For the third year in a row Cognos claims top spot in CDN’s annual listing of top independent software vendors.
In fact, ever since the Top 100 program included an ISV component Cognos has been the No. 1 player.
The ISV’s revenue reached nearly $1 billion for 2004, which is almost double
that of the No. 2, Geac Computer.
For Neal Hill, senior vice-president of corporate development for Cognos, this type of recognition indicates that the company’s programs and go-to-market strategies are working.
Time and resources
“”We spent a lot of time and resources building relationships in the channel, and getting this award in the third party channel as we call it means we are doing something right and we appreciate it,”” Hill said.
The market Cognos plays in is going through industry-wide consolidation for second year in a row, but to its credit Cognos played the waiting game and simply built its third-party channel, while releasing ReportNet. ReportNet was one of the company’s first forays into a specific channel friendly product.
According to Hill, any further consolidation will only benefit Cognos and its partners since it is the dominant player in the market, and its resources will preclude the company from being acquired.
The company also boosted its third- party channel resources, Hill said. In June Cognos welcomed third party resellers, OEMs, ISVs and system integrators to its partner conference in Florida. Within a year, this conference has doubled in size and makes up 50 to 70 per cent of the program’s budget, Hill added. Partners were able to meet Cognos’s customers, who were there for the company’s global customer conference.
Currently Cognos employs more than 300 channel field professionals globally; another 150 people are focused on corporate efforts with the reseller channel.
Cognos has a base of 22,000 customers. Partners have boosted that number by 70 per cent since last year. The company believes it has between 400 to 500 partners, which make up about 33 per cent of its total revenue.
Hill said that partners will help the company establish itself in other regions. Cognos is firmly established in Canada and the U.S., but Hill said the company is running neck and neck in Europe with Business Objects, which is based in France. In Asia-Pacific, Cognos has about 10 per cent marketshare and Hill said it is an area of development. However, Cognos is the market leader in Australia.
“”We will need the third-party channel to deliver performance management to the customer,”” he said.
Performance management is an area Hill believes Cognos can strengthen. The company has already established itself in business intelligence and must improve in this market if it wants to grow more marketshare.