lynne -
CPQ becoming the IBM for the new millenium? Please pass me the smelling salts
Great comments. CPQ had better be the replacement for IBM. The danger would be that they become them.
This reminds me of the old joke about European union that was current about 10 years ago. 'how do you think it will work out', a reporter asked one diplomant. He responded:
'Heaven is where the French do the cooking, the english design the clothes, the germans run the trains, the swiss do the banking and the italians create all the art.'
'Hell is where the english do the cooking, the swiss design the clothes, the italians run the trains, the french do the banking and the germans create all the art.'
'It all depends on how they put it together'.
The potential for CPQ is a lot like that. It all depends on how they put it together.
CPQ's management style - very lean, lots of local empowerment - is the opposite of IBM's. One of CPQ's current issues is that it is also the opposite of DEC's, and it will take some time to sort through the bloated DEC middle management structure and get to the CPQ model.
And it's not just DEC that has to change - CPQ is changing too. what will come out the other end will be a company that is not like any of the components. If the CPQ management does well, the new company will have the technology and services strength of DEC and Tandem with the nimble 'run and gun' management style of the old CPQ. They would eat HP and IBM alive if they did that.
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