Progress: A Powerful Force for Transformation

Today marks the unveiling of a new Progress brand, and we’re incredibly excited about our potential to change an entire industry. It’s not often companies are in a position to radically change an industry, and when they do have this opportunity—they should seize it. Such industry-changing examples include Apple’s iPod/iTunes, Airbnb, Uber, Google and Facebook, to name a few. In each case, one could argue the common theme is ease of use that led to rapid adoption. Let’s look at a similar opportunity Progress is addressing on behalf of its customers.

Enterprises are desperately looking to harness the digital domain, as customers begin their buying journeys online. This offers prime opportunities for organizations not yet digitally optimized to become so. While this notion is not new, the marketplace is at a crucial inflection point.

Businesses are increasingly being replaced by rivals who have tapped the power of technology to optimize the customer experience and fuel organizational excellence. We at Progress are staking a leadership position in this new landscape with a slate of offerings designed to help customers drive their unique digital transformation—and do it before they get left behind.

A New Vision, A New Brand

The acquisition of Telerik in 2014 expanded our product portfolio, enabling us to address new markets and seize new opportunities. However, to maximize the potential of our assets, we likewise needed to transform our brand.

Perhaps you’re thinking “Another rebrand? Here we go again.” But this rebrand is different. It afforded us a special opportunity to dig deep, answer some difficult questions, assess who we are and determine who we aspired to be. From there, we could define a course forward for our company that held true to our unique identity. A brand rings hollow if not grounded in core competencies. It has to be authentic.  It’s akin to looking in the mirror: one may wish to see George Clooney in the reflection, but that does not make it so. Similarly, our new brand had to be built upon a solid foundation to be authentic with employees: our ambassadors to the world.

Emerging on the other side, we have a shared Progress vision—embraced by all employees—that represents who we are as a company: a powerful force for transformation.

Progress Today

More than ever before, Progress has the people, products, services and vision to help customers better engage and nurture users throughout their digital journey, and in so doing, change an entire industry. With Progress, organizations can begin the transformation needed to secure their present, and ensure they have a sustained future that leverages technology in important and innovative ways. And we do this by harnessing one of our overwhelming strengths: offering a great user experience.

The response to our refocused vision has been overwhelmingly positive. We are having strategic conversations at much higher levels than was possible before, and proudly stand shoulder to shoulder—as either partners or competitors—with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Google, Adobe, IBM and Capgemini.

Introducing DigitalFactory

The star of our new product offering is Progress DigitalFactory, a comprehensive solution for crafting and managing sophisticated digital experiences. In today’s fluid environment, organizations must deliver optimized experiences to every customer across numerous devices and channels, including mobile, web, on-premise applications, and so on, all while lowering costs and making it easier to manage technical infrastructure. With deeper customer behavior insights, you’ll also be able to make better and timelier decisions, thus driving higher revenue. Since all roads lead back to the customer experience, we’re pleased DigitalFactory will be able to drive revenue-producing outcomes for our clients. Managing sophisticated digital experiences across different technologies, in a transparent, seamless and context relevant way is very complex. Because our DigitalFactory has been architected to be easy-to-use, it gives us a competitive advantage that can’t be overstated.

As I look at the market today, there is constant change—but also tremendous opportunity—as more enterprises begin digital transformation journeys. Progress has the vision and innovative products needed to lead organizations through this challenging period, to emerge stronger and victorious on the other side. Building upon our long history fueling business success, and strengthened by our own brand journey, Progress will continue to be a powerful force of transformation that propels our customers and partners to new heights.