FrontRange makes a strong showing in the SMB marketplace.FrontRange Solutions This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. (www.frontrange.com) has a reputation for being a dynamic organization. The company is a market leader in IT service management, customer relationship management (CRM (Customer Relationship Management) An integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and postsales activities in an organization. ) and voice applications for the mid-market and distributed enterprise. It has never been one to sit still and let the industry evolve around it. Last month, FrontRange signed an agreement to acquire enteo Software, Inc. (www.enteo.com), a German developer of PC lifecycle management and Citrix management solutions, as a way of broadening the appeal of its solution portfolio. I got a chance recently to catch up with FrontRange CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Michael McCloskey about some other important events that have occurred within FrontRange's ranks as of late. RT: FrontRange is developing VoIP technology, but it is very tied to specific business functionality. How did that come about? MM: The most common way for people to communicate is through voice. This is true in both external and internal environments, and we are trying to provide solutions in our applications that allow people to communicate in the manner in which they choose. With our voice products, we can augment our application capabilities. In our ITSM ITSM Information Technology Service Management ITSM Information Technology Security Manager ITSM Indirect Tensile Stiffness Modulus ITSM Information Technology System Management ITSM Ibm Tivoli Storage Manager ITSM It Service Management service management offerings, customers use our voice solutions to do password resets or get the status of a case or incident without any human intervention. We use voice as a competitive advantage. We think the key to serving SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses) is to address specific business needs at the application level and allow them to add pieces to gain additional strategic value. RT: Last year you were purchased by Francisco Partners and you recently completed the acquisition of enteo. What's your goal? MM: Our goal is simply to be the market leader. The investment by Francisco Partners a year ago enabled us to continue to pursue our aggressive growth strategy. Our recent acquisition of enteo Software allows us to provide a comprehensive, end-to-end IT service management and PC lifecycle management offering. We believe that we can get there faster with them as a strong partner as they can help us accelerate our strategy. We are committed to providing our customers and partners with market-leading products and superior service and support. This investment further strengthens that commitment. RT: How did FrontRange build its mid-market "fortress?" MM: We build solutions for the mid-market and distributed enterprise. We have more than 9,000 customers in this sector, including several hundred Fortune 1000 customers. We build enterprise-class solutions, and have built five critical attributes into every product: robust enterprise-class capability, low total cost of ownership (TCO (1) (Total Cost of Ownership) The cost of using a computer. It includes the cost of the hardware, software and upgrades as well as the cost of the inhouse staff and/or consultants that provide training and technical support. See ROI. ), rapid deployment, flexible configuration and rapid ROI (Return On Investment) The monetary benefits derived from having spent money on developing or revising a system. In the IT world, there are more ways to compute ROI than Carter has liver pills (and for those of you who never heard of that expression, it means a lot). . Most of our legacy competitors simply cannot compete with this approach. RT: Why is the mid-market so coveted cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. ? MM: Competition in the over-farmed enterprise software space is driving big players--such as Oracle/Siebel and SAP--down-market looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. greener fields. Ray Boggs, vice-president of SMB (1) (Small to Medium-sized Business) Also called "SME" (small to medium-sized enterprise), it refers to companies that are larger than the small office/home office (SOHO), but not huge. research at IDC (www.idc.com), has said, "With the worldwide economy having grown stronger in general, smaller and mid-sized companies are healthier and in a better position to invest in IT. In addition, technology providers are putting in place programs and products that are lower priced and specifically designed for SMBs. Channel partners are also increasingly interested in selling to SMB customers, and manufacturers are recruiting more partners with experience and expertise in this space." Our solutions are built from the ground up to solve these types of problems, and have increasingly penetrated their former enterprise accounts due to our value proposition. RT: How are competitors attacking the FrontRange "fortress"? MM: Competitors also try to emulate market leaders. They have great difficulty due to their legacy business models, products and technology. Of course we see competitors, but we believe that market performance is the best indicator. On the metrics metrics Managed care A popular term for standards by which the quality of a product, service, or outcome of a particular form of Pt management is evaluated. See TQM. , we are winning. The SMB market See SMB. in the contact center space is in full shakeup shake·up n. A thorough, often drastic reorganization, as of the personnel in a business or government. Noun 1. shakeup mode. Though many companies are striving for dominance, and some, like FrontRange, are establishing themselves admirably, there remains a great deal of growth and innovation to come, particularly for companies like FrontRange that build specifically for the mid-market rather than merely scaling down and repackaging enterprise-class solutions. More and more applications are being built from scratch and customized for SMB players, which is steadily increasing the enormous power and potential in this lucrative and appealingly unsaturated unsaturated /un·sat·u·rat·ed/ (un-sach´ur-at?ed) 1. not holding all of a solute which can be held in solution by the solvent. 2. denoting compounds in which two or more atoms are united by double or triple bonds. market segment. In both the short- and long-term, there will be no shortage of exciting news from this sector to share with my readers. I will keep you posted. --rtehrani@tmcnet.com By: Rich Tehrani, Group Publisher, Group Editor-in-Chief, Technology Marketing Corporation [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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