Novell eyes compliance opportunities
20-03-2008
by Emmet Ryan

The recent crisis in financial markets could drive growth opportunities for Novell, according to the firm's chief executive Ron Hovsepian.

The fire sale of investment bank Bear Stearns has stoked fears about corporate business practices and could result in more compliance legislation being introduced. These potential new regulations could create more opportunities for firms like Novell according to Hovsepian.

"As an executive in a company you have a responsibility to look at all the risk factors in that company and to be aware of them and to manage them," he told ENN. "We know the senior execs are going to be paying attention to this [the possible introduction of new regulations]. When that happens you need to have partners that are having conversations with those CEOs." Hovsepian made the comments at the firm's annual BrainShare conference

The infrastructure software firm sees the regulation business as a global market opportunity with strong growth expected in the US and European markets. "Our European compliance business safely grew well into the double digits this past quarter and we're hopeful this will continue into the future," said Hovsepian.

Irish firms in the regulation market, like Dublin-based compliance software firm Norkom, have enjoyed success recently. Novell believes the reason for this growth in the sector is partly because incidents like the Bear Stearns crisis have changed the mindset of businesses when it comes to regulation. "It takes the decision about what is needed to be more compliant out of the IT shop into the CEO floor," Volker Smid, president of Novell's EMEA operation, told ENN.

Smid said that the infrastructure software firm needs to continue to build up its partner base in order to reach a wider market. "We need to extend our delivery capacity in this area as we see a huge growth in demand," he said.

Novell's European boss said that these relationships have helped boost the firm's profile and can enable it to create new business opportunities in many market sectors. "The eco system that we have built, all these relationships, have shown a change in the perspective people have on Novell," said Smid. "Three years ago none of these relationships were on anybody's radar, but now these eco-systems will foster further growth opportunities."

The BrainShare conference runs until March 21.