CA Partners Rattled Again By Upheaval
CA partner Dave Hiechel, president and CEO of Eagle Software, Salina, Kan., said he was surprised that the software vendor plans to issue 800 pink slips and simplify its product portfolio in an effort to save $70 million a year. CA, Islandia, N.Y., did not elaborate on exactly where the jobs would be lost or which products would be cut to simplify its offerings.
Eagle was hit hard by past CA layoffs, losing 11 of its 12 CA channel representatives when CA reorganized just over a year ago, Hiechel said. He expected his company to be hurt by this next round of layoffs as well.
"The problem we have with CA--more than their product line--is CA's own infrastructure," Hiechel said. "They make it hard for us to sell them when they have turnover in the sales departments. The layoffs hurt us."
Valeh Nazemoff, director of business development at DataTech Enterprises, a CA solution provider in Fredericksburg, Va., said DataTech had yet to hear something from its CA channel representatives concerning the announced changes. "We are all still waiting," she said.
Like Hiechel, Nazemoff said she was less concerned about changes that might come down regarding CA's product line than she was about changes to CA's organizational makeup. "I don't think they will have products disappear," Nazemoff said, "CA may just realign some things under different brands."
Ken Cron, CA's interim CEO, said other parts of CA's restructuring plan would include stepping up acquisitions, increasing the company's reach into overseas markets and aiming more CA products at small businesses.
The changes at CA come in the wake of a $225 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which had charged the company with fraudulent accounting practices.