Global CIO: Informatica Joins Ranks Of Elite Enterprise Software CompaniesGlobal CIO: Informatica Joins Ranks Of Elite Enterprise Software Companies

"At P&G, one division using that was using Salesforce.com said that a specific aspect of their adoption strategy was to retain control over their own data. Using Informatica, that P&G division can migrate and synchonize data at a fraction of the cost versus other alternatives. They consider that a big breakthrough." (You can see cloud data-integration customer case studies from Ellie Mae here and from Blum Capital here.)

That desire by companies to regain control over their own data is a sentiment Abbasi says he hears from more and more CEOs and other senior executives as he meets with them to understand their business challenges and their growth opportunities.

"They express their need for having trustworthy, timely and holistic data," Abbasi said. "All acknowledge that the single most-valuable IT asset they have is their data. But at the same time they believe their organizations aren't effectively leveraging their data."

That belief is driving business leaders and customer-facing CIOs to rethink data's value and strategic importance as they're approaching projects such as operational-risk mitigation and regulatory compliance, as well as such broader economic trends as industry consolidation and globalization. As those initiatives become more urgent, Abbasi said, "everyone needs timely and trustworthy data."

For example: Nestle's top executives recently launched an initiative to cut more than $1 billion in operating expenses, and one of the first areas they looked at was their purchasing operations. The company discovered it was buying products from more than 600,000 suppliers, with very little visibility into that staggeringly huge web of purchases.

Clearly, cuts needed to be made--but which companies would stay, and which would go? With Informatica's help, Nestle evaluated all 600,000, made a new round of decisions based on those insights, and cut more than 400,000 suppliers--reductions that made a major contribution to the Nestle's target of cutting spending by more than $1 billion.

And while those types of cost-cutting initiatives remain high priorities for Informatica's customers, Abbasi said that based on recent conversations with customers he "senses a change in their overall outlook: a year ago, it was all about survival, but more recently they have begun to focus on business-revival strategies."

"A year ago, most of our engagements were more about operational efficiencies and compliance. But now, those discussions are about how customers can focus on their most-profitable customers to focus on revenue growth," he said. "And in either case--cost control or revenue growth--data integration continues to elevate as a priority and in urgency, and gains a higher sense of strategic purpose."

And speaking of strategic purpose: Informatica's success and its potential and its capabilities in a highly strategic sector of the enterprise-software market have led to mounds of speculation about whether it will be acquired by Oracle or by SAP or IBM or Hewlett-Packard or Accenture or Microsoft or EMC or who knows.

But Abbasi, not surprisingly, says that Informatica's independence is part of its ongoing value, and that its "neutral" status lets it do things for customers and partners it could almost certainly not do if it were acquired by one of those companies mentioned above.

"Our neutrality has allowed us to distinguish Informatica as the leading partner in data integration," Abbasi said. "Look at our partners--Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Intel--each one embeds Informatica, and each one ships Informatica products. . . . Accenture has a specialty practice for Informatica--it's very rare for them to have special practice--and it's the same with Wipro."

For as much as Abbasi says he wants and needs Informatica to stay independent, the odds seem to be in favor of an acquisition offer that's just too good for Abbasi, the board, and shareholders to pass up: the company's growing in a lousy market, it's profits are impressive, and it's got a broad set of new products slated for introduction on Nov. 9.

But whether Informatica stays independent or is acquired, one thing is certain: while it's days of being a high-flyer appear to be continuing, it's days of being a quiet high-flyer are over.