Computer Associates (CA) has appointed Gary Lawrence as its new country manager. Lawrence says there will be a concerted push in CA`s channel this year as well as a marketing effort to create customer communities around its areas of business.
Lawrence succeeds Dan van der Westhuizen, and will oversee operations throughout sub-Saharan Africa when he takes over in May. He is currently still with business intelligence vendor Business Objects, and before that with enterprise resource planning vendor Baan`s local operations.
Let`s get out
CA, which recently sold ACCPAC to Sage and has said it wishes to exit the business applications market, has in recent years also sought to consolidate the many acquisitions it made before the turn of the century.
Its plans for 2004 include growing market share, both through direct and indirect channels. Aside from the channel, the vendor will focus marketing on its areas of business, which all focus on the back-office rather than the applications market.
"Globally, the messaging is much clearer these days about the areas CA plays in," says Lawrence. "Rather than market large numbers of products in any given suite, we will focus on the brands, such as eTrust, data management, storage and others."
Although CA is "quite pervasive in many companies", it is seen more as a technology provider than a strategic partner, he adds. "We want to change that perception and build communities with partners, customers and employees around these areas of our business."
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