Kevin Samuelson is the executive director of Infor, an American technology company founded in 2002 specializing in business software in the cloud that has opted for Barcelona in its European expansion, with the opening of a center of excellence and another for R&D.
It is surprising to see a relatively small company growing strongly in a market dominated by giants. What do they do differently?
We are very different. Other software companies say they are industry focused but make a single product for all industries: that requires customers to put in a lot more effort to make it work for them. We have specific software for each sector in which we work and we hire not only technicians, but also people from each industry, to customize them. So we give them a very different service and experience.
Among its clients there are large multinationals, but they are also growing a lot in Spain, although here we have, above all, many SMEs.
There are also large companies in Spain. But what makes us different is that we build specialized software for different industries such as automotive, aerospace, hospitality, industrial manufacturing, or food and beverage. We have an offering that is well suited to midsize companies, because they have as much complexity in their supply chains and processes as larger companies, but they don’t have the budget or the IT people to take advantage of more standardized programs.
Infor has become an important employer in the tech sector in Barcelona. Why did you choose the city?
Barcelona has been a great choice for us, especially because our employees love being here. We have about 450 workers of 30 nationalities and it is a great place to recruit people from many countries. Living in a cosmopolitan city with great food and culture is a big draw. But the second reason is the quality of technology professionals that we are finding in the local market. In addition, Infor we focus on only a few industries, and many of them are here: the close relationship with customers allows us to be more effective in the software we build for them.
What exactly do they do in their centers in Barcelona?
Everything from marketing, sales, implementation and support. And both for our clients in Spain and for all of Europe and Latin America. And we will continue to grow.
Is your presence in Europe large?
Infor is a global company, with a very balanced business: about 40% in the Americas, 40% in Europe, and the rest in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. We have offices in all areas because I believe there is tremendous value in having a local presence because of the type of software we offer and because we have long-term relationships with clients, many of whom we have been with for 10 or 20 years.
Here, in Europe, we wonder what happens, that we hardly have big technology companies like in the US, while in Asia they are growing strongly. What is your opinion?
I honestly think it’s more a function of the capital markets than anything else. Here in Europe extraordinary innovation is made, but it tends to be acquired. We ourselves have grown by buying innovative companies in Europe. In the United States we have large private equity funds and a strong stock market, so there is a lot of capital to acquire and build businesses. And that is more complex in Europe, and here perhaps there is less appetite for risk. But the innovation that is done here, the level of training and talent are very good. Simply a different capital market generates different results.
Infor is not publicly traded. How do you get the funds to grow?
We have a unique shareholder, Koch Industries, one of the largest unlisted groups in the US and with a long-term vision: it holds its investments for decades or forever. We are lucky to be private, because a listed company has to think about the quarterly result, which has a great impact on the price of its shares, and therefore on what its employees earn with stock options and on access to capital. But in an industry like ours, where we spend billions on R&D and keep customers for decades, it’s important to look ahead and invest in customers, even losing money at first, knowing that we’ll pay off in the long run.
Not being on the stock market, have you been affected by the fall of technology companies that the Nasdaq has suffered?
If we had been public, our employees would have taken a huge pay cut due to the fall in the stock. Instead, Infor pays well, and predictably, and don’t you think a lot of people would rather that than rely on the stock market? Now those tech companies are making massive layoffs, and for us it’s an opportunity to hire very valuable people. Because we didn’t go crazy hiring, to speed up projects, a few years ago, and now we don’t fire but continue to grow. In addition, our competitors, with fewer workers, neglect clients and abandon projects: a new opportunity for us.
Here we have a very intense debate about education and the lack of students in technological careers. You have a Bachelor of Arts. How has a person with a humanistic background managed to run a technology company?
No one is more surprised that I’m here than myself: I’ve never taken a computer class, or economics or business. A series of fortunate events allowed me to learn these things. Obviously, a college education is very important, but we shouldn’t define our entire life trajectory when we’re 19 or 20 years old. There is nothing we do in a technology company that cannot be learned. And that’s why we hire a lot of early talent from a lot of different backgrounds, because we can teach them technology and how to work with clients. But what we can’t teach is curiosity and initiative and the things that make for successful careers in the long run.
You reach the executive management of Infor after being responsible for the company’s mergers and acquisitions. Does that mean that in a technology company financial knowledge is more important than technological knowledge?
Dealing with M&As required me to understand the whole business, not just the finances, because I was also in charge of integrating the companies and making what I put in the spreadsheet a reality. Then I was CFO and we would focus on finance, of course, but in the context of the business. And that has also helped me to be the CEO, where I now have exposure to the entire business, customers and employees. So I’ve been very lucky to be in positions that have allowed me to learn what I know.
