CA's third and fourth priorities involve both international investment to expand reach, and an increased drive to build a partner channel, something that CA traditionally has never really done.

In SA, Gary Lawrence, CA Africa MD, says that his aim is to move the local operations into a predominantly partner-driven model, with direct touch only at the very top-end customer level.

'While there will be some direct touch at the very high end from a support and account management perspective,' Lawrence says, 'we will still rely heavily on our partners for fulfilment. As a result, our partners are aggressively skilling themselves up.'

CA's fifth and sixth priorities involve introducing more efficient internal measures. 'Our internal processes have been streamlined with the installation and modernization of our ERP systems with a SAP system to cover financial, HR, CRM and service management. We will also be promoting a performance-based culture,' Lawrence adds.

Just being a software vendor is not good enough to survive in today's mature market. And CA admits that a lot is needed to change for the company to repair itself and look for sustainable growth into the future.