One of the things we learned very quickly was that sending people on airplanes to visit customers was very expensive and not a good use of time. We did most of our business over the phone and over the Internet. We did that in the early days because we had to do it, and then it became part of the business model for us. Our cost of selling became much lower than that of our competition. Customers actually preferred our method because they could schedule a call with us and then get on with the rest of their day.

The financial discipline and the efficiency we built into the sales model was key. The biggest thing was that we always adapted to the changes in the market. We were never afraid to innovate our business model and pricing. We used to license the software as a perpetual license, and we changed that to subscription-based pricing. We used SaaS extensively in our own business because we did not want to invest in capital expenditures. We adapted to the market as it changed.

We recognized what a big opportunity cloud computing would be, and we adapted the company from a technology and business model perspective. We got the desired outcome. This past week, Goldman Sachs published a report of large software M&A activity, and ours was the second-largest multiple that has been paid in the past three or four years for a software company. That makes us feel good about what we have achieved.

SM: It is a great story. Congratulations on your success.