Seagate M.
Reed
- April
10, 2001
Event
Summary
Seagate Software has announced a new chapter in its corporate history
by changing its name to Crystal Decisions. Crystal Decisions
is an information infrastructure company that is a market leader in reporting,
analysis and information delivery through its flagship product, Crystal
Reports.
As
of November 2000, Crystal Decisions attained new ownership through the
privatization of its former parent company, Seagate Technology. An investment
group led by Silver Lake Partners and executive management from Seagate
Technology now own Crystal Decisions. According to the vendor, together
Silver Lake and Seagate Technology have brought a strong combination of
market expertise, long-term strategic vision, and financial stability
to the company. Silver Lake Partners has stated that they recognize significant
opportunity in Crystal Decisions' products, executive team, and market
leadership, and is committed to accelerating the company's growth and
maximizing its overall value. Seagate Technology CEO Steve Luczo will
continue as Chairman of the Crystal Decisions board, and Crystal Decisions
will still operate as part of the Seagate Technology family of companies.
According
to Crystal Decisions president and chief executive officer Greg Kerfoot,
"The name Crystal Decisions gives us a cohesive, instantly-recognizable
identity. With the world's most popular design tool for high-performance
reporting, a globally scalable web information delivery infrastructure,
and a sophisticated application development technology for advanced business
analysis-Crystal Decisions' market leadership is clear."
Market
Impact
 |
|
 |
| Out
with the old |
and |
in
with the new |
So
why would Seagate want to change its name? (And spend all that money replacing
logos, marketing collateral, web site designs, and more.) One reason:
it was not uncommon for potential customers to be confused at how Crystal
Reports came from Seagate, generally thought of as a computer hard drive
vendor (Seagate Technology, the former parent company). Even Seagate Software's
address of "920 Disc Drive" invoked a vision of spinning platters instead
of query and reporting tools. Besides being reflective of the company's
most successful product, Crystal Reports, the new name should eliminate
confusion in the market, and make life easier for Crystal Decisions' sales,
marketing, and public relations staffs.
In
terms of overall market impact, there should be little effect. The ownership
change may provide some increased financial stability, since the vendor
is now further removed from the vagaries of the computer hardware market.
The toolset is still robust and one of the best selling query and reporting
tools on the market.
User
Recommendations
Customers evaluating query and reporting tools should still keep Crystal
Decisions' Crystal Reports on the short list. The corporate name change
is not an indication of a change in direction, and we believe that Crystal
products will continue to be among the market leaders. There are a limited
number of choices for pure "query and reporting" tools (not to be confused
with OLAP-type tools such as Cognos PowerPlay or Hyperion
EssBase). Other products worthy of consideration include those
from vendors such as Brio, Business Objects, Cognos
(Impromptu), and Information Builders.