Scaling up a startup
            

Since this company was acquired in 2012, it has seen itself as a startup within one of the world’s foremost tech giants. With a goal of simplifying complex networking problems, this cloud-managed IT leader is constantly pushing the boundaries of what the team – and its products – can do.

However, while acting like a startup can make things agile, it doesn’t always make things easy. In 2016, the team realized it needed an integration solution that could get all of its systems in perfect harmony to move quickly and to avoid any potential supply chain issues. Everything from finance to sales to multiple ERPs needed to be able to communicate in a flexible, adaptable way to accommodate the evolving needs of the company.

It had a two person team that needed to support $1 billion in revenue, but knew that would quickly grow.

Scaling the startup

The company selected Software AG’s webMethods as its integration platform of record. Along with the support of two Software AG consultants, the team was quickly able to get all of its systems connected and ready to scale. While its parent company has the benefit of launching multi-million dollar projects, this group’s approach is to start small and build on what works.

That’s one of the reasons that webMethods was such a great fit for its integration needs – the simple, transaction-based model. “We start with small, agile projects to test out new programs,” says a member of the technical staff. “Software AG has been very flexible with a transaction-based pricing model as opposed to a perpetual license model.”

As an agile part of its parent company that operates at startup speed, the team often is asked about new integrations to unlock business models for the whole company. Many times, it turns to Software AG to ask what is or isn’t possible.

“Whenever we have to ask Software AG about a new integration or have a question about how to optimize, the answer is always ‘yes.’ The products allow us to punch above our weight with the size of our dev team,” says a member of the technical staff.

Going global

The company’s global footprint has been expanding since day one, but that expansion has exploded over the past few years. To benefit from what a more diverse, more global workforce offers, it has been finding employees – and customers - around the world.

But to make sure it has one global team, it needs all of its systems integrated globally. webMethods has made this possible.

“We have been able to integrate people all across the world to support our global diversity goals – as well as the growing interest and need to work from home,” says a member of the technical staff. “We’ve been able to find excellent talent around the world, and Software AG helps offer support wherever we need it.”

Growth is in the forecast

Since it started using webMethods in 2016, the company has been growing. That perhaps is an understatement. It has tripled its revenue – from $1 billion to now more than $3 billion – and the dev team that manages integration now has seven people, up from two.

These seven developers now oversee the shipping of 5 million units in a year – and everything goes through the Software AG software stack.

With all of the options for integration partners, what has set Software AG apart?

“Real-world productivity,” says a member of the technical staff. “There are lots of platforms that can say they can offer all of the latest buzzwords, but when it comes down to it, Software AG products offer the best real-world performance and productivity.”