Read it slowly and aloud: Leo Apotheker, fired from SAP, has been hired by HP as its new CEO. How does it sound? At first, It sounds like an utterly stupid decision. Why would an American company hire an aging German manager who was fired for lack of leadership competence?
The only explanation is that HP is trying to stop its frustrating decline by acquiring SAP and regaining some ground in the IT arena. IBM, Microsoft and Oracle seem to have left HP way behind – and for a reason. HP has totally lost its edge. For an IT pro like me, it is unclear why HP should be a good deal for anyone. Price? Nay… Brand? For printers, maybe. Sexiness? You are kidding me. Successful partner? Try again.
What will HP do with SAP anyways? HP is not a software company. HP cannot sell software at all – that is a common attribute they share with their rival IBM. HP surely will want to improve its image as a service provider. That means that HP must make SAP an SaaS offering.
That means they will offer something I call - for lack of a better term - "Cloud SAP".
But will Cloud SAP be an attractive offering to corporate customers? I somewhat doubt it. Big corporations have massive sensitive data that should not be exposed to the even most remote chance of landing on some Chinese hacker’s PC. Cloud computing will never fully solve its security dilemma. My opinion is that, if you can hack Google, you can hack anyone.
We will most probably witness a long down-slide of Cloud SAP under HP reign. The new HP way (down), if you will…
Saturday, October 2, 2010
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Ridiculous blog at best ! Who says IBM can't sell software (IBM DB2, web sphere, TIVOLI and many products that you wouldnt have heard of?) and can HP digest SAP's market capitalization? and even if it does, Can it integrate it with its own strategies falling flat after a plethora of changes that has rocked HP.
ReplyDeleteJust for your information: I know all of the software products you named and more you may have not heard of, because IBM just wasted their market potential, like: OS/2, Smart Suite, Organizer, etc. etc. I was actually an expert in developing massive multithreading programs for OS/2, and I also worked for the IBM in three large (up to 300 souls) projects, where Tivoli and other IBM "standards" were used. So, with your permission, I might have some insight regarding IBM's software strategy. Actually, all of the IBM people I know kept telling me that IBM is NO software company - it is all about the services.
ReplyDeleteStill, who knows - maybe you know something I don't.
As to HP: HP reminds me of Yahoo a lot.