Transcription
Breaking Market BarriersActuate’s Open SourceBusiness StrategyRichard GuthVice President and General ManagerJava GroupOctober 20081Actuate Corporation 2008
Actuate CorporationHeadquartersSan Mateo, CaliforniaOfficesRegional HQs: London, Singapore, Tokyo, TorontoR&D: San Mateo, Kansas City, Shanghai, TorontoEmployees600 worldwideFoundedDecember 1993FinancialStrength 140.6 million in 2007 revenuesProfitable, strong cash balance and no debtTraded asACTU on NASDAQ since July 1998CustomersMore than 4,200 customers globallyTop-tier accounts in banking, insurance, securities, government, high tech,pharmaceuticals, healthcare and telecomServicesDesign, consulting, development, integration, training, supportPartners2Actuate Corporation 2008
Achieving Differentiationin a Crowded, Mature MarketWelcome to Actuate in 2003 Customer base of 10,000 developersintegrating reports and analytics intotheir applications New enterprise-class, highly availableand scalable information serverWe knew that Actuate needed: A next-generation applicationdevelopment tool to complementits new, world-class server A new go-to-market strategy to endrun older, established BI competitors3Actuate Corporation 20082003
What Would a Startup Do?Turn to Open Source Strategies“Capturing the mindshare of developersis never easy. And in a mature market,it’s that much hard to attract and retaindeveloper loyalty. We saw open sourceas a way of building a lastingcommunity around our technologies.”Nobby AkihaSenior Vice President, MarketingActuate Corporation4Actuate Corporation 2008
Which Path is the Right One?Build New Opportunities on Core StrengthsWe asked ourselves, how can we: Leverage our core competencies Pursue a value-add strategy thatmaintains Actuate’s commercialsoftware revenues Take full advantage of open sourcemarket momentumDo we start our own open sourceinitiative or join an existing effort?5Actuate Corporation 2008
Choosing the Right PathJoin the Eclipse FoundationInstead of going it alone,Actuate chose to partnerwith the Eclipse FoundationActuate proposed and startedEclipse JoinsEclipse Foundationas Strategic Developerand Board MemberAdds BI and Reportingas Open Source ProjectBIRTBusiness Intelligenceand Reporting Tools Project a top-level Eclipse projectAUGUST6Actuate Corporation 20082004
BIRT Continues to Penetratethe Application Development MarketBIRT Downloads2,500MoreMore thanthan 5.45.4 millionmilliondownloadsthroughdownloads throughSeptemberSeptember 20082008Thousands of 061H20072H20071H2008With five major releases since the BIRT project launched in 2004,BIRT technology is tried and tested in many applications7Actuate Corporation 2008
Real Results and Business Benefitsfrom Actuate’s BIRT StrategyBIRT has enabled Actuate to: Penetrate new markets Extend reach into traditional markets Strengthen the Actuate brand Increase sales and operating marginswell above software industry normsBIRT-related revenues 8 million in 2007Expected to double in 20088Actuate Corporation 2008BIRTActuate’s newgeneration ofdevelopment technologies
BIRT is PenetratingNew Industries and Geographies75% of BIRT users are in industriesand geographies that are not traditionalActuate marketsIndustries Manufacturing Telecom Retail HospitalityGeographies India China Other developingmarketsBIRT9Actuate Corporation 2008Penetrates New Markets
Our Online Sales EngineerBIRT Exchange Community SiteCentralized hub for BIRT developers Access demos, tutorials, tips,techniques and documentation Contribute code and content Share knowledge Become more productive and buildapplications fasterBIRT Exchangewww.birt-exchange.comExplore Search/sort Rate CommentDownload Documentation SoftwareContribute Report designs Code samples Technical tips10Actuate Corporation 2008
BIRT Promotional Costs Much Lowerthan Traditional Sales CostsLow Promotion CostsBIRT Exchange’s high-volume, light-touchapproach to promotion: No sales call required Bi-weekly technical webinarsCosts 3 per unique visitor to the siteand 50 per qualified leadGrowing Conversion Rate Currently converting 1% of BIRTusers into customers who purchaseplug-ins, drivers and services Plan to raise purchase ratesignificantly11Actuate Corporation 2008
Crucial Success FactorAchieve Buy-In from All StakeholdersOpen Source rules are very different Define Success Conservatively Revenues do not occur overnight There are no guarantees There are valuable intangible benefits Define and measure realistic goalsFocus on Long-Term ValueAs momentum builds over time, you can: Raise awareness significantly Strengthen brand Build revenues to respectable levels Sustain high profitabilityGet everyone’s buy-in from the beginning12Actuate Corporation 2008
Open Source Can Help EveryoneSetting Sales Force ExpectationsSales teams are focused on short-termrevenues, so they don’t get excited aboutlong-term, open-source benefitsStarting Point for Entry-Level AccountsInitiate and maintain relationships withsmall customers by starting them withBIRT and growing them into a largesale a year or two down the roadNo-Cost, Highly Qualified LeadsSales engages 1% of BIRT users whoneed mission-critical solutions, largedeployments, complex integration andprofessional servicesSet sales expectations early and often13Actuate Corporation 2008
Open Source Can Help EveryoneSetting Customer ExpectationsCustomers who have already invested inyour software can feel burned or confusedMaintain Your Commercial Business Maintain commercial software thatoffers more than open-source versions Offer professional services thatcomplement open source andcommercial software Show how your open source offeringcomplements their existing softwareinvestments and how they can use itDon’t be bashful and make surecustomers understand how they benefit14Actuate Corporation 2008
Open Source Can Help EveryoneSetting Investor ExpectationsInvestors are vitally interested in shiftsin business models, so they want tounderstand how an open source strategywill benefit rather than hurt your business.“When investors see the margins on BIRTrelated sales, the brand awareness, the newindustries and geographic markets we’veopened, and the compelling prospect offuture growth, they are very impressed.”Nobby AkihaSVP Marketing, ActuateMake sure investors understand opensource benefits and achieve their buy-in15Actuate Corporation 2008
Shifting Development CultureLetting Go and Embracing the FutureTo realize all the benefits of open-sourcestrategies, you must learn to: Be transparent and non-proprietary Admit outsiders into your QA andbug-tracking process Invite and manage engineeringcontributions from all over the world Instill and enforce rigorous productmanagement and developmentprocessesBecause it requires logistical and evenemotional adjustment, moving to opensource development takes time and can require a leap of faith16Actuate Corporation 2008
How Eclipse Has Helped ActuateA Powerful, Productive PartnershipEclipse has enabled Actuate to: Leverage the large community ofEclipse IDE developers Encourage customers and partners tobuild applications using Actuate Get helpful support in managing itsopen-source projects and processes Find new networking and OEMbusiness opportunities“BIRT would have been a challenge to set upfrom scratch. Being part of Eclipse gave us atemplate for all the project scaffolding.”Mark CogginsSVP Engineering, Actuate17Actuate Corporation 2008
Breaking Market BarriersActuate’s Open SourceBusiness StrategyEnd of Presentation18Actuate Corporation 2008
Breaking Market BarriersActuate’s Open SourceBusiness StrategyBackground Slideson BIRT Technology19Actuate Corporation 2008
BIRT Report Technology FamilyEclipse BIRT Report Designers Open-source desktop reportdevelopment toolsActuate BIRT Report Designers Versions for power users andprofessional developersActuate BIRT Report Studio Web tool for report creationby business users20Actuate Corporation 2008Actuate BIRT Report Option for iServer Quickly run and view BIRT ReportsActuate Interactive Viewer for iServer Explore and customize BIRT Reports
Actuate BIRT Goes Beyond Eclipse BIRTData Sources BIRT Report documents DataDirect data connectors forcommon SQL databases Information ObjectsVisualizations FlashChart, FlashGadget andFlashObject report items 266 Flash visualizations HTML button report itemEase of Use Simple installer for BIRT ReportDesigner Addison-Wesley books21Actuate Corporation 2008Enterprise Page Level Security iServer Navigator Built-in Information Object DesignerDeployment BIRT Report Interactive Viewer BIRT Report Option for iServer
Business Intelligence and Reporting ToolsA New Generation of Reporting and Data Visualization Technology Easy to use for all types of developersModern, web-page design metaphorOpen and standards-basedFlexible with rich programmatic controlFull support for libraries and reuseFoundation for a range of Actuate productsSimplicitythat makessimple reportseasy22Actuate Corporation 2008PowerBIRTBIRTto createvery complexreport layouts
Who Can Use BIRT? Wide range of user audiences Skills-matched environments for every user Progressive development andDataDataArchitectsArchitectsReportReport ProducersProducersAll BIRT tools use a common report-design formatthat embraces the natural iteration of analysisCommon Report DesignReportReport ConsumersConsumersActuateActuate BIRTBIRT DesignersDesignersBIRTBIRT ReportReport StudioStudioInteractiveInteractive ViewingViewingClient/Server developmentof web reportsWeb-basedad hoc reportingWeb-based personalization23Actuate Corporation 2008PrintedOutput
Reasons to Use BIRT NowNew Technology with New Benefits Easy to use for all types of developersModern, web-page design metaphorOpen and standards-basedFlexible with rich programmatic controlFull support for libraries and reuseFoundation for a range of productsStrong integration with Eclipse platformActuate BIRT Product FamilyThe New Generation of ActuateApplication Development Solutions24Actuate Corporation 2008
from Actuate's BIRT Strategy BIRT has enabled Actuate to: Penetrate new markets Extend reach into traditional markets Strengthen the Actuate brand Increase sales and operating margins well above software industry norms BIRT-related revenues 8 million in 2007 Expected to double in 2008 BIRT Actuate's new generation of
