NW -
re: do you think MC gets it?
Having never met the man, I can only go by what I read, and the changes taking place in CPQ. So far I have the following data points:
Some senior MSFT executives who met with him last fall were very impressed, and said that he has great "drill-down strength" which is micro-speak for an ability to deliver substantive detail below a piece of puffery like "everything to the internet". They claimed that in over an hour of question and answer that he was able to go to any level of detail in either the technical or business space on his programs, and was both confident and well grounded. They think he "gets it"...
We saw the introduction of the iPaq in October - this product was described as a 90-day development. One of Capellas' stated goals when he took over as CEO was to shorten development times, and 90 days sure seems like about as short as it can get. It also means that he worked both the business and technical implications, at least at a high level, in a matter of weeks, since the project would have been approved even before he became CEO. I happen to think that is a nearly perfect product both from a tactical and strategic point of view.
The inacom deal was also cut pretty quickly. CPQ had fooled around with the whole BTO versus channel question for 2 years. Right or wrong, they are now down the path to have that capability almost immediately. Again, decisive action to cut through the logjam.
The areas where I am more concerned seem to also be the areas where most are focused - cutting costs quickly without throwing the baby out with the bath. We'll see if there is continuing progress on that front this quarter. If not, I would say that Capellas is falling victim to the same problem that put CPQ in trouble in the first place, carrying too much of everything. CPQ needs to prune aggressively. |
