Sanjay Kumar, Computer Associates

What it means: When we asked Kumar to tell us the most important message CA can give to the market right now, he pointed to the need to increase customer satisfaction above all else, even above the company's technology. To do that, the company says it is focusing on the combination of innovation and strong partners to add more value and implement full solutions. On the technology side, CA is focusing its software business on six key product areas,enterprise management, storage, security, application life-cycle management, portals and development tools. While the latter categories are new for CA, Kumar said at a recent analyst conference that the company is blending the old with the new, combining core competencies to align with clients' future business needs.

VARBusiness' View: It's refreshing that CA takes customer satisfaction so seriously. But while it's an irrefutable message, we don't know of any company in business today that doesn't say it's interested in improving customer satisfaction. Thus, the message does little to differentiate CA's core competencies. What's more, the proof will be in the results. Much of that will ultimately be determined by how responsive the company is to customer needs and how well-received the company's move toward its subscription-based model for licensing is. Meanwhile, analysts are still coming up-to-speed on its new model for reporting revenues. Making matters worse, the SEC started investigating CA for its accounting practices back in February to determine whether it overstated its earnings. Meanwhile, CA's stock price has dropped more than 75 percent in the past year. That's a clear message that no one has missed.

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