Pivotal Posts Slight 4Q Loss

Pivotal

The company, which offers CRM applications to midsize enterprises, increased license revenue by 17 percent and improved its operating margins by four points, said Bo Manning, chairman and CEO of Pivotal, based here. "We decreased DSOs [days sales outstanding by 53 days and consumed less than $700,000 for the quarter, so we're pretty close to cash break-even," he said.

Like other players in the high-tech arena, Pivotal has had to face a tough buying environment. "Revenue was slightly down, which simply means we're a software company on planet Earth," Manning said.

Unlike CRM kingpin Siebel Systems, Pivotal targets companies or business units with revenue of $100 million to $3 billion. "We don't go after small businesses or humongous corporations but the 45,000 entities that are in between, because we think they have a distinct set of requirements," Manning said.

Last quarter, the company launched three vertical "micro" editions of its products for banks, home builders and health-care/insurance companies. Six more micro verticals are in the works, Manning said.

One half of Pivotal's business goes through integrators; the other half is through direct sales, he said.

The midmarket has been where a lot of the CRM action is, especially as large enterprises continue to delay technology spending. But a bevy of vendors, from Pivotal to SalesLogix, are attacking the opportunities, as is Siebel with its midmarket offering, said sources. And things will get even more interesting when Microsoft dives into the market with a low-end product later this year. (See related story.)