Computer Associates goes for direct presence in region

Leading worldwide software vendor Computer Associates has decided to go in for a direct presence to develop its Middle East interests.

The re-focussed strategy has already seen it open a base at Dubai Internet City, which will be supported by a network of offices in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Beirut and Cairo.

The new offices are scheduled to open before the year is out. Effective October 1, there will also be a new call centre in Lebanon, chosen because of the trilingual capabilities available there.

At the same time, Computer Associates is in the "process of terminating" its arrangement with its erstwhile regional partner headquartered in Bahrain. The partner was until now acting as Computer Associates ME.

"The management at Computer Associates has realised that it is impossible to develop a business only through partners and a more direct presence is called for," said Gilbert Lacroix, the newly appointed vice-president and general manager. "In the earlier arrangement, the company saw many of our customers were not being offered the level of support that had to be provided."

Changes will also be seen at the partner level within the individual markets.

"We are reviewing the list of partners and have broken off our previous arrangements with some. All our partners, existing and new, will have to go through a certification process to come on board," said Lacroix, who had earlier been the head of Intel's Middle East operations.

"In signing on new partners, we will look at their geographical coverage, their capacity to act in vertical markets and offer real value to the customers with the knowledge of our products."

According to Lacroix, a Middle East team is still being developed and would take some more months to be completed.

"But I have been assured of full support from the corporate headquarters in the US. It is not just about money but, more importantly, getting the right sort of commitment.

"In the past, Computer Associates was not pushing anything seriously in this part of the world."

Lacroix has also initiated dialogue with existing users of the company's solutions which are targetted at the enterprise category. Mashreqbank is among the key users.

Here again Lacroix wants to make fine differentiation "The strategy is to convert our present users into full time customers for ever."