At Autotask Community Live, CEO Mark Cattini said the company is in month five of a 36-month strategic business plan. I’m reading between the lines, but I suspect that means Autotask and its venture capitalists are taking a long-term view of the business rather than pursuing a near-term exit or IPO strategy. Here are nine highlights and perspectives from Cattini’s keynote, which just wrapped up.
1. Turning the Page: Cattini said “today is the last day of me being the new guy” — reinforcing the fact that he is now fully leading Autotask while founder Bob Godgart steps away from day-to-day involvement in the company while remaining chairman.
2. Delivering the Customer Experience: Cattini promised that Autotask would earn attendees’ business every day.
3. One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Cattini said the Autotask user base is filled with unique businesses. As a result, the Autotask cloud platform will be nimble and flexible enough to address all those user types, Cattini asserted.
4. Big Ambitions: Cattini noted that Autotask has 200 employees and the company has delivered “steady, disciplined growth” under former CEO Bob Godgart. Autotask has a 36 month plan to accelerate growth, and “we’re in month five right now,” said Cattini. “We’re investing every cent back into the business.”
5. Executive Team: Cattini pointed to multiple Autotask’s recent and ongoing investments in executive leadership. He mentioned the following team members by name:
- Vince Zumbo, CFO
- Jay McBain, SVP Community
- Scott Opiela, VP of Marketing
- Kevin Donovan, SVP Global Sales
- Josette Valenti, VP of HR
6. Community 2.0: Cattini confirmed plans for Autotask Community On Tour, a 17-city conference series. Senior VP Jay McBain shared additional details here.
7. Multi-browser Support: Autotask will deliver project management and time sheet support in the August 2011 time frame for Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Just recently in Europe, Internet Explorer fell below 50 percent market share, with Chrome coming on strong, Cattini noted.
Also, it’s key to note: Cattini is an Apple user so he’s insisting on cross-platform support on the Autotask development team.
8. Open and Integrated: Best of breed choices will be integrated into Autotask, and APIs will remain open, Cattini said.
9. Closing Thoughts: Autotask will deliver more value based on user experiences; remove complication from the system; and community is a core competency of Autotask.
That’s all for now. I’ll share more thoughts on Cattini and his leadership style later today.
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The reason we chose not to go with Autotask is that they didn’t support all the major browsers out of the box. As a web development company ourselves, the idea of building a web app the size of Autotask using nothing but IE is simply repulsive, IE hasn’t got anything like the level of developer tools that exist for the other browsers. Quite frankly, if all that Autotask’s developers know is IE, then they’re really bad developers.
Carmeron: I think you’re beating a dead horse. Yes, I think Autotask should have introduced cross-browser support much, much, much sooner. But Cattini has clearly stated he’s a Mac user and he’s focusing Autotask on cross-platform browser push going forward. The days of Autotask locked to IE are ending. Should have happened sooner. But at least it’s happening.
-jp
Hey – we’re only allowed to use IE as Seattle residents. Other browsers have to be checked at the door when you visit my town!
harrybbb
Harry Brelsford
CEO – SMB Nation
Harrybbb:
Microsoft remains massive and powerful. But cross-platform is the undeniable trend. Good to see you at Autotask Community Live. Safe travels.
-jp