Compuware Buys IT Governance Stake

Compuware announced late yesterday that it
signed a definitive agreement to acquire Toronto-based Changepoint
for $100 million in cash.

In an end-of-day conference call, Compuware Chairman and CEO Peter Karmanos, Jr., said the acquisition follows through on intentions he expressed to investors in January about acquiring an IT governance company.

Karmanos believes that IT governance is a highly under-penetrated
market and is now a top priority for CIOs. Meta Group statistics cited during the conference call state that “by 2007, 60 percent of Global 2000 firms will run IT more like a business by implementing technologies to concurrently manage resources, projects and assets.”

Changepoint’s business process automation software provide IT management with detailed views of their operations, enabling more effective and efficient governance. Karmanos sees the acquisition as a great fit that will be a boon to the company’s sales force.

“Through this opportunity, we also gain an ongoing opportunity for our sales force to kick in the door to the CIO’s office with a more compelling business value proposition,” Karmanos said during the call.

“Business leaders rightfully demand value and return on investment for the substantial capital they spend on IT,” Karmanos said. “Changepoint technology helps CIOs optimize, quantify and communicate that value.”

Karmanos believes that Compuware now has the most complete IT governance solution in the market today. The new Compuware IT Governance offering promises to bring IT governance upstream in the application life cycle to the development phase, where, according to Compuware, IT budgets are spent and 80 percent of defects are introduced.

According to Changepoint’s Web site,
effective IT governance frameworks result in greater return on investment and 20 percent higher profits.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Changepoint’s 200 employees will be retained, as will its Toronto operations, as it becomes a business unit of Compuware.

Compuware has recently upgraded
Vantage Ware, its application monitoring software, as well as a new version of its Uniface SOA toolset.

Compuware’s Covisint division has also been in the news lately scoring a big win with General Motors to upgrade its 30-year-old EDI system.

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