HP held its annual analyst event, following earlier similarly-focused
events by IBM at PULSE 2014 and CA Technologies in NYC (blogs available about IBM[1] and CA
Technologies[2]).
HP event details were under non-disclosure, so we’ll focus on broad outlines
and our impressions.
All three vendors see Cloud, Big Data/Analytics, Mobility
and Security technologies as key influences impacting IT and business
operations. Each has a slightly different view of how the effect is made
manifest. Identifying them as enablers (CA), drivers (HP) and a combination of both
(IBM) to cause a fundamental transformation in the way things get done.
HP CEO, Meg Whitman gave a keynote speech documenting HP’s
progress, discussing strategy and plans going forward. HP executives then gave
an overview of their activities and plans for the coming year. During breakout
sessions, each business group provided details on products and strategies. Meg
and her team accomplished a lot to get HP back on track. They have restored
confidence, coherence, focus and enthusiasm at HP.
Meg quoted key success measurements, including net debt
reduction to $0 and free cash flow of $1.7B as of the last fiscal quarter. HP
stock trades at around $32/share (3/24/16) up from just over $10/share when Meg
joined. Meg visited customers, finding them "incredibly loyal" and
supportive of HP “winning in the market”.
No surprise, but it is reassuring that at eighteen months into Meg’s
5-year plan, things appear to be working.
Every serious IT solution provider recognizes that
disruptive transformation is taking place. Waves of change from Cloud,
Mobility, Big Data (and Analytics) and Security underlies the upheaval in IT
and business operational models akin to what occurred during the moves from
mainframe to distributed servers/PCs to internet apps and web-based services. It
is an inflection point impacting business and IT and fundamentally transforming
everything from business models to operational strategies. IT vendors must help
customers deal with that transformation.
HP has identified a New Style of business powering a: “New
Style of IT (that) promises simplicity, greater agility, speed and lower costs…customers
are looking for help from trusted advisors to understand how they navigate this
brave new world…they need comprehensive solutions that solve their toughest
business problems, not just a set of disparate IT assets.”
In describing how to do this, HP focused on the details and
prowess of their portfolio. They provided an abundance of technical specifications
about a very nice collection of well thought-out tools. They did have some
customers briefly describe their success with HP products. While interesting
and important, most customers are more interested in the specifics of
‘navigation’, not ‘speeds ‘n feeds’. HP failed to discuss how they help
customers prioritize, plan for, acquire, implement and use New IT.
HP clearly understands significant changes are occurring in decision
making. They gave a good description of the new “Millennial”
consumer/decision-maker. However, they gave no indication of how they will attract
them. Customers are left to figure out for themselves what to do with HP’s
tools. Without programs to attract those millennials, HP suffers in comparison
to its competition.
For example, for one vendor,
Next Generation IT means extending IT’s impact into every business function. Each
product release has innovation to achieve that. Another vendor recognized
customers got more benefit quicker as product familiarity increased. They focus
on providing easier, broader access to solution suites, including free on-line
trials, ‘try and buy’, increased customer collaboration in design and
development[3],
etc.
We did enjoy the demo area, Project Moonshot is HP’s
high-density, high efficiency, and low footprint rack-sized appliance to manage
and deliver multitudes of software-defined servers. Our interest was piqued by HP
HAVEn, a Big Data management and analysis platform that leverages other products
(Vertica, Autonomy) to collect, index and query data in multiple forms and
formats.
This is clearly a new HP, however….
HP is clearly improving. Their products are technologically sound,
some industry leading. The product details and long-range R&D efforts were
interesting. If we weren’t in the midst of an ‘inflexion point’ with an
uncertain economy, this approach may have been adequate. Unfortunately, as
things stand today, HP’s presentations fell short of what is needed. Customers
need guidance and structure on how to maximize their return from technology. HP
revealed no plans to do that.
HP sees itself, but did not present itself as an integrated
company. Products were covered in isolated silos. Neither business nor IT operates
that way today. HP’s differentiation from competitors was never made clear.
They failed to say how they are uniquely able to help customers be more
effective at using HP solutions to solve their problems.
IT vendors are notoriously inept at marketing. The
consumerization of IT was supposed to change that. Demonstrating how a vendor
is making it easier for customers to continually get more value from IT is more
persuasive than chest-beating. HP has a story for solution-focused customers interested
in immediate benefit; they just need to tell it. Until then, they will get less
attention than they deserve.
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