'IT is just too complex' says CA chief

The global technology industry is going through a period of "substantial vendor consolidation" Computer Associates (CA) chairman and chief executive officer Sanjay Kumar (pictured) has warned.

IT vendors that refuse to be flexible and reduce the complexity of their products risk putting themselves out of business, Kumar told delegates at CA's worldwide customer conference in Las Vegas.

He predicted that the current wave of consolidation in the technology industry will continue as customers move to work with fewer vendors in a more strategic way.

"There are too many players. Large companies will survive, small companies will continue to pop up and a few will innovate their way to success," said Kumar.

"But companies without sufficient scale will be most vulnerable."

Such a situation would be good news for customers, however, he added.

"Our industry needs to respond with unprecedented flexibility. We need to be flexible about platforms, about applications, about licensing and about overall computing needs. In fact, flexibility will become the key differentiator because there is no way we can predict what the future will be.

"IT managers are under tremendous pressure to justify every technology purchase. In turn, IT companies are under pressure from IT managers to perform. Some will rise to the challenge, others will stumble and some will fall by the wayside."

Kumar urged technology companies to adopt models that allow customers to choose licensing terms that fit their needs, and flexible payment.

He also maintained that technology companies must reduce complexity and help make IT infrastructures "more simple and more transparent".

"Clearly, there are too many products from too many vendors. There is not enough integration and, as everyone knows, no technology ever dies. IT is just too complex," Kumar said.

"Real progress isn't going to be measured in just finding new ways to use technology; it's going to be measured by making complex tasks simple.

"I believe that partnerships between technology vendors and customers are the future of this business, not a fad or a temporary measure to see us all through a period of tight IT budgets."