April 5; 2009; BANGALORE: To ride out the bad times, look to the web's most popular tools -- and scoop them into your company's own DNA: that is the solution suggested by Redwood , California (US)-based Serena Software for these recessionary days.
If you thought Instant Messaging, RSS feeds and mashups were something that lay web users embrace, think again, says Serena's Senior director of Product Marketing Nathan Rawlins: they can be key building blocks that companies can harness as they build their own application lifecycle management solution.
Serena has been evangelising the idea of 'agile' software development; indeed 'Agile on Demand' is its proprietary project management offering . Techniques include the boardroom or shop floor equivalent of a rugby 'scrum'.
"Managing change can be a key challenge", says Rawlins, "In fact it is Serena's sweet spot -- and our business process management tools are valued for easing the pain of change".
For small and medium businesses -- who make up such a big part of the corporate spectrum in India, Serena points at its Software as a Service (SaaS), pay as you go offerings. The company recently acquired Projity, whose OpenProj tool is known to be a great alternative to Microsoft Project.
Munindra Kumar Bharatee, Serena's India Managing Director, an IIT-Kharagput alumnus and a 27 year old veteran of the software engineering business, said a key Serena offering for Version Management was created from scratch, and is supported by an India-based development partner.
http://www.serena.com/products/pvcs/
Anand Parthasarathy