Latest international expansion for idea management firm targets the rapidly growing innovation market in Latin America
Idea management software and services firm Wazoku has announced a new partnership with innovation consultancy Transforme, that will bring Wazoku’s platform and services to enterprises across Latin America.
Transforme has offices in Chile and Ecuador and more than 100 clients in eight countries in Latin America, including Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Peru. The firm is known for applying its highly experienced innovation consultancy to the smartest idea management technology, with a strong framework and methodology tailored to meet the individual needs of each customer.
Transforme will operate as an OEM resale partner of Wazoku and is already up and running with a standalone white-label version of Wazoku’s platform for Latin America, working with clients including Principal Financial Group (Mexico and Chile), Inchalam (Chile), Netlife (Ecuador) and ESVAL (Chile).
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“As we continue our global expansion, we were looking for an OEM partner in Latin America with a deep understanding of innovation in the region, and Transforme was the obvious choice,” said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku. “It has consistently demonstrated its experience and expertise in working with some of the biggest organisations in Latin America and we are excited to work together to drive innovation across the region.”
Transforme works with clients deploying innovation management capabilities in one of two ways, accelerating the adoption of structured innovation processes while also minimising risk. Some prefer an internal IMO: Innovation Management Office to work on core innovation, whereas others set up external innovation hubs to co-create with startups or strategic business partners on more disruptive innovation programmes.
“We have implemented several innovation management systems for over a decade now, and we were looking for a platform that better reflected the innovation management market in Latin America, which is mainly focused on large corporates,” said Guillermo Beuchat, Founder and Managing Partner, Transforme. “Wazoku is flexible and robust, with a business model that suited our needs better than other platforms and supports almost every possible type of innovation programme. We needed a platform that was suitable for local enterprises and Wazoku is a clear fit.”
Earlier in 2020 Wazoku expanded into North America, with the acquisition of open innovation firm InnoCentive and its global network of almost 500,000 expert problem ‘solvers’. This created the world’s most comprehensive and powerful innovation platform and global Solver community, making the Transforme collaboration even richer in potential. Latin American clients will now be able to source ideas globally and feed them into their innovation pipelines seamlessly.
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“Corporate innovation in Latin America has been slower to develop than in other parts of the world and in many ways, it is still quite conservative,” continued Guillermo Beuchat, Transforme. “But larger companies especially are now beginning to embrace open innovation, and there is a fully-fledged ecosystem in many Latin American countries. There is a big opportunity for Transforme and Wazoku and with the open innovation capability of InnoCentive I believe we have a truly compelling value proposition for businesses all across the region.”
Wazoku Head of LATAM, Schonning Eysturoy added: “This is a wonderful opportunity for us. As Latin American companies look to enhance and improve their innovation management efforts, we have a powerful platform and a partner that knows the market better than anyone. Working together we can help even more companies in the region build cultures of innovation.”
