66 CORPORATE VISION / January 2017 , InterVideo was officially born in June 1990, after CEOGabriele Riva had personal experience working for Canon Camera’s Italian distributor, Prora, as a technician in the after sales service department. Following this initial position, he thenworked in the advertising and sponsoring area. We spoke to Gabriele to find out more about how this experience has helped to shape his own business. Very Positive Adventure Gabriele details how after ten years with Prora he moved to Audiomatic, located in Milano and with offices in Verona, where he was based. This company was focused on rental and corporate sales. “At this firm I worked as purchasing director, where I was responsible for contacting suppliers and creating new products proposals. In this position, I had opportunity to visit lot of exhibitions all over the world, giving me a large amount of experience, new contacts and a new approach to product creation. After a number of years at Audiomatic, I had chance to learn more about rental activities and this led to start a new adventure named “InterVideo”. “I founded InterVideo with the purpose of learning from my past experience, and offering rental services (audio-video) in the business, corporate, and political sectors. We have also been working in the sales of AV products such as LCD video projector screens, and Document Cameras. Initially we found that rentals were our main business, owing to specific activities that required specific products that Intervideo had in abundance. “Whilst rental was important at the foundation of the business, quick technological advancement and growing competition sounded alarm bells. This meant that our strategy had to move in different direction; thanks to the success of our rental activities, InterVideo was in the position to build a good profit, which offered the perfect opportunity to improve the business. “I decided to organise a sales rep chain all over the Italy, as in early 2000 computer connections were still very limited, and under this plan I made agreements with Regional Sales Reps, who were able to contact local dealers and offer our products to well-known brands. InterVideo’s strategy was simply to be a real distributor, not direct sales, but only through dealers, and thanks to this guide, Intervideo has begun to be seen as a serious partner.” Gabriele explains that his purpose in founding InterVideo was to create something really innovative in the industry; in this, he found he had the chance to be in contact with Microtouch and their innovative interactive whiteboard technology. “Following this, I had the chance to be in contact with SMART Technology, the real inventor of the interactive board, and in 2002 we closed on an agreement where InterVideo became their official distributor. This was a totally new field, almost unknown, and as such it required a lot of local presentations and exhibitions to be understood! The result was, and remains, quite positive, with shares over 50% in our market. “Our market is mainly in the educational sector, which means that the majority of our sales are through public tenders, and that although theoretically there is a lot of money available, there are also a number of problems associated with these tenders. We note that technology is increasingly important, particularly in the education sector, however we have noted that this is not always used effectively. “As the years are passing, the market is forever evolving, technology is moving ahead so market is becoming less ‘profitable’ owing to competition over the same products. I am looking for new roads which are able to offer the necessary profit for the company. InterVideo is respected by our suppliers because we respect them. I have two sons who are now working in the company, and they are prepared and experienced enough to look into new strategies. “As a CEO I do not believe it is special attributes that have contributed to the success of this firm; I believe that a sense of curiosity and a respect for my clients and my work are the most important elements for me. The dealers are our customers, and our strategies are addressed to satisfy and respect this channel. I believe that very few competitors are using this very clear strategy, which I think has contributed to the success of InterVideo.” Looking to the future, Gabriele notes that it is not always easy to predict the direction of the firm, as advancing technology is offering new alternatives daily. However, he recognises that it is important to have the correct approach, and even if this new technology cannot be translated advantageously, InterVideo will explore the options and always offer a reliable partnering solution, offering quality and support to its clients. “Our ideal is to always be a point of reference for innovation and I am now exploring new opportunities to maintain this level. My two sons, Alberto and Riccardo, are strongly supporting the company along this road of innovation. It is difficult to say where I will be in the next five years, but InterVideo has been, and remains, a very positive adventure, and I hope this continues in the future.” K Company: InterVideo srl Name: Gabriele Riva Email:
[email protected] Web Address: www.Intervideosrl.com Address: via E.Fermi 24-37026 Settimo di Pescantina (Verona) Telephone: +39 045 8900022 1701CV64