Software AG, based in Fourways, has appointed Ezra Kahimbaara as its new director for strategic solutions.
He has held the new role since late January and was chosen to drive the company's business process management (BPM) and software-oriented architecture (SOA) solution strategies. Kahimbaara joined Software AG in 2006.
Kahimbaara's previous position in the company was as an SOA architect. Prior to Software AG, he worked for black-owned enterprise solutions company African Legend Indigo as a service integrator. He has held positions at Telkom, T-Systems and Nedbank as an integrations specialist.
Positive outlook
Kahimbaara believes his new position is well-timed despite the IT market facing the economic slowdown. He says businesses will look to purchase value-driven solutions to bolster their IT infrastructure in an effort to cut costs.
“The current economic situation is forcing companies to be a lot more careful regarding what technologies they spend on. Companies are going to be a lot more cautious this year choosing infrastructure solutions and will be scrutinising long-term value propositions. Businesses are looking to be more efficient, to reduce costs and there will be a lot more business consolidations.”
Kahimbaara says that, in spite of the economic slowdown, Software AG will not retrench staff.
“In the last three years, Software AG's financial position has been very strong. The company has been on a growth path and we feel we will continue to grow our revenue and customer base this year. I predict this year will bring a lot of opportunities for BPM and SOA.”
He adds: “Software AG's business strategy this year will be to extend its infrastructure solutions value and it will be looking to build its customer base this year. I think it's important in these tough times to make sure we get the right message to the market on the value that Software AG can add to IT strategies.”
Pushing ahead
Software AG's largest competitor is Tibco, while other competitors include IBM, SAP, Microsoft and Oracle. Kahimbaara says Software AG is bullish about taking on the bigger brands and will aggressively drive its business strategy in the coming months, focusing on expanding its client base among large companies.
Kahimbaara does not foresee the IT market becoming saturated with competition in the near future. “The IT market is driven by the evolution of capabilities and I think there will always be a market for business solutions that solve critical business problems. As long as business faces financial challenges and strives to cut costs and improve efficiency, our technology will always have the opportunity to grow.”
He believes the year will bring more mergers and acquisitions, and Software AG will also be looking to acquire this year. “There are a lot more smaller companies coming into the market. These companies are more service-focused and the bigger companies are finding it cheaper to buy them out than to do the service themselves.”
According to Kahimbaara, last year was the most successful period for Software AG.
Software AG's group revenue increased last year by 16%, to 720.6 million euros. Its operating earnings grew by 32%, to 180.5 million euros and product revenue increased by 33%, to 315.7 million euros.
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