Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) interim CEO Bob Calderoni has vowed to go back to basics following a turbulent 12 months.
Speaking at its global partner event, Citrix Summit, Calderoni (pictured) said the vendor was refocusing on its core strengths of secure delivery of apps and data.
“People are too often looking for what’s new…and ignore what’s been successful and never sticking with one thing long enough for it to be successful,” he said. “If we look at back at Citrix over the past couple of years I think we were guilty of that ourselves.”
He told partners: “From a product perspective we’re no longer spreading our limited resources across so many things, most of them were too small to ever make a difference.”
2015 saw the firm cede to activist investor pressure, highlighted by the exit of long-time CEO Mark Templeton, as well as plans to spin off its GoTo range of products and cut 1,000 jobs.
The only reference to the disruption at the event was made by Carlos Sartorius, Citrix’s worldwide sales and services chief, who thanked the firm’s partners, employees and customers for sticking with Citrix.
He said 2015 “wasn’t an easy start; we all thought we would be able to pick up and go quickly, but we had some hurdles, some disappointments, some low points in the first half. But then we got together and were able to focus and were able to come back.”
The exec admitted that Citrix’s broad portfolio has made it expensive for partners in the past, particularly with training employees. “We brought in a lot of new products, a lot of distractions,” he said.
While announcing yesterday that it was offloading its CloudPlatform and CloudPortal Business Manager product lines, Citrix announced it will refocus on its NetScaler application delivery controller (ADC), XenServer and Citrix Workspace Cloud.
“[NetScaler] will be core to the future growth of the company,” said Klaus Oestermann, Citrix’s SVP and general manager, delivery networks, to cheers from partners. “The NetScaler brand is very strong and you you’ll see us double down on our marketing efforts in 2016.”
Citrix channel chief Kimberly Martin also detailed a new campaign to grab midmarket share in 2016.
“We need to take all the good things that we did and make it better and be relevant moving forward,” Sartorius tells Channel Pro.
He revealed Citrix has been testing its new ‘back to basics’ message with partners over the past few months, who he claims “are pleased that we’re clear that these are our core products and this is our core messaging.”
