CenterBeam
Press Release, 5/23/02: CENTERBEAM NAMES A. KEVIN FRANCIS AS PRESIDENT AND CEO
Will Lead CenterBeam Through Next Growth Phase
SANTA CLARA, CALIF., May 23, 2002 – Today, CenterBeam announced that A. Kevin Francis has agreed to join the company as president and chief executive officer. Francis brings to CenterBeam more than thirty years of success in leading high-tech companies such as Xerox Canada and Accelio Corporation that serve enterprise customers.
Francis joins CenterBeam as the company is experiencing increasing market demand for its end user IT outsourcing solution. So far this year, CenterBeam has announced major wins with companies ranging from General Motors to Lee Hecht Harrison, the world’s largest outplacement service.
“CenterBeam is entering a new phase of growth,” said Francis. “Our solution is proven. Demand is accelerating. And our new challenge is to successfully scale our operations to seize the immense opportunity we see.”
Prior to joining CenterBeam, Francis was president, chief executive officer and director of Accelio Corporation, a leading global provider of Web-enabled business process solutions. Under his leadership, Accelio earned fiscal 2001 revenues of more than $100 million (Canadian), created a distribution network spanning the world, and reached 8.5 million users. Earlier this year, Accelio was acquired by Adobe. Before joining Accelio, Francis was chairman, president and CEO of Xerox Canada, a $1.6B (Canadian) organization. (For more information on Francis, please see attached biography. Photos are available at CenterBeam’s website or on request.)
“Great companies attract great people,” said Sheldon Laube, CenterBeam chairman. “Having Kevin join CenterBeam is a clear endorsement of our business model and strategy. He has a proven track record of successfully managing a company as it leaves the start-up phase and propelling it through explosive growth.” Laube, one of CenterBeam’s founders and the company’s first CEO, will continue as the chairman of CenterBeam’s board of directors.
About CenterBeam, Inc.
CenterBeam manages end-user information technology for distributed organizations. The company pioneered the application of quality management techniques to information technology. This revolutionary approach to outsourcing increases user productivity and corporate agility, reduces total costs and enables businesses to focus on strategic IT. Founded in 1999, CenterBeam has strategic, financial and technical backing from industry leaders Microsoft, Intel, Dell and EDS. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA and can be reached at 408.844.0900 or www.centerbeam.com.
CenterBeam and related logos are trademarks of CenterBeam Inc.
CORPORATE BIOGRAPHY: A. Kevin Francis - CenterBeam President and Chief Executive Officer
A. Kevin Francis became CenterBeam’s president and chief executive officer in 2002.
Prior to joining CenterBeam, Francis was president, chief executive officer and director of Accelio Corporation, a leading global provider of Web-enabled business process solutions. Under his leadership, Accelio earned fiscal 2001 revenues of more than $100 million (Canadian), created a distribution network spanning the world, and reached 8.5 million users. The company was successfully acquired by Adobe Systems in 2002.
Before joining Accelio, Francis held a variety of positions with Xerox including chairman, president and CEO of Xerox Canada, a $1.6B (Canadian) organization. He joined Xerox Canada in 1972 as a sales representative and held leadership positions in marketing, customer service, process re-engineering, strategic planning, administration, information systems, general management, customer satisfaction and quality.
Francis is currently involved in a number of organizations. He is the director of The Conference Board of Canada and the National Learning Partnership. He also serves as Governor for St. Francis Xavier University, the Richard Ivey School of Business – University of Western Ontario, The National Quality Institute, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and the Information Technology Association of Canada. Further, he participates in the Public Policy Forum and serves on the campaign cabinet for United Way Ottawa-Carleton and serves as Chairman of the Board, 4 Ever Sports Inc.
Francis was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. He earned a B.Sc. from St. Francis Xavier University and a B.Ed from St. Mary’s University. He completed Executive Development Programs at Queen’s University and the Senior Executive Program at the University of Western Ontario. In October 1999, Mr. Francis received an Honorary Doctorate in Commerce from St. Mary’s University in Halifax.
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Outsourcing
Ecommerce Times, 5/21/02: Report: Outsourcing Is Silver Lining of IT Services Cloud
Jennifer LeClaire, www.EcommerceTimes.com
Economic doldrums continue to erode confidence and drive cost-cutting among IT buyers, according to Gartner Dataquest, and all segments of the IT services market will feel the pinch.
Unprecedented low growth rates will prevail, with IT services revenue growing a meager 2.8 percent to US$557 billion this year, the research firm said.
Three segments of the industry are especially noteworthy, according to analysts: development and integration, management services, and business process and transaction management. …
Aberdeen Group research director Stephen Lane told the E-Commerce Times that outsourcing is the darling of the IT services industry.
"Outsourcing is a different value proposition entirely," he said. "It should continue to experience strong growth as companies look for more cost-effective ways to accomplish technology goals."
[more]
Computerworld, 5/22/02: Merrill Lynch CTO sees opportunity in economic downturn
By Lucas Mearian, Computerworld
BOSTON - THERE'S never been a better time to play "Let's Make a Deal" with vendors, according to John McKinley, chief technology officer at New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co.
In terms of IT infrastructure, McKinley said the industry is undergoing a broad-based deflation period where the unit cost of almost everything is going down year over year. McKinley made the remarks in a speech at Needham, Mass.-based TowerGroup's annual financial services conference here last week.
"I came from the world's cheapest organization: GE," said McKinley. "As a buyer during a deflationary period, you always want to buy on a spot. You don't want multiyear contracts. You want to ride that price erosion as rapidly as you can."
[more]
CIO Insight, 5/15/02: Research: How CIOs Reach Outsourcing Deals
By Terry A. Kirkpatrick and Gary A. Bolles
Overview
Many CIOs say they're eager to save money by outsourcing—no surprise in these tough economic times. However, our second annual survey on outsourcing finds there's no stampede going on. Cost is now the number-one reason for outsourcing, cited by the 396 top IT execs we polled, but the share of the IT budget going to outsourcing services is expected to decline slightly in 2002 compared with 2001. Outsourcing projects have been cut back, and "business process outsourcing"—supposedly the next hot outsourcing trend—still hasn't caught on. But despite the pressure they face to reduce costs, most CIOs aren't pushing to negotiate better terms when contracts come up for renewal.
One study also found that while cost is important, several rationales for outsourcing—lack of internal expertise, desire to focus on core competencies and lack of internal staff—are also of great importance.
[more]
Networking Trends
Gartner, 5/9/02: SMB Networking Trends: A New World
Small and midsize business (SMB) networking demands are growing, but staffing and budget resources are scarce. New trends in equipment and services can help when SMBs adopt new management practices and processes.
Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are challenged to establish competitively advantaged links to customers, partners, suppliers and networked resources (for example, application service providers). This requirement is in direct conflict with the fact that SMBs’ staff and budgets will not keep pace with demand. Therefore, SMBs must find ways to decrease total cost of ownership (TCO) and minimize network staffing requirements.
[more]
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