Posts Tagged ‘HP’

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Lab Rats Invade A CIO’s World

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
What Is A CIO To Do With An R&D Lab?

What Is A CIO To Do With An R&D Lab?

I work in the telecommunications field a lot and the gold standard of corporate R&D labs has always been Bell Labs. These guys have created amazing things that we all take for granted today: transistors, fiber optics, etc.

Since most firms have no idea about what to do with their corporate research facilities, responsibility for the labs often falls under the control of the CIO (because most firms don’t know what to do with IT either). Great. So what’s a CIO to do when he/she is responsible for a corporate R&D lab?

The Times They Are A Changing

So why did companies set up their research labs in the first place? Simple, they needed a source of innovation that they could harness in order to become more successful. Unfortunately, the Internet came along and the wheels have fallen off this truck.

In the old days (the early 90’s), researchers used social networks to exchange information and drive their research forward. No, not Facebook or Twitter – we’re talking about the early 90’s here. They used the REAL social networks that formed when researchers went to conferences or met in the lunchroom.

The arrival of the Internet has turned this world upside down. If you can connect with anyone over the Internet, then why would you even bother to have a corporate R&D lab?

It turns out that there is still a reason for corporate R&D lab, it’s just that they are going to be much smaller and the value of even having an R&D lab will go down.

CIO’s And The New Era Of R&D

Steve Lohr over at the New York Times has been talking with folks in the corporate R&D world to find out what the future of R&D Labs is going to look like.

Pull the cover off an R&D lab and you’ll discover a machine that can turn ideas into products. In the future, the ideas that a business can turn into a product (which is what a business is in business to do) won’t come from a lab, instead they will be coming from all over. Wow, what a mess.

In the future companies aren’t going to be able to afford to have the old style R&D labs. These labs were paid for by corporate profits. Once again, that dang Internet thing has come along and leveled the playing field and those corporate profits are now under pressure from everywhere. Now that they are gone, there’s no way to pay for old-style R&D.

The new way (practiced  by HP, GE, and IBM) is for CIOs to transform what a corporate R&D lab does. The new role for an R&D lab is for it to act as a communications hub between researchers who can all be located at remote locations.

The sources of new ideas can be universities, start-ups, other businesses, and even government labs. Researchers will have to start acting like human Googles and start sucking up all of the information that they need to create products that their firms can sell.

Final Thoughts

CIOs who find themselves in charge of a company’s R&D labs have a delicate challenge on their hands. No matter how successful the labs have been in the past, the past is the past and what worked then will no longer work. CIOs need to move aggressively to transform how R&D research is done.

Realizing the Internet changes everything, CIOs will have to create an R&D “hub and spoke” logical design where the corporate R&D team funnels communications between multiple parties in order to move innovation along. Ultimately, when enough information has been gathered to allow a product to be created, then a CIO will know that his / her R&D lab is doing what it needs to do.

My question to you is do you think that today’s CIOs have the skill that is need to pull this kind of R&D lab transformation off?

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Ok CIO wannabe, we’re right in the middle of a global financial crisis and your IT budget has gotten slashed so much it looks like Freddie Krueger has come back and had his way with it. What are you going to do about your spending on security programs: cut ‘em, hold the line, or spend more. Whoops – that was a trick question: all of the answers will get you in trouble…

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Posted in innovation | No Comments »

HP Can’t Pay Its Salespeople – Another CIO Failure?

Monday, September 14th, 2009

HP's Sales People Have Not Been Getting Paid On Time <p> <div xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" about="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixieclipx/308927905/"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href=Being a salesperson is a hard job. More often than not they live from quarter to quarter and if you don’t make your numbers, then you end up getting shown to the door. Hewlett-Packard is a huge IT products and services company that lives and dies by the actions of its sales teams. Making sure that the sales teams get paid should be a simple task right? Think again…

The Problem With Pay At HP

HP’s CIO Randy Mott has a problem on his hands. Within HP, payments for the HP’s business-technology group sales teams are handled by a software application called Omega (which is sorta funny when you think about the fact that Omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet – it sure doesn’t seem to have the last word on calculating pay).

Omega has been around for a long time. It was born back at Digital Equipment Corporation (anyone remember DEC?), got picked up and used by Compaq Computer Corporation, and then finally found its way into HP. It must either be a well designed program to have had that long of a life or else it’s so dang complex that nobody is willing to tinker with it.

The problem with Omega is that it is struggling to deal with HP’s growing amounts of sales data. It was never originally designed to deal with this much volume. What’s happening is that Omega is now malfunctioning. Some HP salespersons are not getting paid on time – they are ending up waiting up to seven months to get paid!

Fixing The Omega Problem

HP is aware of the problem and they’ve tried unsuccessfully to fix it. As a stopgap measure, HP has been automatically paying its salespeople 60% – 70% of what they should be getting for meeting their sales quotas. One suspects that this is being done in order to allow employees to meet house payments and keep food on the table.

In the past HP has tried to fix Omega by adding new software that was intended to smooth out the flow of sales data. However, back in November of 2008 when HP closed its books for the year, they discovered that some of the data in Omega was both incorrect and incomplete. Clearly the band-aid approach to dealing with the problem had not worked.

What Should HP Do?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that at a HP sales meeting in 2008, one of HP’s senior vice presidents of sales, Randy Runk, got up on stage and promised the sales teams that they would all be paid on time. Clearly that is not happening.

As CIO, Randy Mott (are all HP senior executives named Randy?) is responsible for fixing this problem – he’s already let it go on for far too long. Let’s say what HP is clearly not willing to say themselves: Omega’s time has come and gone and it must be replaced.

Mott needs to do two things immediately: he needs to campaign to have all HP sales reps who’s compensation is handled by Omega to be automatically paid at the level that they would be if they met their sales quotas. This should continue until the Omega issue is resolved. Any bonus will be calculated and paid with interest once the Omega issue has been resolved. Doing this will calm the sales forces and prevent them from leaving en-mass.

Next, Mott needs to start building a new replacement system for Omega. Why this has not been started already is beyond me. You would think that when HP took a look at the 6,500 that they were using and decided to slim it down to just a mere 1,500 systems, that Omega replacement would have been identified as being a high priority.

Based on the age of the Omega application, I’m willing to bet that its a single monolithic solution. Clearly a modular design is called for. I’m also willing to bet that HP doesn’t have a clear idea of all of the things that Omega does. No problem, if Mott and his IT team sits down with HP’s finance team they can come up with system requirements that may be much simpler than the twisted requirements that Omega now implements.

Final Thoughts

Randy Mott has been doing some amazing things at HP. However, somehow the way that he’s been prioritizing what his IT teams need to be working on skipped over the Omega problem. Clearly the prioritization of IT projects needs to be re-looked at.

Mott needs to take immediate steps to resolve the problems that this IT issue has created and then he needs to fix the problem once and for all by creating a replacement solution for the out-of-date and overworked Omega system. If he can do this quickly, then he will have found a way to apply IT to enable the rest of the company to grow quicker, move faster, and do more.

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Innovation, innovation, innovation – everyone wants it, but nobody seems know know how to get and keep it. CIOs are under a lot of pressure to do more with less these days and being able to nurture an environment of innovation sure would help. The trick is HOW to do this…

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CIO Cloud Computing: What The Future Holds

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
When CIOs Look Into Cloud Computing's Future, What Do They See?

When CIOs Look Into Cloud Computing's Future, What Do They See?

Cloud computing is hot – there’s no denying that. However, as with all things in the information technology field, cloud computing isn’t standing still. Even as  you read these words, engineers are hard at work defining and refining just exactly what a cloud computing architecture looks like and how it behaves. Let’s take a peek at what the future holds…

Where The New Ideas Are Being Born

Although cloud computing research is going on in a number of small start-ups as well as at universities world-wide, the work that is being followed the closest is that which is being done by the very large firms. Here’s a quick run down of what they are doing:

  • HP /Intel / Yahoo: These three powerhouses have come together to launch the Cloud Research Testbed. The goal is to allow academic researchers to have access to supercomputing resources in order to try out new ideas such as computing chips that have been designed for cloud computing.
  • IBM Research: IBM has taken the global approach and launched its Research Compute Cloud. This cloud will be used to support business processes.

The 5-Year Plan

Something that has helped to propel cloud computing to the forefront of discussion in many IT departments is the simple fact that due to the economic downturn, there is no money left to design and build expensive computing architecture.

IT has for too long been seen as a department that simply maintains computing “boxes”. This adds very little value to the rest of the firm. It’s expected that small and midsized firms are going to be the ones jumping on the cloud computing bandwagon. The larger firms are expected to be setting up their own private clouds and only using public clouds when they temporarily need the extra capacity.

Improvements in cloud computing both this year and in the next few years should center around moving your applications from one cloud to another, have companies communicate better while in the cloud, and even sharing data in the cloud.

Final Thoughts

In the end, the best way to think about cloud computing is probably to view it as being yet another type of application deployment architecture. The real boon will be to software developers who will no longer be shackled by limited availability of computing hardware.

If the challenges that cloud computing is facing today, such as security, can be overcome then CIOs that discover how to best make use of this new resource will have found yet another way to enable the rest of the company to grow quicker, move faster, and do more.

Questions For You

Do you think that Yahoo and IBM are in a race to be the ones to define the cloud computing standards? Do you think that large firms will be successful in building their own private clouds? When do you think that public clouds will be “ready for prime time” and firms will start to use them over building out their own infrastructure? Leave me a comment and let me know what you are thinking.

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

It can be a long and lonely journey through a recession for anyone, including CIOs. The company’s very survival may be at stake, the CIO’s job may be at risk, and of course there is that big unanswered question about what needs to be done to prepare for life AFTER the recession is over. Maybe Cisco’s John Chambers can offer us some insights…

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Posted in cloud computing | 5 Comments »

5 Things That CIOs Need To Stop Doing

Monday, June 15th, 2009

CIOs Need To Stop Doing Things That Hold The Company Back

CIOs Need To Stop Doing Things That Hold The Company Back

I firmly believe that the reason that any firm has a CIO is so that they have someone who can drive the company’s IT department to provide services and support that will enable the rest of the business to grow faster. It really is that simple – if you can leverage your IT department to support what the business is trying to do, then you’ll be more successful. Of course, this only works if the CIO is doing his / her job…

First You Need Respect

Bob Evans (no, not the breakfast sausage Bob Evans) over at InformationWeek has been thinking about why, of all of a company’s senior leadership, CIOs seem to be the ones who get the least amount of respect.

His conclusions are that the world at large believes that CIOs lack the business skills that are needed in order to have a seat at a company’s strategy steering table. It doesn’t help that all too often CIOs tend to talk using technology terms that seem to go right over the heads of the rest of the business.

If CIOs are to take the reins of the IT department and turn it into the engine that allows the rest of the company to move faster, then there are 5 things that they need to STOP doing.

#1: Stop Avoiding Customers

In order to provide the firm with the tools and services that it needs to meet the needs of its current and potential customers, CIOs need to be spending time meeting with customers. It’s all too easy to become focused on internal issues, cost cutting, and staffing challenges. Get out and talk to customers in order to find out what you REALLY need to be doing to support the company.

#2: Stop Avoiding Change

It is all too easy for an incoming CIO to adopt the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mentality. However, even as you read this the world is being changed by the arrival of Twitter, the long rumored Apple tablet PC, etc. Changes of this magnitude mean that everything must be constantly reconsidered by the CIO in order to find ways to allow the company to move faster and perform better.

#3: Stop Doing Projects Based On “Gut Feel”

Microsoft is getting ready to come out with a new operating system. Should the firm upgrade all of its PCs? Good question. The answer lies in another question: how would upgrading those PCs help the company achieve its business goals? Could the money be spent on something else that would do a better job of achieving those goals? It’s the ability to justify projects based on solid business reasons and not “gut feel” that has been missing from the way that CIOs have been doing business.

#4: Stop Spending So Much On Support

We’re not just talking about money here, we’re also talking about time. Everyone seems to be hung up on the 80/20 rule when it comes to support / new business. Over at HP they’ve found a way to do it, so why can’t everyone else?

#5: Stop Supporting Stereotypes Of CIOs

Evans points out that both at the online version of CIO magazine as well as over at Fortune magazine, disparaging things have been said about the role that CIOs play in firms. CIOs need to stand up and push back – as long as reporters and press are allowed to push them around, they will. CIOs need to start to publicize the fact that their departments are powerful enablers that the firm desperately needs in order to stay ahead of the pack.

Final Thoughts

No senior leadership position is easy to perform these days. However, CIOs have the double burden of having to stay in front of a rapidly changing technological wave as well as being intimately connected to what’s going on in the firm’s business. This can be done; however, in order to be successful, CIOs need to stop doing things that produce more harm than good.

Questions For You

How often does your CIO meet with customers: once a week, once a month, or once in a blue moon? Does your CIO talk about change or does he/she actually cause it to happen? Does your CIO have the ability to turn off the technology talk and turn on the business talk? Leave me a comment and let me know what you are thinking.

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         The Accidental Successful CIO Blog is updated.

Coming Up Next Time

The role of a  CIO in any organization is to find ways to enable the company to be more successful. Underlying all of these different ways to assist the business there is one area that every CIO must master first: providing great internal communications. An opportunity to radically transform how a firm’s employees communicate has arrived and it’s time for CIOs to step up and lead the charge…

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Posted in CIO | No Comments »

IT Value: How To Measure The Revenue Of IT

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

IT Departments Produce Revenue, But You Have To Be Careful How You Measure It

IT Departments Produce Revenue, But You Have To Be Careful How You Measure It

What would you say is the biggest challenge that CIOs are facing today? There are a lot of possibilities to choose from, but if I had to put my money on just one issue, I’d choose the fact that all that today’s CIOs seem to get a chance to talk about is costs.

What’s missing here is a way for CIOs to communicate in a company-wide manner just how much value the investments that the company is making in IT are returning – the revenue of IT if you will. HP’s CIO Randy Mott has been facing this problem and he’s come up with a solution to it.

Chris Murphy over at InformationWeek had a chance to sit down with Randy and ask some questions about how he’s gone about communicating the value of IT in his company.

At HP, the IT teams attempt to put a measurable value on the work that they do. In short, it’s the sum of the tangible (hard dollar) and intangible benefits that each IT project delivers in the 12 months just after full implementation is complete.

Randy believes that IT has always produced a revenue; however, we’ve been doing a poor job of capturing the value of what we do. The correct way is to report on the value of an IT project  in such a way that it can be presented to the CFO / CEO / executive committee and have the numbers stand up.

How did HP pull this off? Simple – pre-planning. Before any project starts at HP, a complete cost-benefit analysis is performed and agreed to by both business unit leaders and finance. This means that the numbers are finance numbers – not IT numbers – and so they have credibility with the rest of the business.

So there you go – it is possible to measure the “revenue of IT”. It just takes commitment from both inside and outside of the IT department.

Questions For You

Is your IT department just a cost center? Does your IT department try to measure the revenue that they enable? Are the numbers that they report accepted by the rest of the company? Leave me a comment and let me know what you are thinking.

Click here to get automatic updates when
         The Accidental Successful CIO Blog is updated.

Coming Up Next Time

The world at large believes that CIOs lack the business skills that are needed in order to have a seat at a company’s strategy steering table. If CIOs are to take the reins of the IT department and turn it into the engine that allows the rest of the company to move faster, then there are 5 things that they need to STOP doing…

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Posted in revenue | 1 Comment »

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