"Large SIs are the key to CA’s enterprise product business"

There is passion and pursuasion in Rajiv Singh, MD, India and SAARCRegion,
Computer Associates, when he talks  f technology products and partner
programs of his company. He has a clear focus on nurturing relationships within
the channel, and Rajiv is making use of his 13 years of management and business
experience to achieve this objective. Rajiv joined CA three years ago. Most
recently, he worked as the CEO of  SimplySoft Technologies– a joint
venture between CA and Pentasoft. In an exclusive interview with DQCI, Rajiv
expands on CA’s vision for channels.

CA in India has been concentrating on channels in a focused manner in
recent times. What is CA’s vision for channels?

Partners are the cornerstone of CA’s strategy. They are the ones who bring
success to CA India. We empower our partners not only to understand and work
with our technology very closely, but also to represent us confidently in the
marketplace.

What is the business model you follow with the channel?

Let me first define what is channel for CA, based on our product portfolio.
We have products, which are of enterprise class and work-group editions. We have
products that go through the distribution channel and are sold by tier-two
partners. We have products that are well-defined based on to whom they should be
addressed, at what price they should be sold and what kind of reach we want to
address.

When I am talking about tier-two distribution, I am talking of mass market
products. We have created a structure on which we run programs that are targeted
towards resellers who sell highly successful products like ArcServe.

The direct sales force from CA cannot address the small and medium enterprise
across the country. This is where the channel comes in and they are key to such
products.

CA has been working closely with large systems integrators. What progress
have you achieved on this front?

For our enterprise product business, we address large systems integrators
and these are key to CA’s enterprise business. We have enterprise products
which need the skills and experience of a large SI. Now this SI could be a Wipro,
a CMC, a Rolta or a Tata Infotech. These people bring to the table certain kind
of skill-sets and relationships. CA wants to leverage on these skill-sets and
relationships which have been developed over the years.

Our products complement the efforts of SIs because these are very scalable,
robust and can integrate well in any environment. SIs like the nature of our
products because these can work on different platforms and can talk to other
pieces of software. We run these products through one-tier business.

How successful has been the one-tier business for CA?

The one-tier business has been a very successful model for CA India. If you
see the geography of this and neighbouring countries, it is impossible for a
direct sales person to address these markets. The SIs are like an extended arm
of CA India. We work very closely with these partners and we value this
partnership. Right from the day we started the operations, we have been working
in a very focused manner to ensure that these partnerships continue to grow.

We function in a very competitive market. Even though we may have world class
products, the competition comes along and claims to be as good or even better
than us. So, we need to work closely with partners to help them understand our
technology and upgrade their skills around our technology.

It is all about customer satisfaction at the end of the day. I am glad that
our products today are used by the who’s who among the enterprises including
Infosys, HDFC Bank, L&T and ICICI. These customers definitely want the best
from our products and the best service. So we drive our programs with our
partners to ensure that their sales people are continuosly upgraded on what is
happening in CA and what is happening in our products.

We have created a structure in the country today wherein we have a business
person running a brand. This business person owns everything in a particular
brand and works with partners in bringing the technology to customer’s place.
The business person is involved in training partners and building business
plans. This brings a lot of focus to the partner.

How does CA classify its partners?

CA has a simple classification system. We classify partners as, one -
resellers; two - service providers who are implemention partners; and three, a
combination of the two. We have done this classification because we want to make
sure that customers get the best from CA technology.

When I provide a product to the client, I do it through a partner who has the
best relationship and understands his customer’s needs. The partner works with
us and our consulting team to tailor-make the solutions, and implementation
partner does the successful implementation.

We give the option to the client of choosing his partner because we have a
width of partners in every segment of our business. For example, we have four
brands. Each of these four brands has a unique set of partners who bring a
unique set of skills to the table.

What kind of skill-sets do you look for among your partners?

CA brings to the table products that offer end-to-end solutions to its
clients. We have solutions which not only manage the desktops and servers but
also provide security and backup solutions. The customer looks for a seemlessly
integrated solutions. A partner who understands all this can only work with CA
products.

CA also provides technology on a modular basis. We also offer a subscription
model. You can subscribe to CA technology today for period of time. We have
created awarness in the market on all these facets of CA, on which partners can
leverage.

We have flexible plans that are rarely seen in this part of the world. This
gives a lot of confidence to partners because CA has been able to provide
complex technology with so much of innovation and creativity.

The other area that we work closely with partners is the facility management
business. This is very big business in this part of the world. I see a lot of
people outsourcing today. I see customers providing budgets for complete
outsourcing of their IT requirements to an SI or a vendor who does facilities
management. CA has a complete set of tools that help in facilities management.
We partner with large SIs and empower them by giving our tools on a subscription
basis.

SYLVESTER LOBO in Mumbai