Do you have questions regarding Splashtop's EMEA expansion? Splashtop's CEO Mark Lee, and Alexander Draaijer, the newly appointed GM of EMEA answers some of the most common questions on our EMEA expansion.
Mark Lee and Alexander Draaijer Answer Our EMEA Questions
Q1: Splashtop has recently announced plans to expand its presence in the EU. Let’s start with the basics. What are you doing in this region?
Mark Lee: We’re doing a few things. We’re launching a local instance of the Splashtop remote-access software in the AWS cloud data center in Germany, which includes a local user database and support for the Euro currency and local payment methods.
Alexander Draaijer: We’ve also localized Splashtop software products in multiple languages and are providing multi-lingual sales and customer support.
Q2: How will these capabilities change what you’re able to do there?
ML: These actions are all about reducing the barriers for EU businesses and individuals that want to use our remote-access and remote-support solutions. Supporting the Euro currency as well as the local payment methods preferred in individual countries makes it so much easier for EU customers to purchase our products. And of course, providing localized versions of our software and multi-lingual sales and support teams means that customers won’t be forced to use English if they’d rather work in French, Spanish, Italian, or German.
AD: Running our cloud software in a Germany-based data center, along with our addition of more local relay servers, will improve the performance of Splashtop software by reducing latency and enabling higher frame rates. The local user database provides enhanced support for Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—and having it on a German-based cloud data center is significant because everyone knows that Germany has the strictest data privacy policies in the EU.
ML: Plus, for businesses that want the utmost in software security and control, we also offer an on-premises solution. It all comes down to taking away barriers for people to do business with us, and meeting companies and individuals where they are.
Q3: Why focus on the EU, and why now?
ML: Splashtop is based in Silicon Valley, where we have our global headquarters, but we’ve also established a strong Asian presence. We do a lot of business in China, Japan, and throughout Asia, where we’ve created a robust ecosystem to support the regulatory requirements for doing business in those countries. Earlier this year, we began our expansion to Europe by hiring Alex as our EMEA general manager and opening our EMEA headquarters in Amsterdam.
AD: Splashtop already has customers in Europe, but we knew that to really serve businesses and individuals in the region, we needed things like Euro and local payment support, localized software, and running our software in an EU-based cloud data center. Also, this region has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the demand for effective, secure, affordable work-from-home and remote-support solutions has gone through the roof.
Q4: For EU companies and people interested in remote-access or remote-support capabilities, how does Splashtop fit their needs?
ML: Splashtop products tick all the boxes you’d expect for effective remote access: performance, ease of use, security, reliability, and all the rest. But listen to our customers, and it’s clear that Splashtop goes well beyond what’s expected. We’ve heard from customers all over the world thanking us for allowing their businesses to continue operating when the COVID-19 restrictions took hold. People use the word “lifesaver” in referring to Splashtop. Even before the pandemic, a huge percentage of people who did trials of our products almost immediately became customers.
AD: I can tell you from personal experience that one of the reasons I’m so delighted to be working for Splashtop is the ‘wow’ experience of using our products. Many years ago, I worked for one of Splashtop’s biggest competitors, so I’m quite familiar with remote-access and remote-support products. The difference with Splashtop is nothing short of stunning.
Of course, price is only one factor, but the financial value of Splashtop is pretty stunning, as well. Not only does Splashtop deliver remote access that’s easier to use and offers better performance than alternatives, but our prices are up to 80% less than the competition. And while our competitors raise their prices every year, Splashtop is committed to keeping our solutions affordable.
Q5: How do you think the demand for remote-access solutions will change post-COVID-19?
ML: For quite some time, many businesses have been considering work-from-home strategies—maybe as a way to reduce their carbon footprint by requiring less employee commuting, or to provide a more attractive work environment through flexible hours, or to downsize or relocate their office space, or to attract workers from beyond their local geographic radius. COVID-19 pushed them into action, whether they were ready or not. Now, the work-from-home genie is definitely out of the bottle.
With working from home truly becoming a new normal, companies of all sizes are looking for new tools and new ways to elevate the work-from-home experience to the next level. We are so happy that Splashtop is able to provide that next level, and we’re looking forward to extending our benefits to more users throughout the EU.
AD: Mark said something very important when I was interviewing to join the company. I had asked about his goals for Splashtop, specifically in EMEA, and he said he was committed to providing the best-in-class remote-access products for the best value to users around the world. He added, “We want to delight our users globally.” Regardless of how things shift around post-COVID-19, it’s clear that many companies plan to offer more work-from-home options than they did before. And if you’re a business looking for work-from-home solutions, wouldn’t you gravitate toward any vendor with the stated goal of delighting you and your employees?
