Q&A: CA Canada’s style and substance

Jimmy Fulton, who hails from Atlanta, has spent nearly a year on the job as chief executive of CA Canada and admitted that he has had to change his business style to adapted to the Canadian marketplace.

The aggressive nature of American business people doesn’t necessarily compute to Canadians who are overly cautious, conservative and like to vet new IT purchases either through pilot programs or an RFP.

Fulton, who ran the global technical pre-sales department for CA (NASDAQ: CA), said he relies on his staff when faced with an alien situation. But overall, there are more similarities than there are differences.

With the onset of tough economic times, Fulton is glad to report to CDN that the Canadian operation hasn’t had any cancellations. “Knock on wood, nothing in our pipeline has been vapourized,” he said. However, Fulton has seen an even stricter adherence to the evaluation process.

CDN Now had an opportunity to discuss the Canadian economy, CA Canada’s plans for 2009 and other happens at CA World in Las Vegas.

The following is an edited transcript.

CDN Now: You have been on the job for almost a year. How would you assess it?

Jimmy Fulton: We have strong business growth, but there are subtle differences. Canadians are more deliberate, they take a thought-out approach, there is more adherence to protocol, and they’re more conservative and perhaps that eeks out into all aspects of the economy. For the first half, with reoccurring and net new business we had double digit growth. We upgraded the people in direct sales and heightened the sense of urgency with them to the client. We try to find out what is driving the IT demand and the needs of the market. We tell them the economic value of IT. We have good health in the pipeline and with the federal government. The provincial government of Quebec is doing business with us now, as well as the City of Montreal.

CDN Now: Has the recent slow down in the economy impacted CA Canada?

J.F.: Has the economy affected Canada and hurt CA? I haven’t seen it. They’re thinking about things longer, but regardless of the economy people still have to go to the Doctor. In 2008, one in eight businesses reported data loss. These are decisions that go beyond discretionary spending. I think we’ll feel it but it won’t be that bad.

CDN Now: Have you made your plans for 2009 and, if so, what new initiatives do you wish to implement for next year?

J.F.: For 2009, I have some sketchy drafts of what I want to do. I want the right people and the right focus for the market. I want to get Canadian sales trained on key revenue drivers. You know, when the Ivy League schools wanted to pour cement for the sidewalk they didn’t know where to start. So they planted porous grass and found out where the people walked. Then they knew where to build the sidewalks. So it’s that kind of evolution. I want CA to have, the max ROI, and we’ll dedicate resources to more education and more scrub-down analysis of the revenue drivers.

When I look at IT trends I think there will be an impact in virtualization and we’ll start to see virtualization in the later half of 2009. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) will have a substantial impact in our business. I have two major projects on the table right now. We will continue to integrate with key partners and integrators such as Deloitte & Touche, especially in the West. And, I would like to grow our alternative routes to market.

CDN Now: Are you taking on more of a channel role at CA Canada?

J.F.: I want the direct sales force to be more accountable to the partners. I want the direct sales organization to be more involved with partners such as Empowereded Networks in Canada. They’ve expanded their role with CA. I want to ensure that value added distributors work well with the channel partners and that the marketing organization supports that channel business.

CDN Now: Where is the channel business today at CA Canada?

J.F.: The percentage of revenue is consistent with the past. We’ve improved the effectiveness of the organization. We’ve learned that more is not necessarily better. Before, we had a tremendous number of partners and few were selling CA and few were finding opportunities. Empowered Networks and partners like that are getting first class treatment from CA. For others who make a difference we have a marketing and support organization and we’ve beefed up our distribution presence to get more access to channels.

I’m not going out to partners and telling them I can love you but… Those who are coming to us we are giving them more. Empowered Networks does level one support for a few of our products, for example. This way seams to make more sense.

CDN Now: The perception on the street is that CA does not get the channel. Now some of that is unfair. I realize you still have significant mainframe business and you’re not giving that up any time soon. What can you do to change that perception?

J.F.: We used to have 25,000 direct named accounts worldwide and we shaved that down dramatically (to 4,000). With that we’ve done a better job on those accounts. The rest were moved down to partners. The problem with us is we’re not a shrink-wrapped software vendor. It needs commitment from the partner and that doesn’t happen until they get commitment from CA. We can’t inspire that with hundreds of partners. We’ll add partners when it makes sense. It’s all about execution and I’ll always have a commitment to the channel. In the past the execution was not perfect and we’re trying to be better at execution.

CDN Now: Do you see the new SaaS offerings being more of a channel play in Canada?

J.F. The time has come for SaaS. If the economy is strong or weak, SaaS will play well. There’s no large upfront commitment with SaaS. Organizations can go back to focusing on what they do best, instead of IT, with SaaS.

We’re doing SaaS with our Clarity line and we’ve had spotty implementations of SaaS in the past. National demand has made SaaS happen. We’re doing it and we know what it looks like. I don’t expect any surprises.

If you look at the Instant Recovery service it will be focused on the Canadian channel exclusively.

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Paolo Del Nibletto
Paolo Del Nibletto
Former editor of Computer Dealer News, covering Canada's IT channel community.

Related Tech News

Featured Tech Jobs

 

CDN in your inbox

CDN delivers a critical analysis of the competitive landscape detailing both the challenges and opportunities facing solution providers. CDN's email newsletter details the most important news and commentary from the channel.