Computer Associates 2004 Annual Report Download - page 5

joined CA in early 2004 as Chief Financial Officer
(CFO), following a successful career at Digital,
Compaq and HP, to help ensure that the Company
would have best-in-class accounting, financial
reporting and controls going forward. He assumed
responsibilities for day-to-day business operations
as COO in April. Until a new CFO is found, Jeff
continues to serve in that role as well. We also
plan to strengthen our finance department and
internal control infrastructure with several new
positions, including Chief Compliance Officer.
In addition, Greg Corgan, a 24-year IBM veteran
who joined CA in 2003 as Senior Vice President
for North American Sales, was appointed CA’s
Executive Vice President for Worldwide Sales.
Jeff and Greg join a capable and experienced
leadership team determined to provide CA
with the strategic direction we need to continue
to set standards of excellence in our software
solutions and to enable CA to keep helping
customers leverage technology and meet their
business challenges.
Strengthening Our Business
With industry-leading software solutions
developed and distributed by the most
talented people in the IT industry, CA was able
to continue to grow its business in a challenging
IT marketplace.
Under our unique business model, CA increased
fiscal 2004 revenue 8 percent to $3.28 billion and
increased new deferred subscription revenue
22 percent year over year. This brings the total
balance of committed future revenue from
signed customer contracts to approximately
$4.3 billion at March 31, 2004.
We reduced our GAAP loss from continuing
operations to $0.06 per share, while reducing our
net debt to its lowest level in nearly 10 years.
We generated $1.28 billion in cash from continuing
operations. Fiscal 2004 was the seventh consecu-
tive year CA has generated more than a billion
dollars in cash from continuing operations.
Throughout the year, we invested more than
20 percent of our revenue in research and
development, and delivered new software
solutions for managing on-demand computing,
networked storage, security management and
Web services, to name a few. To date, we have
more than 280 patents with more than 1,345
patent applications pending worldwide for
software solutions designed to help our
customers succeed.
Where We Stand
CA’s ongoing commitment to excellence in
technology and customer service has paid off
in many ways.
According to 2003 reports from various market
research firms, CA earned top positions in
Security 3A (Administration, Authorization and
Authentication) software; software distribution;
enterprise system and storage management
software; and performance and availability
management software.
The prospects are bright. Industry experts estimate
the overall market in which CA competes —
system and network management, storage
management, security management and life cycle
management — could exceed $43 billion by 2007.
Serving Our Customers
Building on that success and taking advantage
of opportunities depend on our ability to form,
sustain and strengthen our relationships with our
customers. Thankfully, as part of our culture, we
put customers in the center of everything we do.
It all starts with our FlexSelect LicensingSM model,
which allows customers to license our software
their way — a welcome level of flexibility for
companies that are conservative in their IT
expenditures and want to see a quantifiable
return on every dollar they invest.
But FlexSelect is where CA’s customer focus
only begins. For instance, in addition to CA’s
sales teams, customers are served by CA
Technology Services™
, which offers customers
a new level of expertise and support; Customer
Advocates, who help ensure that CA hears the
customer’s perspective; and — our latest addition —
Account Directors. Instead of meeting with
multiple CA salespeople, our customers’ senior
managers now interact with an Account Director —
a single CA representative who will take
responsibility for identifying, coordinating and
delivering the right CA solutions.
In fiscal 2005, we will back up our sales teams
with CA business specialists, who can offer
customers deeper expertise about specific
solutions and help them understand the full
capabilities of our software.
Our progress with customers is evident in our most
recent annual global customer survey: 77 percent
of our customers said they are satisfied with the
quality of service they receive from their CA
account team, compared with 55 percent in 2000.
Artwork: Paul Wearing, London
CA 2004 ANNUAL REPORT | PAGE 3