CA counts on Carbon Tax to double ecoSoftware revenues

CA Technologies is looking to double the revenue of its ecoSoftware division in Australia, as the Carbon Tax puts pressure on businesses to look closer at their energy consumption.

Terrence Clarke
(Credit: CA Technologies)

The Federal Government introduced the Carbon Tax on 1 July, with the top 500 local polluters being the first to start paying for their emissions. This is expected to have a trickledown effect on households and businesses.

CA Technologies launched its ecoSoftware Business Unit in 2008, headed up by Terrence Clarke. The division deals with enterprise energy and sustainability software for desktops and all the way to datacentres.

While it has had success in North America and Europe, ecoSoftware has just started to focus more on growth markets.

Australia makes up less than 10 per cent of CA ecoSoftware's overall revenue as there are only a handful of clients in the country. But the Carbon Tax has sparked interest in IT efficiency products and CA is hoping to get a slice of the action.

"Five years ago in the US, carbon was a big topic, but now it's moved on from sustainability and energy efficiency to cost-savings and risk mitigation," Clarke told ZDNet Australia. "With the economic climate, you have to sell hard cost-savings and [return on investment] ROI — the softer side, such as brand image, isn't really a driver as much."

"That's what's happening in Australia now."

Clarke saw ample opportunity to drive IT efficiencies in Australian enterprises, as the effect of the Carbon Tax is felt directly and indirectly by all businesses. Financial services, retail and government are the key verticals CA ecoSoftware will be targeting.

"Certainly, we'd be looking at growing the business by more than 100 per cent in the next 12 to 18 months," Clarke said.

ecoSoftware sales director, Jim Howard, was even more ambitious, claiming that 100 to 200 per cent growth in the local business unit is an imperative and an achievable goal.

CA will be enlisting the help of more managed service providers, to bundle its ecoSoftware suite with products to sell as an integrated solution.

CA faces stiff competition as other enterprise software companies also ramp up their sustainable software operations in Australia. But the CA's biggest opponent, according to Clarke, is tightening IT budgets.

"The biggest competition is getting businesses to actually spend the money," he said. "They see issues that need to be addressed, but finding the budget in this economy is difficult."