Detroit (WWJ) -- It was a big-time corporate celebration in Campus Martius Park Friday as Compuware Corp. rolled out its Compuware 2.0 initiative.
Under a partly cloudy sky, thousands of employees packed the park, as the Detroit power-pop outfit The Go rocked out.
Then chairman and CEO Peter Karmanos Jr. and president and COO Bob Paul took the stage, congratulating the company on a terrific quarter and a good fiscal year, and pledging more strong growth ahead under the 2.0 initiative.
In a session with reporters after their brief appearance -- while impersonators doing Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna and Bono took the stage -- Karmanos said the event recognized that "we're a 35 year old company with a 65 year old CEO bringing in a new front man who's doing an outstanding job," a reference to Paul and Karmanos' plans to retire within a couple of years.
Oh, and also that "we're going to stop being as quiet as we have been about who we are. We want to make sure people understand what we offer."
Under the Compuware 2.0 initiative, the company says it will put its emphasis on the products where it is clearly the best in the world -- the IT service management product known as Vantage, IT portfolio management software called Changepoint, and Compuware's traditional mainframe software.
The initiative will also tie Compuware's service business more closely to its products.
As for Compuware's slogan, "We make IT rock around the world," Karmanos said that "for whatever reason, rock and roll now stretches from 8-year-olds to 80-year-olds, and it's understood globally. And we rock."
Karmanos said he's predicting a strong fiscal year for Compuware, and that the company, with 7,000 employees worldwide, could add another 500 to 1,000 employees this year.
Paul also said the company will wait for a public stock offering of its Covisint business unit "until we get a little more favorable market conditions," and that Compuware would retain 80 percent of Covisint.
What do employees think of the move?
"I think it's going to unify us on our message," said development manager and 10-year company veteran Tom Moceri. "I think it's going to give us some enthusiasm. I think it's going ot seep through everything we do whether it's talking to customers or talking up our products."
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