HPE dumps software biz into the bargain bin HP Enterprise (HPE) has reportedly begun entertaining offers to sell its software business. A report from Bloomberg cited sources familiar in claiming that CEO Meg Whitman is looking to sell some or all of HPE's software brands, including Vertica, Autonomy, and Mercury. Talks are said to still be in the early stages with no …
What's goint to be left? A few management deals?
Better prepare for more headcount reductions.
Ok, os this bit of the empire was a bad deal from the outset but HP is a mere shadow of its former self. The people at the top have raked it in while decimating a once proud business.
I feel rather sorry for my former colleagues who are left behind trying to make silk purses out of the sow's ears they are given to work with.
I'm sure that every single acquisition was lavishly examined, amply powerpointed and endlessly discussed, before beaming management gave the OK to spend the funds, then took a nice bonus for having managed things so well.
Now, all those acquisitions are good for the chopping block, meaning that either manglement did not properly analyze the data beforehand, or they did not properly manage the acquisition after.
There is no case where management cannot be held responsible for this, but there is no case where they won't get a bonus out of it.
They've stuffed up virtually every single acquisition and key strategy they've attempted.
They had the assets to launch a decent mobile phone and tablet offering (via the Palm acquisition), then killed it off when the going got too difficult (despite there being a market for a decent enterprise alternative to an Apple handset, and despite webOS showing some promise) instead of perservering.
They had the assets in terms of infrastructure (Datacentres and staff) and software (Openstack partnership) to launch a public cloud to rival Amazon, but launched a half-hearted effort with Helion Public and killed that off too, instead of developing a long-term strategy. Yet Microsoft managed to stand up their cloud in the UK quickly, using HPE datacentres and using HPE staff to do the legwork (so it was more than possible for HPE to succeed in this space).
They had the assets in software (Autonomy and others) to build a big-data analysis stack and products to rival any other solution, but again - weren't interested in the long-term development needed to grow it.
They had the assets and staff in outsourcing (EDS) to offer best-of-breed consultancy and outsourcing, and instead chose to prioritise short-term profit (cutting heads and forcing HPE solutions sales on customers who didnt' want them) over long-term investment (restructuring, retraining and proper re-organisation), gutting the entire company from the inside out and reducing it to a useless shell.
All of these acquisitions had flaws, none of them were perfect partners, but none of them were abject failures either, until they were introduced and incorporated into an HP management stack that didn't understand how to manage or develop them further.
You don't need to be the first person into a developing market to succeed at it - Azure is proving that despite being late to the cloud party (and Google will probably do the same). iPhone proved that despite the dominance of Blackberry and Nokia. You just have to have good ideas and be capable of executing them properly. HPE's various business units have good ideas up until now, but have always fallen flat on execution because the management don't understand what it takes to succeed in these markets (long-term commitment and continual effort).
HPE will go down in history as a greek tragedy - a vast and powerful company with the resources to succeed on a vast scale, but the inability to use them properly.
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