Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) We do have our first question from Jay Vleeschhouwer - Merrill Lynch.
Jay Vleeschhouwer - Merrill Lynch
Dick, first a clarification about your outlook for the year, notwithstanding the softness in the North American region you’re otherwise making no changes in your sales capacity plans or other operational plans for the year?
C. Richard Harrison
That’s correct. So in the sales capacity plan, the plan was to go from 380 direct reps at the beginning of the year and finish at 420, which we’re on track, we’re at little over 400 today, and in addition to that we’ve added 30 through CoCreate. So, we’re really going to end the year at 450 direct sales reps. And there’s no current plan to change that. If anything, Jay, if the back half of the year and the forecast remains steady as we go into the beginning of next year, we might even look to add a few more.
Jay Vleeschhouwer - Merrill Lynch
First, are you seeing any indications at all that the Windchill business is becoming an inducement to Pro/E or other business by contrast to the historical pattern where CAD business drives PDM business? Additionally, can you comment at all on the rationale for and timing of the forthcoming light version of Windchill?
C. Richard Harrison
We’re not really going to talk about any light version of Windchill today, because there’s something in the product plan, but Jay, it’s premature to talk about that. I think what I would say about customer buying patterns today is that in the old days and until the last couple of years buying decisions might have been more CAD-centric.
Today customers are looking first at the overall importance and complexity around managing their engineering or product information, and that’s what’s driving most of the decisions.
Increasingly, companies like Toyota or Volkswagen, BMW, Airbus, Boeing and others have heterogeneous CAD environments that include electrical, mechanical, the software components we’ve described, and a desire in those larger companies and even mid-sized companies to consolidate around a single data model for product information and to manage that information.
So we’re seeing more emphasis on the data management part of PLM. PLM’s a catchall for everything, which is a little bit of a misnomer, but when we look at managing CAD data in the engineering department and in the enterprise, Windchill is by far the market leader. We’re winning the business there versus our competitors.
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
