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Weekend Read with Perforce CEO: ‘Test earlier to achieve velocity’

Jim Cassens, since November of last year the CEO of Perforce Software
Jim Cassens, since November of last year the CEO of Perforce Software

Last month, Delphix’s widely-used DataOps platform changed hands when Perforce Software bought the company behind the popular data management software platform.

Jim Cassens, since November of last year the chief executive officer of Perforce Software, a provider of solutions to enterprise teams that is backed by Francisco Partners and Clearlake Capital Group, said during the deal announcement that the addition of Delphix to Perforce’s portfolio added critical data management capabilities that help enterprise organisations realise an automated and accelerated DevOps pipeline.

For sure the acquisition addressed a key challenge in DevOps. Increasingly the roadblock to full automation for many large firms – not least banks and insurance companies, with their particular compliance requirements – is how to connect data management and testing in the Cloud while maintaining the integrity and security of the data.

The takeover also touched on a key opportunity. Large firms – and, again, large financial firms especially – are trying to reduce the number of external technology providers they deal with.

This week, QA Financial sat down with Minnesota-based Cassens, to scrutinise the recent takeover in a bit more detail, and to hear more about the tech veteran’s vision and strategy for Perforce and its 1,200 staff.

Q: Your company acquired Delphix last month. How exactly does this help Perforce, and why does it make your company stand out?

Cassens: Although M&A activity is predicted to pick up in 2024, we are still not in a buying frenzy — at least for now. The fact that Perforce made a major acquisition like Delphix helps us stand out from other companies of our size in this space. It shows that we are running a healthy business that is not slowing down but growing.

Q: To zoom in a bit more on your M&A strategy. Backed by two major Californian VC firms, Francisco Partners and Clearlake Capital, Perforce is successfully building a portfolio of leading solutions. In fact, you have been very acquisitive in recent years. In 2022, Perforce bought Puppet, the infrastructure automation and compliance platform, while a year earlier, your firm acquired the BlazeMeter testing platform from CA Technologies. And back in 2019, Perforce snapped up Perfecto, a leading mobile and web testing company. Can we expect more deal announcements this year?

Cassens: Perforce grows in two ways – both organically and inorganically through acquisition. We are very strategic in the solutions and businesses we acquire to ensure those solutions align with the needs of our customers. As trusted advisors to the DevOps community and our customers, we put an emphasis on acquiring the right solutions and not trying to force fit an acquisition.


“To win the race, we need to be strategic, and not overly indexed on flashy tech trends.”

Jim Cassens

We also look for acquisition targets who share the same level of focus on customer success, employee engagement and culture. This makes the integration process run much more smoothly. In short, we are always looking for opportunities to acquire the right type of company if we think it will help our customer base.

Q: Importantly, after every takeover, the plan seems to merge all the different brands, or at least very closely co-brand. Why did you opt for that strategy?

We want to be the DevOps vendor of choice for the largest companies and brands in the world and we have acquired companies who have the technology and solution to address our customers’ complex DevOps needs. This is how we know a brand is a fit for our portfolio. They also generally have a healthy and loyal customer base.

We do not immediately acquire a brand and merge it with another, we are very strategic regarding when and where integrations make sense for our customer base. Delphix is one of the brands we have acquired where integration points are natural with our testing and infrastructure automation solutions, and we anticipate deeper integrations will occur in time and with our customers front-and-centre in the solution strategy and planning process.

Q: As vendors merge and consolidate, will the value-add of that proposition have to be refined, slimmed down and reinforced?

Cassens: In the DevOps space there is a trend of consolidation because more customers want to reduce the number of vendors they work with. This is a net positive for us — being a single vendor with our portfolio of solutions is a major value add.

We are continually looking at ways that our customers want to interact with a business like ours. What we know is they want a single vendor, simplicity, operational efficiency, and technology they can trust.

Perforce staff in Minneapolis, at their most recent new year's gathering
Perforce staff in Minneapolis, at their most recent new year’s gathering

Q: If we zoom out a bit, and look at the wider ecosystem Perforce operates in, what are some of the key challenges you are currently facing?

Cassens: Today, the DevOps community is facing a challenge to securely deliver applications at speed and scale. To accomplish this, developers are looking for tools that can help to achieve delivery of those solutions as quickly as possible. This requires teams to push as much forward in the development cycle than ever before – like testing. Providing developers with the ability to test earlier in that cycle, helps to achieve the development velocity that businesses require. Achieving speed and scale also needs to be achieved with a high level of quality. Perforce provides the tools that allow organizations to address these challenges.


“The ability to test earlier helps to achieve the development velocity that businesses require.”

– Jim Cassens

Since Perforce is also in the business of delivering software, we face the same challenge in creating solutions quickly and at scale, while also maintaining compliance. Security is top of mind for CIOs and CISOs. Regulations require organizations to protect private information of end users. We are diligent about addressing the security needs of development teams around the world.

Q: It is often said regulation can barely keep up with the rapidly evolving tech ecosystems we operate in. Do you agree? Has regulation become a burden?

Cassens: The pace of change in the technology ecosystems we operate in are unprecedented and accelerating rapidly, which is wonderful for creating new opportunities for our employee base and for our customers, but it is not without its challenges in terms of compliance and regulatory needs.

I am passionate about powering innovation and delivering value to our customers and stakeholders, but we also recognise the need for a balanced and effective regulatory framework that protects the public interest, fosters trust, and promotes competition. We understand and appreciate the need for guardrails and guideposts that aim to keep all of us on the right track.

At the same time, we see our customers across our portfolio leaning on our technologies for various compliance and regulatory needs. This has been a bigger focus for us in the last few years and one of the reasons why Delphix is a sound investment, because now we can deliver data compliance in addition to code, product and systems compliance.

Q: When we look ahead, where do you see opportunities for growth and expansion?

Cassens: I read a study that indicated infrastructure software will grow at a 7.2% rate over the next five years, but DevOps solutions will grow at 24.7% across that same timeframe. Clearly our focus is on the DevOps potential for growth as more and more development organizations adopt a DevOps strategy.


“Regulation has been a bigger focus for us in the last few years.”

– Jim Cassens

Additionally, we see cybersecurity playing an important part earlier in the development cycle, to ensure the highest levels of compliance for organizations. Another area we are keeping a close eye on is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Today we have some key features using AI in our solutions and we will continue to leverage AI in our products where it makes sense to support our customers as they develop, release and maintain solutions at a faster pace than ever before.

Lastly, we see the DevOps community looking to vendors that can provide a number of solutions in order to eliminate the number of vendors they are dealing with and the integrations they are required to build to make the solutions work together. We see big opportunities to continue to develop key integrations to our solutions to address this need.

Q: Finally, anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Cassens: I am new to my role at Perforce, but I have to say the company has done a phenomenal job of placing bets on acquisition targets. We are conservative in our approach to acquisitions. We look for companies whose solutions have been battle-tested at enterprise-scale, have created a loyal customer base and are essential for businesses to continue to innovate.

This conservative approach has let us weather financial slowdowns and we know how to manage tough storms. In economic times like this, we are the type of vendor you want to work with and the type of company you want to work for. Consider us the turtle in the proverbial turtle vs hare story – we know that to win the race, we need to be strategic, focused, and not overly indexed on the flashy tech trends that don’t give customers value in the end.


Curious about QA Financial’s take on the recent Perforce Software-Delphix deal?

Read our editorial here.


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