CA banks on financial sector
Computer Associates (CA) has targeted a 50% growth in sales revenues in the country during the next two years as it seeks to leverage existing client relationships with IT-needy banks and insurance companies and draw new business from other local companies in need of expansion technology to successfully tap into new European Union markets.
The New York-based company is also looking to bulk up its 30-strong team in the country in order to better tackle new business, said Andrzej Staniszczak, CA's Warsaw-based sales manager for Poland and the Baltic states.
He said the company is seeking to more holistically apply its global product range in the country. Computer Associates International, one of the world's largest software companies, offers hundreds of software products, including enterprise management, business intelligence, storage, and network management, which work on mainframes and distributed computing.
In doing so, Staniszczak said that the company would target only large companies, namely those with expansive communications networks, rather than companies with impressive revenues.
"Our offer is for big companies," he said. "We are trying to grow up as a company. We are trying to do the type of business with local partners."
He did not acknowledge that the country's ailing economy would play much of a role in CA achieving its goals.
"The last two years have been awful in the west," he said, noting that software companies operating in the US and western Europe have taken a thrashing from the market.
Its parent company, for instance, reported a €40.8 million ($44 million) net loss for the third quarter in fiscal year ending March 2003. But, on a positive note, that was better than the net loss of €214.4 million ($231 million) Computer Associates International reported in the same period last year.
"But it's not so bad in Poland," Staniszczak said, specifically about integration software markets, especially for IT companies targeting insurance companies and banks, many of which have undergone complex restructurings that include adding new IT systems.
And should its existing client base fall into the red, CA intends to offer IT solutions that will cut the costs. "Even if you have a bad year, we are inside the project," Staniszczak said.
He explained that many companies have realised that they "can live without one or two more servers." But he said, according to his customers, software is a must.
"Believe me or not, during the last two years it's a growing business for Computer Associates Poland," Staniszczak said. He said the company does not report revenues for its Polish operations.
Local companies looking to begin operations in western markets as a result of the EU's market liberalisation policies will need to extend their IT infrastructures westward. That's where CA would step in, he said. Once smaller companies which are not CA's clients at present need to extend their communications channels, they will become a target for the company.
And in this pursuit, Staniszczak said that the company would work with local IT players, such as Prokom.
The New York-based company is also looking to bulk up its 30-strong team in the country in order to better tackle new business, said Andrzej Staniszczak, CA's Warsaw-based sales manager for Poland and the Baltic states.
He said the company is seeking to more holistically apply its global product range in the country. Computer Associates International, one of the world's largest software companies, offers hundreds of software products, including enterprise management, business intelligence, storage, and network management, which work on mainframes and distributed computing.
In doing so, Staniszczak said that the company would target only large companies, namely those with expansive communications networks, rather than companies with impressive revenues.
"Our offer is for big companies," he said. "We are trying to grow up as a company. We are trying to do the type of business with local partners."
He did not acknowledge that the country's ailing economy would play much of a role in CA achieving its goals.
"The last two years have been awful in the west," he said, noting that software companies operating in the US and western Europe have taken a thrashing from the market.
Its parent company, for instance, reported a €40.8 million ($44 million) net loss for the third quarter in fiscal year ending March 2003. But, on a positive note, that was better than the net loss of €214.4 million ($231 million) Computer Associates International reported in the same period last year.
"But it's not so bad in Poland," Staniszczak said, specifically about integration software markets, especially for IT companies targeting insurance companies and banks, many of which have undergone complex restructurings that include adding new IT systems.
And should its existing client base fall into the red, CA intends to offer IT solutions that will cut the costs. "Even if you have a bad year, we are inside the project," Staniszczak said.
He explained that many companies have realised that they "can live without one or two more servers." But he said, according to his customers, software is a must.
"Believe me or not, during the last two years it's a growing business for Computer Associates Poland," Staniszczak said. He said the company does not report revenues for its Polish operations.
Local companies looking to begin operations in western markets as a result of the EU's market liberalisation policies will need to extend their IT infrastructures westward. That's where CA would step in, he said. Once smaller companies which are not CA's clients at present need to extend their communications channels, they will become a target for the company.
And in this pursuit, Staniszczak said that the company would work with local IT players, such as Prokom.
