"Do not pigeon-hole customers"

He is the chieftain of an R&D brigade that fuels every word of strategy and every arrow on the drawing board for $1.87 billion, global enterprise management software company, BMC Software, Inc. This Texas based IT Infrastructure major gets its R&D horsepower from a group led by Paul Avenant, Sr. Vice President, ESM Products and Support.

And he makes sure that R&D translates into on-ground success and competitive edge for BMC all the time.

So while Paul was in India recently we got a chance to skyjack his busy schedule for some time and get his wisdom gaze on many interesting areas of contemporary concerns. Paul talks covers a spectrum of subjects in this brief parley with CIOL. From why SaaS is not a threat, or why SaaS alone won’t make waves, to how can R&D ensure acquisitions stay undiluted or why he stays unruffled when he hears about competition; we bring it all. Enjoy the spread.

Being responsible for product strategy, R&D and customer support for all solutions that make up Business Service Management: BMC Atrium, Service Automation, Service Support and Service Assurance; can you give a view of how you see the direction of R&D now and from here? How’s India looking?

From a company’s perspective, we are gaining strength in this market. We are positioned because of our unified layer which helps manage across a heterogeneous world. Dynamic BSM is in focus. India is a very strong sight right now. We have made a lot of investments as well as development efforts. All our major product-lines are represented here. We ramped up an incubation unit in India and there is significant development on cloud offerings and the main work comes from India. In India BMC has a large product management presence in Pune & Bangalore and has recently launched a centre in Delhi with over 1,500 employees.

Now that you have mentioned Cloud, I can’t help asking about the impact of this new wave on your existing portfolio and model? How’s the SaaS delivery model shaping up?

Cloud is our focus too. SaaS delivery model is key part of our strategy. But many vendors are trying to pigeon-hole for what they have to offer. Siloed cloud offerings are not going to help. We recognize that customers have a hybrid need. You get it as a managed service offering or something else or full SaaS or you move between those models.

BMC has been on an acquisition binge in the recent past with Phurnace S/w, ITM, Tideway, MQS S/w etc being bagged successfully.  How do you ensure that acquisitions meld smoothly without diluting their initial strengths?

It starts with looking at acquisitions from a layer point of view. We never buy overlapping technologies. Plus you have got to invest in companies even after you acquire them. The cultural part of ideas and DNA should not be ignored. BMC has always been aggressive in both organic and inorganic routes. We have made sure that recent acquisitions too plug in our unified layer.

So the inorganic appetite would continue? Any areas of interest?

Yes, the strategy going forward would be for both organic and inorganic approaches. Strategic R&D is significant. Hybrid Data Centre, where we are working on improving integration between different products; SaaS; application management; Cloud etc would get serious attention from us.

There is a new tide towards ‘right platform for each job’ in IT Service management. Doesn’t this heterogeneity make your job in the R&D backstage challenging?

Yes,. Absolutely. The world continues to become more complex. Every time a new technology shows up, it changes all the more. But nothing goes away too. Web services, mainframes, Cloud etc make a stack together, today. But our strategy and core platform answers heterogeneity from the very beginning. It’s been easier for us. We have worked at virtualization from the onset. We take a unified approach to it.

Under your leadership, BMC Atrium was conceived and built as the unique unifying architecture of BSM that is claimed as a clear competitive advantage in the industry. When we talk of competition, specially from the ‘Big Four’ league of Novell, CA, IBM, HP in this industry, how much does it worry you?

Not at all. If you look at any of the analyst’s report or our financial results you will get it. We were the first to articulate BSM vision and with consistent execution we have bolstered our strengths. A lot of the strong muscle comes from R&D side. We are not islands of technology and with each acquisition integration and upcoming product releases, we will maintain our edge.