Since taking the reins of Borland Canada in late 2002, Chris Corey, president and general manager, has had a clear focus on where to lead the company strategically. When CDN spoke with Corey then, he cited three key objectives: increase channel business, provide Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) based solutions and raise market awareness of Borland’s position as “the only platform-independent solutions provider.”
Three years later, he holds the same goals.
“We continue to try to work closely and collaborate with our channel partners, to help them build the capability so that they can be more effective at representing Borland in the ALM market,” said Corey.
CaliberRM
For the channel, Corey pointed out two product areas that have garnered market opportunity within the ALM suite: CaliberRM, a requirements management tool, and StarTeam, a configuration management tool. “Both have strong uptake in our market,” he said. “As customers move away from software development at the cottage craft-type of activity and closer to software development being a managed business process, they become more mature in how they manage IT activities. And Caliber and StarTeam are very effective tools in helping manage the IT complexity.”
“The claim to fame for Borland has been heading new systems with tools that are in fact very capable, very productive and easy to use,” said Melinda Ballou, program director for application lifecycle management at IDC. But while Borland has the technology, Ballou added, it hasn’t done a strong a job marketing it.
From Corey’s perspective, that is where the channel comes in. Although the percentage of Borland’s indirect business in Canada has only been about 25 to 30 percent, Corey remains optimistic.
“Our strategy is absolutely to continue to expand and leverage the channel and ideally grow that business and decline direct business at the same time,” he said. But the challenge, according to Corey, is ensuring the channel has both the capacity and capability to carry the business forward.
Through sales and technical training, he said, the partners will be able to provide high level service to their customers when selling Borland products.
Gaining more visibility in the Canadian market continues to be Borland’s strategy. “We’re looking to add more VARs specifically on a regional basis,” said Corey. Increased representation in the Maritimes, the west coast and in Quebec will provide greater opportunities into the SMB market, he said.
“Part of our strategy is to look for VAR partners to support the SMB market by providing a full suite of services and software,” he said.
To make it all the more appealing, Borland is in the process of launching a new North America-wide VAR program. Reluctant to provide any details before its official announcement, Corey said the company will be much more aggressive not only in terms of compensation but Borland’s ability to increase VARs’ capability around supporting its products. The launch date was not revealed but Corey said he expects an announcement soon.
For the foreseeable future, Borland Canada will focus on its Software Delivery Optimization (SDO) program, said Corey. “What makes up SDO today for Borland is our ALM product suite, supporting technology to help provide visibility and control to the software development environment.”
