Helping Companies Run Their Businesses Better through Quality and Passion: Santex

In 1999, Founders Annett Koegler and Juan Santiago had a vision to create a technology service organization based on the highest business standards and ethics. They founded Santex in San Diego, California where it is still headquartered.

Today Santex, is a global company with more than 200 employees around the world, with teams located in California, Iowa, Argentina, United Kingdom and Peru. In 2016, Walter Abrigo became partner to join forces on the new growth path ahead. At Santex, software innovation is our passion. “We are obsessed with the quality delivered to our customers and weave our values of integrity, service, collaboration, and leadership into everything we do.” says Juan Santiago, CEO.

Motivation behind Foundation
The motivation to start the company came with Annett’s passion for technology and Juan’s passion for business. Together they realized that they could help companies bring their ideas to market. They formed a strong business partnership that is still successful today.

And mentioning the company’s journey till date in a flash, Annett developed websites and started to build one of the first e-commerce sites here in San Diego. Juan took care of the commercial aspect of the business. “We gained recognition by winning several industry awards for best websites. The business grew locally and in 2005 Juan developed the idea to open an outsourcing center in Argentina to provide highly qualified software engineers to clients in the US. In 2012 we expanded our outsourcing centers to Peru,” says Annett Koegler

Current Market Scenario
According to a recent Gartner report the current worldwide IT spending is about $4 Trillion, expecting to increase 2.9% in 2017. Software services account for roughly 10% of that. Every day most companies understand that speed of business has increased significantly over the years and so has the need to deploy new marketing initiatives to keep up with client’s expectations, while staying ahead of the competition.

As a result of that, the demand for talented resources to meet current and future business needs have also increased accordingly, incentivizing companies to look in other regions for their IT and software solutions services. Geography has become less of a decision factor and companies can now access the talent they need to get the job done quickly and economically anywhere they please, while allowing their core teams to focus on their core business.

There are a number of new and advanced software capabilities that have made this possible. Cloud computing, video conferencing, faster and reliable internet infrastructure, software application collaboration and international regulations, have played a key role in the process. This current scenario is also particularly powerful to most small and midsized organizations with smaller technology budgets, because it allows them to leverage the benefits of software outsourcing effectively, just like large organizations do, leveling the playing field.

On the other hand, more and more service providers from all over the world have entered the business and some are better positioned than others to face the challenges and the demand the market dictates as the business grows.

‘We stand tall,’ the founders say
Santex provides a unique model where their clients can benefit from dealing with a US based provider while taking advantage of the lower cost of a development centers in Argentina and Peru. Different from most companies,almost 70% of Santex growth comes from existing relationships.90% of our customers are spread out here in the US.

“We seek to deliver value and provide a great experience that makes clients want to stay with us and recommend our brand. We use the Net Promoter Score indicator to have a clear measurement of Santex’ performance through the eyes of the customers. Our NPS score for the second quarter of 2016 was 87.5, which is significantly above the average benchmark score of 34 for the software industry.
Our company is headquartered in San Diego California and has been in the Custom Software Service business for 18 years now. I always say that Santex is big enough to engage with any larger company and agile enough to adapt and adjust quickly to any sudden market change. This positions Santex as a very powerful and attractive provider to engage with.”

It wasn’t easy after all!
Separating the “music” from the “noise”. Earning the necessary trust for the relationship to be successful takes time. Many companies have experienced working with other solution providers and failed, thus they tend to consequently believe that outsourcing does not work and then put everyone in the same category. Articulating the key differentiators between yourself and your competitors in an overwhelmed ocean of supply and demand can be challenging to say the least. Keeping up with talent acquisition is also another challenge most companies face in this industry.

“At Santex, we pride ourselves in having a very successful recruitment process. According to our metrics from August 2016, we placed the right candidate with the requested job profile 89.47% of the time. On average, a candidate is identified within 6 days of an initial request. Additionally, our recruiting strategies reflect our company culture as we continue to aim toward building the Santex community with our valued clients and partners.”

The future sight; in founders words
We aim to continue growing our footprint here in the US by empowering our existing relationships and acquiring new ones. We will continue listening closely to our client’s needs to stay current with the market trends and demands. We also have plans to grow our extended employee family while continuing our efforts and initiatives to positively impact the world through our involvement in the different communities we are part of.

The client spectrum
The company offers on-demand, tailored software engineering services. Its business model allows for flexible and scalable implementations to meet client-specific needs.

The areas of expertise include – eCommerce, Mobile, Integration, IT Services, Content Delivery, Social Business, Web Development and Enterprise to support the diverse needs of both smaller, local companies and global firms. The big clients include, Accenture, Sirius XM, Macys, Vistage Worldwide, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, AGD, Mercado Libre, Ilumno.

“Santex has been far more to us than just a software development and services company with a top-notch team based in Argentina. They have been a true partner and trusted advisor for our IT efforts at our company. They have accomplished this with equal parts technical talent, outstanding customer engagement, and a dedication to understanding the multiple facets of our business in order to help craft highly complex solutions for us. We truly look forward to continuing to work with Santex in the years ahead,” says Matthew Muga, VP of Information Technology, Vistage Worldwide, Inc.

Meet the Key Executives

Juan Santiago: In 1999, Juan co-founded Santex, a premium provider of on-demand tailored software engineering services. He is considered not only a serial entrepreneur but also a technology evangelist. In 2012, he co-founded Incutex, a technology focused company-builder, to help local entrepreneurs build sustainable and profitable businesses in the region. He participates actively in the global entrepreneurial ecosystems, speaking at different conferences looking to inspire people. Moreover, he is a CEO’s Committee Member at AmCham Argentina and part of the Advisory Board at Endeavor Cordoba. He participates as an Advisor and Organization Member at TEDx Cordoba and is part of non-profit organizations as a Board Member of Fundacion Cordoba Mejora as well as the Advisory Board of Comunidad Empresaria. Juan inspires people with new ideas that move them to change the world into a better place.

Annett Koegler: Annett Koegler is the co-founder of Santex. She was a former web developer and is now managing the global affairs of Santex. Growing up in Communist East Germany, building a company in the United States, Argentina and Peru, and living across multiple continents, her life is far from average. If you can’t find her behind her desk or on the next airplane, she is running, paddle boarding or exploring some undiscovered parts of the world.

This made Santex what it is right now

We believe that personal relationships and quality do matter.

We deliver on our promises and hold ourselves accountable for our shortcomings.

Respect for our people, our work and our value is what we are known for as an organization.

We understand that our company thrives if our client’s company thrives.

“Building long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationships based upon a strong commitment to the success of all stakeholders, since 1999.”

We’ve built multidisciplinary teams under the premise to have “the best talent in the right moment.”