If there is any vendor in the revenue assurance space that can be presented as a national champion, it is WeDo. Two news releases help to confirm that. First, WeDo won an award for innovation from COTEC Portugal, an association set up under the patronage of Portugal’s President with a mission to promote innovation. Second, and more importantly, WeDo has sold its ‘business assurance’ software to the retail division of Sonae. The software will be used to handle internal quality control processes and cost control. This rather helps with WeDo’s strategy of diversifying away from being a supplier to telcos. Of course, it is worth pointing out that WeDo is owned by Sonae Group – so this sale is a case of keeping business within the family.
With other RA firms sometimes suffering because of intense competition from rivals both within their nation’s borders and from overseas, you could argue that WeDo’s owners are unique in having a long-term strategy to build a stable and diversified business. Selling RA software into other industries gives WeDo an advantage in terms of experience and credibility that competitors can only envy. Other nations gives awards to promote business, of course. But a real question for the RA community is whether Portugal’s route to building a national champion might be the best strategy of all.