A Look Back at the Trade Show BITS Brazil

May 10th through the 12th, 2011, the trade show "BITS - a CeBIT Event" took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the capital of the Brazilian State Rio Grande do Sul and centre of the economic region Mercosul. It attracted great interest, and the product presentations by DATEV were highly attended. 50 Exhibitors from Europe and Brazil, and about 2,000 visitors took part in the trade show.

 
"The trade show BITS is the result of intensive discussions and preparation with various institutions and executives" says Aderbal Lima, Managing Director of the Brazilian FIERGS (Federation of Industries of the State of Rio Grande do Sul). "These institutions also include Deutsche Messe AG, the global number one trade show promoter, also responsible for CeBIT, the industry's reference trade show".

The focus on the trade show was:

• Business IT & ICT infrastructure
• Communication B2B and local based services
• Future lab
• Banking & finance, and the public sector

Constantino Bäumle, Managing Director of Hannover Fairs Sulmerica, jointly organized the trade show BITS with the industry association FIERGS. After five years of planning, his pride and joy were clearly recognized in his opening speech. He stressed the international focus of the trade show and emphasized its attractiveness for Latin American companies and European enterprises. This was clearly demonstrated by the German companies which participated, including the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
 

Prior to the trade show, DATEV SINFOPAC and DATEV eG invited 580 employees from major and local Latin American firms. Interested parties from Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay met at the DATEV SINFOPAC and DATEV eG booth. They received detailed information about the products of DATEV SINFOPAC and DATEV eG. International issues regarding auditing were reviewed and the visitors' questions were discussed.

DATEV was represented by:

• Mr Thoralf Schmidt (Managing Director DATEV SINFOPAC)
• Mr Daniel Chavarria (Head of sales South America, DATEV SINFOPAC; see photo below)
• Mr Hans-Jürgen Hohmeier (Head of the division audit, DATEV eG; see photo above)
• Ms Sally Gomez and Ms Sandra Martins (DATEV eG; see photo above)

At left, Ms Dina Rato, auditor of the public accounting firm Pinto & Palma, SROC, Lisbon, is shown in the photo with Diego Rotermund Moreira of the firm UHY-Moreira, and Daniel Chavarria of DATEV SINFOPAC. Ms Rato accompanied the trade show team as an audit manager and representative of the profession. She professes to be a convinced DATEV audit user. Pinto & Palma are responsible for statutory audits, and are a representative of Polaris International, a multinational auditing and consulting firm represented in over 90 countries.

The consistent theme of business-to-business met the high standards of the trade show, as did the many seminars and forums supporting the exchange of knowledge. There were numerous trade show-related offers which created business contacts. In addition, BITS offered a promising marketing platform for companies seeking business partners and new markets. Together with Russia, India, and China, Brazil is one of the leading emerging global economic powerhouses, and it is South America's most important investment market.

To DATEV SINFOPAC and DATEV eG, "BITS - a CeBIT Event" was a great success.

Subsequently, DATEV will join the Congress "XIII Convencao de Contabilidade do Rio Grande do Sul" in Gramado (Rio Grande), from August 24th through the 26th, 2011.