The need of the large enterprise is greatest, and they have most to gain from the type of software we provide, said Alan Kerr, who is in charge of company operations across Europe and Asia Pacific. The line is that whether a business is preparing to outsource certain IT operations or is looking to enhance the quality of its in-house IT operations, there is a real need for service and asset control software.
Big businesses need what we have. They have to find ways to better manage assets, they need to get a handle on software licenses and contract compliance, and they want to find ways to optimize their investments in infrastructure resources. The asset-control features of Peregrine’s software are unparalleled, he claimed.
The culmination of a rebranding exercise has been a renewed focus on the need to re-execute in the marketplace and re-engage with customers, Kerr said. The company has developed a view that most businesses pass through several stages in their approach to service and asset management evolution. Going forward, Peregrine intends to position itself in the market with products and services to suit all stages of that evolution, from basic asset-tracking and problem-ticketing to proactive process automation and service optimization.
Kerr said the infrastructure management software vendor has finally tidied away its financials and can now concentrate on customers and product development, with 14 new asset and service management solutions slated over the 2004 to 2005 period.
Revenue is said to be slightly north of $200m, of which 50% stems from maintenance revenues collected from existing customers, 40% has come in the shape of new software licenses, and 10% from consulting and training.
The first of what will be a series of product releases and upgrades over the next few quarters kicked off this month with the announcement of new module additions for service control and expense management, built around the new version 6 of the flagship ServiceCenter suite.
The addition of expense-control programs is intended to help IT and financial directors make more intelligent budgeting and purchasing decisions. The new software is said to track all the costs associated with an asset from acquisition, servicing and upgrades including contractual details, warranty details, and disposal requirements.
Peregrine’s problems stem back to a five-year acquisition spree during which it bought 16 companies. That led to all manner of revenue-recognition irregularities, three changes of auditors in a year, and the purging of all its top executives. In its heyday it had a workforce of about 2,800. The payroll is now 630.
