Software AG mulls potential services buys

By Ry Crozier on Nov 24, 2008 12:21PM

Software AG has tipped a couple of services firm acquisitions to ‘round out’ its acquisition strategy but says those on the radar won’t compete with the management services companies it already partners with.

In an interview with iTnews, Australian sales director Steve Keys put the potential services firm acquisitions on the table, but was quick to note they would not duplicate the services offered by consultancy partners like Accenture and BearingPoint.

“I don’t think we’ll replicate those types of organisations nor would we want to,” said Keys.

Keys said that Software AG – like other vendors – is operating in a resource-constrained market. Every time a new large-scale project kicks off in Australia, there’s a kind of ‘vacuum’ effect as people and skills shift out of existing projects across to the new one.

“We think it’s important to have strong skills in place [to help service these types of projects] but I wouldn’t say it’s our primary focus. We’re a technology company first and foremost,” said Keys.

Software AG is perhaps one of the industry’s ‘quiet achievers’; it doesn’t shout quite as loudly as some of its rivals, but continues to count some of the largest financial services, retailers and government agencies amongst its current project wins.

It’s an idea that seems to generate some agreement – or at least understanding - from Keys.

“Our German roots mean we’ve focused for a long time on precision engineering rather than marketing,” he said.

“It’s been interesting since we acquired WebMethods. They have a completely different culture, and we’ve worked hard since then to try and create a more dynamic and scalable culture [organisationally].”

Keys also said Software AG is also seeking growth through its channel partners and offshore outsourcers like TCS.

“We prefer working with partners that are in our ecosystem, but we’re generally happy to work with most organisations as long as they support open standards and SOA principles,” said Keys.

On the topic of outsourcers, he added: “We find they’re coming after us. We’re receiving the phone calls from them [to partner] rather than the other way around.”