth of economic calamity that the residents of those nations are experiencing.
I have had discussions with my counterparts at several large software companies. While all of them understood the benefits, they raised concerns regarding the burden of the significant and unbudgeted cost involved in supporting the unexpected, large volume of “non-revenue-producing” accounts in those countries, for which they are currently not prepared. These are legitimate concerns, but there are a number of creative ways in which these costs can be reduced and the potential bottlenecks to the program eliminated. We at StatSoft have developed some of them, and we will be happy to share our ideas with you to the benefit of this program. The time to act is now; if we wait until the next fiscal year, it may be simply too late.
Also, we do not recommend that the free software offer be unconditional (e.g., multinational companies are excluded from the StatSoft program), and your company may decide to prioritize the services to be provided based on the anticipated employment and other benefits to the local economies.
Finally, let me stress that in addition to the immediate social benefits that this program will generate, it also has important global and long term benefits. The downward economic spiral in these three nations appears self-perpetuating, spreading to other countries, threatening the Euro, and consequently the world’s economic stability – something that we also need to be concerned about from the standpoint of our own economic future. Last but not least, remember that the struggling region that you will help save today, will someday fully recover, and our industry will benefit in the future from that new market that is now almost nonexistent.
I am looking forward to hearing from you and to working with you on this initiative where every party involved will be a real winner.
Paul Lewicki, CEO
StatSoft, Inc.
Press Release
OCTOBER 12, 2012, TULSA, OK, USA: StatSoft, Inc., one of the world’s largest providers of analytics software, is taking its corporate motto to a whole new level by offering STATISTICA Enterprise™ solutions (including its cutting-edge Big Data Predictive Analytics Platform) at no charge to companies in countries most affected by the European economic downturn: Greece, Portugal, and Spain.
StatSoft’s motto, “Making the World More Productive™,” reflects its core belief that business analytics and big data processing are key to the productivity of every growing company. The sour economies in some countries, however, have made it impossible for struggling businesses to afford the very software solutions that could help them increase productivity, streamline operations, and achieve safety, quality, and environmental improvements. So, for a limited time, StatSoft is offering its powerful Enterprise and Predictive Analytics solutions for free to qualifying businesses.
“Given StatSoft’s recent growth in other international markets, we are very pleased to be in a position to help our corporate neighbors in Greece, Portugal, and Spain whose well-known capabilities are being undermined by regional economic conditions,” notes StatSoft’s CEO, Dr. Paul Lewicki. “The highly educated work force in those economies is fully capable of taking advantage of the well-demonstrated, tangible productivity improvements and savings that our modern predictive analytics software can offer. Paradoxically, however, the shortage of available credit prevents them from acquiring the crucial technology that would vastly speed up their recovery. Our goal is to make sure these companies succeed, because we firmly believe that analytics can change the world for the better.”
This large scale initiative adds new meaning to the well-known business term ROI (Return on Investment). StatSoft will serve first those companies whose infrastructure development it deems would produce the largest economic return, in terms of social and employment benefits. Lewicki anticipates other companies will follow suit. “We hope for a snowball effect, where our leadership will prompt other companies to do the same as us,” he explains, “thus helping reduce the current risk for the Euro and speeding up the European recovery.”
As reflected in case studies and success stories at /customers/success-stories/, STATISTICA Enterprise installations of any scope can result in huge dividends that help business enterprises not only survive but thrive, even while regional economies may be slow to recover.
Those companies in Spain and Portugal interested in this free software opportunity must contact the StatSoft Iberica office. Companies in Greece are welcome to contact any StatSoft office in Europe (found at /contact-us/statsoft-locations-map/) or the US Headquarters.
ABOUT STATISTICA AND STATSOFT, INC.
StatSoft was founded in 1984 and is now one of the world’s largest providers of analytics software, with 30 offices around the globe and more than one million users of STATISTICA software. StatSoft’s solutions enjoy an extremely high level of user satisfaction across industries, as demonstrated in the unprecedented record of top ratings in practically all published reviews and large, independent surveys of analytics users worldwide. With its comprehensive suite of STATISTICA solutions for a wide variety of industries, StatSoft is a trusted partner of the world’s largest organizations and businesses (including most of the Fortune 500 companies), providing mission-critical applications that help them increase productivity, control risk, reduce waste, streamline operations, achieve regulatory compliance, and protect the environment.
/company/
http://www.statsoftiberica.com
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For more information contact: Paul Hiller, Marketing Specialist philler@statsoft.com +1-918-749-1119
>> UPDATE: Read the open letter to CEOs of U.S. software companies <<
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