Codephile approaches $1 million plus in new business by using IBM marketing benefits and technical resources

IBM ISV & Developer Relations

Business Partner: PT Codephile Rekadaya Mandiri

How IBM Business Partner benefits helped Codephile’s business:

• Event participation and collaboration with IBM sales teams resulted in USD$600,000 in sales for 2008

• Pipeline generation campaign yielded strong leads and prospect for USD$500,000 worth of new business in future

• IBM Innovation Center support made solution testing and certification a smooth and easy process.

Through leading-edge technology and support from IBM, PT Codephile Rekadaya Mandiri has achieved its mission to successfully bring to market “fit to need and budget” solutions for paperless office workflow, collaboration and document management.

Codephile is in Jakarta Pusat, one of five sub-cities that make up Jakarta, Indonesia. Its workflow solutions, such as
E-Office, are based on IBM Lotus® software and are marketed using the benefits IBM offers to business partners.

“The IBM Business Partner program has helped bring a structure to our marketing efforts,” said Mochamad James, chief executive officer of Codephile. “About 60 percent of our 2008 revenue came as a direct result of using the marketing benefits and collaborating with IBM sales teams,” James said. That amounted to about USD$600,000 in new business for Codephile.

And, introduced through a marketing campaign co-funded by IBM in 2008, several prospects have implemented E-Office on a trial basis using the Codephile “try-before-you-buy” sales option. James anticipates closing business of USD$500,000 when the trial periods are completed.

In addition, Codephile has taken advantage of the IBM Innovation Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the IBM Virtual Innovation Center™ to achieve IBM technology certifications and validations and to test its products. “Engaging with IBM has also helped us expand our business into new industry segments,” James said. Initially targeting primarily government agencies, Codephile now has customers in financial markets, shipping and other industries.

Founded in 2004 and an Advanced IBM Business Partner since 2005, Codephile now manages one of the largest Lotus Domino® install bases in Indonesia with nearly 30,000 users.

New marketing tools and approaches

“IBM has given us new tools and the opportunity to try new approaches to marketing our solutions,” James noted. Working with its representative from the IBM ASEAN business development team, Codephile received guidance on identifying and using the available benefits and made important connections with IBM sales personnel.

In early 2008, Codephile leveraged the advanced skills of a specialist agency to identify, qualify and develop new business opportunities. Pipeline generation provided the company with a focused and targeted campaign directed at a carefully selected list of senior level decision-makers in a cross-industry mix of companies throughout Indonesia. As a result, Codephile has been active with six strong prospects, three of which agreed to use E-Office on a trial basis. Sales are expected to be at least USD$500,000 from this effort alone.

Participation in trade shows and industry conferences is no small endeavor. But, with funding and support from IBM, Codephile found such events to be an effective way to get face-to-face exposure that led to new business. In 2008, IBM sponsored the Codephile showcase of E-Office at the Lotusphere Comes to You event in Jakarta – one of a global roadshow of more than 200 such events following the annual Lotusphere conference. IBM also co-funded the Codephile booth at the annual Jakarta Fair, a month-long business exhibition intended to help boost economic progress in Indonesia. Customer contacts made at these events resulted in at least USD$300,000 worth of new business.

James said another USD$300,000 in 2008 revenue came from collaborating on joint projects with the WebSphere® sales teams introduced to Codephile through its involvement with the IBM Business Partner program.

Is James satisfied with the results of the new Codephile marketing methods? “Definitely,” he said.
“They keep me very busy.”

A “robust and stable” platform

Codephile E-Office is an end-to-end solution for streamlining office communications and document management. It handles the entire process, from initial draft, through reviews, approvals, distribution, tracking and archiving in an electronic database.

According to James, Codephile was one of the first Indonesia-based companies to deliver its solutions using the Software as a Service (SaaS) business model. Codephile SaaS applications are accessed over the Internet through a fee-for-service subscription. Rather than take ownership, organizations lease a total solution that is hosted and delivered remotely by Codephile. Up-front costs are reduced and, without the worries of operating, supporting and maintaining the hardware and software infrastructure, customers are free to focus solely on their own businesses.

“We build our products on IBM Lotus Domino because it is the most robust and stable platform for collaborative solutions,” James said. Codephile uses IBM System p® for its SaaS hosting services, but the solution is platform independent and runs on all IBM System servers. For those who require role-based access to the system, Codephile provides a personalized interface built on IBM WebSphere Portal.

Codephile solutions have earned Ready for IBM Lotus software validation and are listed in the IBM Lotus Business Solutions Catalog. Having met the qualifications for the IBM SaaS specialty, its solutions are also listed in the IBM SaaS Showcase and have earned IBM powering on demand applications validation. Codephile online listings are rounded out with inclusion in the IBM Global Solutions Directory and IBM Business Partner Application Showcase.

James said the technical validations and presence on the ibm.com® Web site lend credibility to Codephile offerings. “It helps to be associated with IBM because customers recognize and respect IBM,” he said.

Effective technical support

To earn its technical validations, Codephile used the support provided by the IBM Innovation Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For initial certification on Lotus Domino 7, Codephile developers accessed the center’s system remotely from Indonesia. To test the newest version of E-Office and re-validate for Lotus Domino 8, they worked on-site in Kuala Lumpur. “Both times, the center staff was well-prepared ahead of time with a full test system,” James explained. “Both tests went smoothly and effectively. All we had to do was install our software, run the tests and we were done,” he said.

Codephile developers regularly use the online resources of the IBM Virtual Innovation Center and developerWorks. They keep their Lotus and WebSphere skills up-to-date through online courses and training materials. Plus, they join discussions, report “bugs” and find troubleshooting assistance. “The greatest value for us is in keeping on top of the latest technologies,” James said.