TIBCO Software
Careers at TIBCO Software
Mission
TIBCO’s mission is to take businesses to their digital destinations by interconnecting them to everything and augmenting their intelligence with data.
Founding story
In 1985 engineer Vivek Ranadivé received $250,000 in seed capital from Teknekron Corporation, a technology incubator. In 1986 he founded Teknekron Software Systems, whose core innovation was Teknekron Information Bus (TIB), a product that transferred essential data between software programs. The company landed a consulting project with Goldman Sachs that used the software.
In 1987 Teknekron unveiled the first official version of TIB, which enabled the integration and delivery of market data such as news, stock quotes, and other financial information. At the time Wall Street workers had to look at 20 different television monitors to obtain all of this information. TIB enabled it all to be digitized and viewed on a single Sun workstation.
The product first went live at Fidelity Investments, then at First Interstate Bank and Salomon Brothers. In 1987, Tekenekron was spun off as an independent firm. It ultimately digitized all of the financial sector, which used it for trading systems, and was eventually utilized by large-scale manufacturers as well. In 1993, it was purchased by Reuters Holdings for $125.1 million.
In 1997 Ranadivé used his experience to launch The Information Bus Company (TIBCO). Its core product enabled communication within financial markets to occur in real-time and without human involvement. It was used by prominent firms such as IBM, Oracle, and SAP. Later that year TIBCO became one of Microsoft’s partners in "push" technology, which delivers internet content for free.
In 1999 TIBCO filed an initial public offering and raised $109.5 million. It survived the burst of the dot-com bubble and was identified as one of USA Today’s 50 tech firms that still remained relevant in 2001. By mid-2001 its market capitalization was close to $2 billion. By 2011, its annual revenues had reached $920 million. In 2014 it was acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $4.3 billion.
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Benefits at TIBCO Software
Business model of TIBCO Software
Customer Segments
TIBCO has a mass market business model, with no significant differentiation between customer segments. The company targets its offerings at firms across industries and sizes.
Value Proposition
TIBCO offers three primary value propositions: accessibility, performance, and brand/status.
The company creates accessibility by providing a wide variety of options. It has acquired dozens of software and technology firms since its founding. In the past five years alone, it has purchased Nimbus, LogLogic, Maporama Solutions, Streambase Systems, Extended Results, Jaspersoft, and Mashery. This strategy has enabled it to greatly diversify its portfolio and expand its capabilities.
The company has demonstrated strong performance through tangible results. Examples of positive outcomes for specific customers include the following:
- CargoSmart used TIBCO’s solutions to process complex data sets and provide real-time alerts to its clients, helping ocean carriers reduce fuel consumption by up to 3.5% over two years
- SofTrek used TIBCO’s solutions to integrate BI content into its ClearView CRM reporting library and dashboard framework, enabling it to increase demand and reduce time to market by 50%
- BNL used TIBCO’s solutions to introduce a new infrastructure and transition from manual workflows to digital business processes, enabling it to reduce total cost of ownership by 25%
- M&S used TIBCO’s solutions to optimize the number of IT staff working on projects and improve solution delivery speed, enabling it to obtain 16 weeks in time savings for inventory forecasting
- NXP used TIBCO’s solutions to track different regional distributor incentives on an ongoing basis, enabling it to change the amount of time analysts spent on high-value work from 20% to 100%
The company has established a strong brand due to its success. It has over 10,000 clients, including high-profile names such as ING, Western Union, Nielsen, Shell, and Conway. It has also won many honors, including the following:
- Recognition as one of “This Year's Intelligent Dozen“ by TechWeb's Intelligent Enterprise
- Ranking on the Chronicle 500 list of the Bay Area's "top publicly traded companies"
- Multiple awards at the SOAWorld Readers' Choice Awards
- Recognition as a “Company to Watch“ at TechWeb's Intelligent Enterprise Editors' Choice Awards
- Winner of the Stevie Business Award for Women in Business
Channels
TIBCO’s main channel is its direct sales team. The company promotes its offerings through its website, social media pages, and events such as webinars, trade shows, and conferences.
Customer Relationships
TIBCO’s customer relationship is primarily of a personal assistance nature. The company assists customers in the following ways:
- Support Services – TIBCO offers 24/7/365 customer service from support centers around the world. The centers are staffed by employees well-versed in both its software products and third-party applications and platforms.
- Training Services – TIBCO offers classroom training (at Technical Learning Centers), private/customer-dedicated training, live online training, and on-demand training. Program content includes everything from fundamentals of its architecture to advice on administration of specific products. The company also operates the TIBCO Certified Professional Program, enabling students to verify their skills.
- Consulting Services – TIBCO maintains the Professional Services Group, which helps its customers plan and implement integration solutions by leveraging best practices, providing reusable components, and transferring subject matter expertise to customer implementation teams. The group includes more than 1,200 consultants in over 25 countries.
TIBCO also operates the Executive Briefing Center, a set of facilities at which customers, partners, and other guests can meet one-on-one with its senior executives, best practice experts, and top technologists in order to discuss their challenges and collaboration opportunities.
Despite this orientation, there is a self-service component. TIBCO’s website features a Customer Support Portal with helpful resources such as product documentation and answers to frequently asked questions. It allows clients to create, update, and track service requests. There is also a community element in the form of a forum where customers can exchange information.
Key Activities
TIBCO’s business model entails designing and developing its software for customers.
Key Partners
TIBCO’s key partners are the suppliers, vendors, contractors, and other third parties that provide the supplies and services it needs to carry out its operations. The company also operates the TIBCO Partner Program, a network of over 300 firms that assist in promoting its products.
Key Resources
TIBCO’s main resources are its human resources, who include the engineers that design and develop its software products, the service staff members that provide support, and the training/consulting staff members that provide instruction and advisory services.
Cost Structure
TIBCO has a value-driven structure, aiming to provide a premium proposition through significant personal service and frequent product enhancements. Its biggest cost driver is likely cost of services, a variable expense. Other major drivers are in the areas of customer support and product development, both fixed costs.
Revenue Streams
TIBCO has one revenue streams: revenues it generates from the sale of its products to its customers.
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