Measured strides

In Conversation

As BEA Systems eyes the $3 billion revenue mark in three years, Alfred S Chuang, founder member, Chairman & CEO, shares his strategy in an e-mail interview. Excerpts:

You bought five start-ups to date that sell tools for everything "� from developing software to managing RFID with smaller deal sizes. What's the way forward?

The acquisitions were made since their core products/technologies complemented AquaLogic's capabilities. These are in line with foreseeable trends in the future and account for emerging technology domains. The first move came last August, when BEA acquired Plumtree which allowed BEA to offer customers the ability to put information from a wide array of business systems on web pages for their employees. Acquisitions continue to be central to BEA's strategy to consolidate its position in the market. However, we are not focussing on any big acquisitions for the time being.

Is your recent strategic partnership with TCS primarily aimed at the Indian market?

BEA and TCS have announced the expansion of its existing strategic partnership to develop Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions based on the BEA AquaLogic and WebLogic platforms. TCS' practice areas and centres of excellence have agreed to create new solutions, based on BEA products. TCS' Global Consulting Practice will also work closely with BEA teams on joint SOA consulting assignments to help accelerate its adoption and deployment. We have formulated a joint 'go to market' strategy with a global outlook.

What is going to be the focus of your Bangalore R&D centre?

We plan to expand our scope of work at the Bangalore R&D centre in key areas like Weblogic Integration and Aqualogic. We believe the quality of talent in India, especially Bangalore, will greatly complement the ongoing R&D efforts at BEA globally.

What about the attrition at BEA Systems?

For a company of our size, focus is critical. This is the key to our company's growth and to BEA's future. BEA made some smart, deliberate business decisions to strengthen its go-to-market execution and focus its product priorities. As a company grows and evolves, it is natural for there to be some changes, and some of those with different ideas or different personal goals may choose to leave. The company is the biggest it has ever been, with more than 4,000 employees today around the world.

What about competitors like IBM, Oracle or SAP?

A key strategy for a company our size competing against a big company is to combat its breadth with our focus. We focus on a smaller product set and relentlessly pursue quality within that product set, and then efficient and successful customer implementation.

Has the decision to acquire WebLogic paid dividends?

In the first full year that BEA owned WebLogic, we did $100 million in licence revenue "� over 10-fold what WebLogic did on its own. After the Internet bubble burst, however, BEA had only one year when the revenue declined by a mere four per cent. The following year (2004), revenue grew eight per cent to $1,012 million, and both revenue and cash flows have continued to grow since then.