BMC Reorganizes to Boost NT Presence
After consuming Boole & Babbage Inc. and New Dimension Software Ltd., BMC Software Inc. (www.bmc.com) is realigning its operations around business units rather than around products. Key among the new divisions is a unit focused on Windows NT and Windows 2000.
The new structure, company officials say, will help them respond quickly to market needs. As an example, BMC points to the integration its Patrol application management suite with the former Boole & Babbage product Command/Post, which was unveiled on the same day that the completion of the Boole & Babbage merger was announced.
"What we have done is restructured, or realigned, the company from functional alignment to around strategic business units," explains Wayne Morris, vice president of corporate marketing at BMC. "We have put development and product marketing resources [together] so that we can better understand the market and the customer. That way we can have a straight pipe between the customers to the way we develop and market products."
To boost its penetration into the NT space, BMC hired Bob Kruger as vice president of the Windows NT Solutions unit. Kruger previously ran the SMS group at Microsoft Corp. and oversaw development of WBEM technologies there. One problem Kruger says he noticed when he came to BMC was that the company had little image and visibility in the PC market space. "That was something the company never really focused on," Kruger says.
Part of the image problem had to do with a complex install process that used to be the norm for many of its products. For instance, Patrol used to be purchased on an al la carte basis with users expected to identify what parts they needed, which was compounded by a relatively complex install. "We did away with that 'These are the components of a product, they need to be integrated' [mentality]," Kruger says. The enhancements were included in Patrol 3.3, which was released in April.
The new package includes script support, preset event thresholds and other improvements to the install process. "In all cases, we have simplified install and deployment. We like to say you can install Patrol in under 10 minutes," Kruger adds.
With the completion of the recent acquisitions, the new organization is expected to produce in excess of $1.2 billion in revenue during its current fiscal year and is shooting to more than triple that amount over the next couple of years. Based on the company's internal estimates of currently owning 5 percent of the Windows NT system management market share, NT products may play a leading role in achieving that growth.
BMC, however, still needs to compete with smaller, agile Windows NT competitors such as Aelita Software Group (www.aelita.net) and NetIQ Corp. (www.netiq.com), as well as with the large framework vendors in other market sectors.
Other initiatives BMC is working on include establishing an indirect channel and developing stronger relationships with key vendors like Microsoft and Compaq Computer Corp.