CA Changes Its Name

CA, the former Computer Associates, will announce on Sunday that it's changing its name once again. It's not exactly a mind-blower.CA Technologies is the new moniker, a name that "both acknowledges our past yet points to our future as a leader in delivering the technologies that will revolutionize the way IT powers business agility," new CEO Bill McCracken says in a statement.

The name change is being unveiled with all the marketing schmaltz most companies reserve for these kinds of occasions.

"The brand and name change to CA Technologies was designed with insights from nearly 700 customers, partners, and market thought leaders and was developed to ensure that we tell a consistent story in the market that reflects the full breadth and depth of what we offer," Chief Marketing Officer Marianne Budnik says. It culminates a seven-month effort undertaken with brand consultants Lippincott.

No question, a new name was needed -- "CA" is about as flat as they come and doesn't do justice to the massive changes McCracken and his predecessor, John Swainson, have made at the company over the past five years. But was all that energy really needed just to append the word "Technologies"? Then again, Accenture, Avaya, BearingPoint, Verizon, Xfinity, and KFC were already taken.

During InformationWeek's two-hour interview a week ago with McCracken and a few other CA execs, they let on a more mundane reason they considered a name change: A Web search on "CA" brings up as much about the state of California as it does about one of the world's leading IT management and security software companies. So what does a search on "CA Technologies" yield? For now, a manufacturer of quality spray guns and paint finishing equipment -- C.A. Technologies -- pops to the top. Perhaps CA Technologies will blast C.A. Technologies off its Google perch.

Accompanying the name change will be a new "long-term positioning" tagline: Agility Made Possible. "You'll see it referenced in our communications, beginning with the 'Made Possible' dimension of the promise via our 'we CAn' campaign," a spokesman said in an e-mail exchange. "Agility will be used increasingly over time -- particularly as we execute on our strategy to offer our solutions via more flexible delivery models."