Providing perspective for today’s technology leaders
The Enderle Group provides an unparalleled look inside breaking technology events to identify the core reasons that buyers and builders of technology should care.
Rob’s IT Business Edge Blog
- Dell vs. HP and the War for 3PAR August 27 A massive battle for a little-known storage vendor 3PAR broke out this week, driven by forward-looking executives at Dell and HP. This is unusual in a world where companies seem overly concerned with quarterly income and not concerned enough about long-term strategic goals. HP recently fired its CEO, who seemed excessively focused on quarterly revenues and likely would not have agreed to trade these results no matter how strategic 3PAR was to HP. Founding CEOs almost always think strategically, and Michael Dell still leads the company that bears his name. This battle may have raised David Donatelli, a former EMC exec who now leads HP’s Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking division, to the status of CEO contender -- or to a strong No. 2. It is clear the HP board is looking for someone with a more strategic eye this round and someone who by nature is more protective of HP employees. Donatelli appears to be both. As a result, 3PAR may represent a critical strategic block for both HP and Dell, making its acquisition critical for both companies. Let’s explore that.
- Qualcomm’s View of the Future: Smart Electric Cars, Smartphones and Connected Tablets August 26 Qualcomm, the market leader in cell phone technology, had its financial analyst meeting this week, filled with its vision of the future. While there was a consumer component anchored by its Skifta offering, which puts your music every place you are, much of the presentation suggests both opportunities and risks for those who use these future devices in corporations. Let’s explore this.
- HP’s Hurd, Dunn and Fiorina Could Learn from Superheroes August 23 The book “The Big Lie” clearly has me thinking about CEOs this week and why they so often fail. (We are also looking at the adverse impact of excess CEO salaries this week.) While reading about the major challenge of the concept of the glass ceiling in older companies, one thing really stood out for me. Initially I believed this just had to do with the glass ceiling, but it allowed me to look at other patterns and I think another problem emerged. Anyone who reads comic books would understand that sidekicks are important. HP’s Carly Fiorina, Patricia Dunn (ex-chairman) and Mark Hurd (though his history is less clear) lost their positions after making mistakes that could have been mitigated by a strong No. 2. But even though each at one time apparently played that role themselves, they never implemented it when they came into power.
Rob’s Articles
- Next: The Smartphone and Tablet Wars TechNewsWorld | August 30 What really strikes me about Google is that this “do no evil” company increasingly seems to be going down a list of things that Microsoft was accused of doing in the 90s and using it as a to-do list—from the tie-up with Verizon in what appeared to be an attempt to both sneak around the U.S. government and blindside Net neutrality, to its effort to cover up the fact that it is failing with Android.
- 3Par: First pivotal battle between Dell and HP TG Daily | August 27 Both HP and Dell are at a crossroads - from the companies they were to the companies they will inevitably become. Both are solidly focused on a future that is largely dominated by the concept of Cloud Computing and both are now accepting that this future will have a significant software component. At the core of this change is a little company named 3Par who appears to be worth only a fraction of what is being bid.
- HP’s New CEO Needs to Be a Warrior with a Heart and a Sidekick Datamation | August 26 I’ve been thinking a lot about HP’s CEO problem and what kind of CEO they need to carry the company forward. The firm is in reasonably good financial shape but those metrics shield serious competitive and employee problems. In short, I think what they need is a CEO who can rally the HP troops and reform the company into a more agile battle-hardened entity that can win, or settle, the growing number of competitive wars the company has engaged in over the last decade. We’ll cover the major problems first and then talk about who is needed to address them.
- How to Make Steve Jobs Sweat: Why Competitors Can’t Touch Apple Digital Trends | August 25 I’m channeling Steve Jobs this week, and it is clear that he really doesn’t think very much about his largest competitors. Why? He thinks the firms are being run by idiots – even though he doesn’t lead the market in share – because he makes more profit and his company has proven to be a vastly better investment over the last 10 years. Moreover, he was CEO of the decade, while Mark Hurd, HP’s CEO, was just fired, and most everyone else is chasing each other’s tail for the low-profit end of the market. This week, let’s look at the market through Steve Jobs’ eyes, and think about why he thinks powerful competitors like HP are a joke. This is kind of a heads up to those interviewing over the next few weeks for the CEO job at HP, because I’d bet the HP board will want them to describe in some detail how to take the grin off Jobs’ face and put it on theirs.
Rob Quoted
- HP and Dell Keep Bidding, But 3PAR Is Not the Only Cloud Storage Option PC World | August 30
- With scandal wounds still fresh, H-P wages risky war MarketWatch | August 28
- How To Play The M&A Wave In Technology Stocks Wall Street Journal | August 28
Rob Enderle on…
H-P and its battle with Dell over 3Par
“Donatelli seems to be driving the war.” [And it’s a war, Enderle argued, that Donatelli would not have been able to wage had Hurd not been forced out.] “I think it’s unlikely that Hurd would have allowed this to go into a bidding war. To pay that kind of money for 3Par, you have to be thinking of its value in the future.”
Battle for 3Par raises profile of tech giant’s enterprise chief Marketwatch
Announcement that Bing fuels Yahoo search in the U.S. and Canada
“This probably saved Yahoo…The onslaught against Google began when Microsoft basically wrote a blank check to Yahoo to fund the battle. But this [week’s integration] will represent the biggest win Microsoft ever got in one move.”
HP’s current lack of leadership
“In the gap, other CEOs are going to be kissing hands and cozying up to the executives (at HP’s customers), and some of these people might start feeling comfortable with someone else.”
Google and its moves into the social media space
“I’m not expecting their first attempt to be successful. Eventually they’ll probably be successful, but I think Wave’s failure is evidence of the fact that they just don’t seem to get people.”
Tech Wars: To Me or Not to Me? FOX Business
Mark Hurd and his resignation from H.P.
“He didn’t have the support of his people.” [Although he was good at] “holding executives’ feet to the fire, he seemed to be the only one benefiting from H.P.’s success. He alienated himself from the people who might have protected him.”
Real Reason for Ousting H.P.’s Chief New York Times
RIM and India’s demand for access to BlackBerry’s encrypted content
“Right now, I’m very concerned about RIM’s executive leadership and how they are responding to what clearly is a difficult time for them…They can start bleeding very, very deeply and fast, if they start losing some of these big accounts.”
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Profiles
Rob Enderle
An Internet search of media quotes validates Rob Enderle as one of the most influential technology pundits in the world. Leveraging world-class IT industry analysis skills honed at DataQuest, Giga Information Group, and Forrester Research, Rob seized upon the power of the information channel as a conduit to reach business strategists and deliver valuable, experienced-based insight on how to leverage industry advances for maximum business advantage.
As President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, he provides regional and global companies with guidance in how to create credible dialogue with the market, target customer needs, create new business opportunities, anticipate technology changes, select vendors and products, and practice zero dollar marketing. For over 20 years Rob has worked for and with companies like Microsoft, HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, USAA, Texas Instruments, AMD, Intel, Credit Suisse First Boston, ROLM, and Siemens.
Mary Enderle
As Enderle Group’s Branding and Web Design Consultant, Mary brings a depth of knowledge regarding brand-driven design, creation of brand management tools, creative direction and agency management. Mary was the worldwide corporate brand identity manager at Intel® Corporation, one of the top ten brands in the world. Under Mary’s leadership, her team was responsible for ensuring that all communications were consistent and reflected Intel’s values, to make sure that Intel would continue to rank among the top ten recognized brands worldwide. Mary also spent nine years managing the look and feel for Intel.com, consulting across many divisions on both creative and site usability.
For the past five years Mary has consulted with top tier companies on branding and web design including Dolby Laboratories, Gateway Computers, Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, and Kodak Gallery.
Mary is currently the brand director and affiliate manager for CafeGive™, an emerging startup that is focused on building a thriving community of nonprofit organizations and their advocates, consumers, and merchants dedicated to grassroots fundraising through ecommerce. CafeGive is harnessing the use of Web 2.0 technologies and leveraging social media to create viral campaigns that allow people who care passionately about causes closest to their hearts to find new ways to raise funds for many wonderful nonprofits.