'CIO Holds The Handle To Communications During M&A Activity'

Savvion, a provider of BPM solutions, has been recently acquired by Progress Software. Biztech2.com catches up with Christopher Larsen, Senior Vice President, Global Field Operations, Progress Software, to understand the reasons, the process and the future of the acquisition.

Why did you choose to acquire Savvion?

It was actually our customers, who convinced us of this decision. We heard a lot of them talking about the need for a complete Business Process Management (BPM) solution. We thought if we coupled it with our other enterprise solutions it will make our position in the market quite strong. Our portfolio will offer customers an end-to-end solution. Becoming a one-stop-shop for the customer has become the need of the hour in today’s world.

Why Savvion and not any other BPM player?

Simply because it was one of the best. Another reason was that it has a very strong distribution network and also a huge customer base in the country. This will increase visibility for our company as well. After recession, the European and the US markets have become much more cautious. However, companies in India are ready to spend on their IT infrastructure because now they are competing on an equal platform with the rest of the world. They are extremely aggressive in making their IT infrastructure robust. The mindset of today’s business in India is to move now and they are more receptive of technology that will help them grow.

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It is seen that during mergers and acquisitions, the role of the CIO is generally ignored. Please comment.

If we look from a process point of view, the people of the company hold a lot of responsibility during such times. Thus, the role of the CIO is extremely important especially in an IT company. They have to make sure that the processes of both the companies are integrated in a seamless manner with least issues cropping up. Earlier, it was a habit for many to ignore the CIO at such times. However, the times have changed now.

The involvement of the CIO is important because a task that cannot be overlooked during an acquisition or a merger is that of communicating with the employees. There are rumours doing the rounds; there are partial truths; basically, a lot of things roaming around the walls of the office. This can create unnecessary panic among employees. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to communicate with them on a regular basis, and in a very quick and effective manner. We all know that all the communication channels in a company are handled by the CIO. Therefore, his role is of utmost importance at such times.

For example, I came into the country yesterday and I thought that I might not be connected to Savvion this soon. However, I was and that has made me more accessible to all from Savvion and thus, helped me become a part of them so easily and quickly.

What is your message for the existing and potential customers of Savvion?

For one, the financial stability of the company has increased. The products can now be used for global deployment. This has improved the reach of the products as well. The infrastructure is in place and rest assured, it will be put to full use.

A lot of our customers were also customers of Savvion. These common customers can now expect the best-of-breed products with the technological know-how of the two companies integrating. Also, now they have just one company to deal with for all their products. We will also be infusing a lot of money into developing new and better products, so customers have a lot to look forward to.