It is an exciting time for FrontRange, with the recent launch of its SaaS2 software-as-a-Service solution as well as new versions of its IT Asset Management on-premise products. VitAL caught up with the company?s vice president, EMEA, Ian McEwan.
Headquartered in Pleasanton, California in the USA, FrontRange is a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT Service Management, IT Asset Management, and Customer Service Management solutions. The company says that these solutions enable IT and Services Transformation by providing enterprise-class capabilities that deliver fast time to benefit, high ease of use, and rapid return on investment.
With an award winning tradition and recognised as a leader by industry analysts, the company?s products and solutions are used by over 13,000 customers in more than 80 verticals and 45 countries to quickly improve interactions with external and internal clients and achieve better business results.
Ian McEwan is responsible for FrontRange?s sales operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has over 15 years experience in the IT sector, primarily in the Help Desk and Service Management markets, and a successful history of sales management to Fortune 100/500 customers.
Prior to joining FrontRange, McEwan held a number of senior sales and management positions with Peregrine, BMC, IBM and Vignette.? He is currently playing a central role in the company?s continued expansion in the EMEA region.
VitAL: What are the origins of the company; how did it start and develop; how has it grown and how is it structured?
Ian McEwan: FrontRange Solutions is headquartered in California, with the hub of its European operations in Newbury, UK. The company realises around 45 percent of its global revenues in the EMEA region, and has all major functions (engineering, sales, marketing and support) based in the UK and Germany.
It was incorporated in 2000, when the companies behind HEAT helpdesk and GoldMine customer relationship management (CRM) solutions merged. The company capitalised on its dominance in the SME helpdesk market to launch its fully fledged IT Service Management solution in 2005.
More recently it has further expanded its portfolio with an IT Asset Management solutions division with the acquisition of Enteo (developers of the solution now known as FrontRange Desktop & Server Management) in 2007 and Centennial Software (FrontRange Discovery and License Manager) in 2008.
VitAL: What is the company?s specialist area or product group?
IM: The FrontRange Solutions portfolio spans three core areas of a company?s operations: IT Service Management, IT Asset Management and Customer Service. All three are critical to our and our customers? success and it?s this breadth of offering that we feel is our real strength. To complement this, we recently launched our SaaS2 (Solutions-as-a-Service model.) This enables customers to choose the most appropriate method of technology acquisition both today and in the future ? FrontRange is the only vendor offering a fast and painless transition between SaaS and on-premise solutions.
VitAL: Is that specialisation to make the best use of skills in the company or because it fits the company?s world view or has it simply evolved?
IM: For most organisations, public or private, the service they deliver to their internal and external customers is paramount. Without delivering excellent IT services, staff can?t function; without delivering excellent customer care, the organisation has no future. This is why the FrontRange portfolio has evolved to incorporate an integrated suite of solutions that enable organisations to manage their IT assets, IT service delivery and external facing customer service ? three inter-linked disciplines that are all critical to the viability of the organisation.
The nature of the solution range is far from accidental. For example, the acquisitions of Enteo and Centennial Software both brought with them not only an important additional revenue stream to FrontRange, but they also strengthened our Service Management solutions with asset and configuration management being natural extensions to the solution.
VitAL: How has any specialisation influenced the company?s general stance?
IM: Rather than specialism, it is the breadth of the solution portfolio that stands FrontRange apart from rival competitors. That breadth is represented both in terms of the sheer capability of the solutions on offer ? everything from PC and software auditing, through to desktop management through to fully ITIL-compatible service ? as well as the technologies employed to deliver these solutions to the customer ? be it on-premise or through the cloud (SaaS).
VitAL: who are the company?s main customers today and in the future?
IM: Because of the nature of the solution portfolio and its routes to market, the FrontRange customer base is incredibly broad in character. From large enterprises who use the FrontRange ITSM and Desktop Server Management solutions to manage their IT operations down to SMEs who rely on the GoldMine CRM solution to maximise the profitability of each and every customer interaction.
Tomorrow, this breadth of customer base will continue and may become broader still as more organisations like to implement hybrid SaaS / on-premise solutions.
VitAL: What is the company?s business model, ie, does it select a market and then design solutions to meet the needs of that market or does it specialise in particular solutions and seek markets where those solutions are needed?
IM: The majority of FrontRange solutions are, by their nature, horizontal rather than vertical. The customer service or IT asset management challenges facing an organisation in one industry are unlikely to differ greatly from a company in another vertical. As such, it is fair to say that the FrontRange portfolio is shaped by looking for common issues faced by many organisations and how a solution can be created to deliver the maximum benefit with the minimal customisation.
Some solution areas such as IT Service Management are always going to be subject to some ?tailoring? to the individual organisations? needs, but the difference is how the solution is engineered to accommodate this level of personalisation while still retaining its core product differentiators.
VitAL: How is the company encouraging social responsibility in its customers and the wider world?
IM: The green agenda, and becoming more conscious of energy use in general, has some close synergies with IT Asset Management and so this is one potential route for the FrontRange solution portfolio moving forward.
VitAL: How does the company communicate with vendors and customers?
IM: FrontRange employs a true multi-channel communications strategy for partners and customers. This ranges from the open FrontRange ?Connect? forum to customer and partner-specific support sites, where they can access comprehensive knowledge bases as well as the latest product downloads. Telephone support for both technical and commercial questions is only a call away and customers and partners are both encouraged to take advantage of FrontRange?s regular roadshows and in-office meetings.
VitAL: What does the product range cover?
IM: As outlined above, there are essentially three pillars to the FrontRange product portfolio: Service Management, IT Asset Management and Customer Service. Within these areas there are a number of distinct product areas, from audit to license management, voice enablement to web-self service ? but each and every component of the portfolio contributes an important role towards the overall aim of enabling organisations to maximise the productivity of their staff and IT operations as well as leverage the full value of their customers.
VitAL: What is your view of the current state of IT Service Management and IT in business and the economy in general, the challenges and the opportunities?
IM: It is somewhat of a clich? to say ?do more with less?, but with IT budgets generally static there is a strong need to make IT service delivery more efficient and to ensure that each and every pound allocated to IT is spent wisely. Integration and automation are the keywords here, and the FrontRange portfolio is ideally placed to deliver both, with integrated IT Service Management and Asset Management. Automating key tasks such as software application deployment or restoring user profiles from a central console integrated with the ITSM system can provide a massive labour saving for IT.
For organisations with outdated ITSM systems in place, but without the budgets to replace them with new solutions, vendors like FrontRange now offer an easier way to access new technologies with SaaS-based versions of their solutions. This keeps the initial acquisition costs to a minimal level, but enables the customer to move to an on-premise solution as their needs demand in the future.
VitAL: What are the future plans for the business?
IM: It is an exciting time for FrontRange, with the recent launch of our SaaS2 solutions as well as new versions of our IT Asset Management on-premise products. The future is to grow these solutions in parallel so that customers can access the solutions they need through the delivery methods that are right for their businesses both today and in the future.
VitAL: Ian McEwan, thank you very much
http://www.frontrange.com/
Source: http://www.vital-mag.net/2011/05/strength-through-breadth/
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