Slitz is alive!! Good interview in the Netware Connection magazine. And please Don, Paul, Joe others go to this link and ask him a question. If he answers you get a Porsche...NOT! But you do get some other Novell goodies<g>. Ok, gotta run off to Lamaze class...
My favorite quote from the interview:
"Novell is an industry leader" with an emphasis on is. Hello...hello!!!And if any of you have seen any consistent Novell advertisements on the Web and WSJ as he claims("every week", yeah right how about every DAY) please let me know.
Enjoy
novell.com
John Slitz
Under the Microscope
Few people perform their job under the scrutiny that John Slitz, senior vice president of
marketing, has faced since joining Novell on August 19. Because Novell has been known for
superior technology but weak marketing, customers and Novell employees alike are impatient
for John to fix the problem immediately. Of course, there is no quick marketing fix, but as this
interview shows, John Slitz knows how to solve Novell's infamous marketing problem, and he
has already begun the process.
When NetWare Connection talked to John, he had been with Novell only five weeks, and in
this short period of time, he had already refocused Novell's advertising and restructured
Novell's press relations as part of a comprehensive marketing program. And like Eric Schmidt,
Novell's CEO and president, John is determined to execute Novell's plans. (To find out how you
can ask John your own questions about Novell's marketing efforts, see "Got a Question? John
Slitz Has an Answer.")
NC: How do you convince customers that Novell will be an industry leader going
forward?
John: Novell is an industry leader. I think it's a question of bringing up the real
issues and facts about where the market is going and what Novell is doing
within that market. It is a multistep process: We have to portray Novell as a
viable company--which it clearly is with $1 billion in cash, $1 billion a year in
revenue, almost 5,000 employees worldwide, and a very strong brand. [NetWare]
has a user base of 65 million plus, GroupWise has shot up to more than 8 million
users, and Novell has 25,000 VARs [value-added resellers].
Then you call attention to the fact that Novell understands networking and is in
the midst of a networking revolution. I believe that this networking revolution is
the largest change in information technology since the invention of the
mainframe because the networking revolution is going to change the way people
work and access information and the way systems are designed and
deployed--all of which are moving to a networking model that is inherently
heterogeneous, a model Novell understands.
I think that as we move forward over the next six to eight months, people will
become aware of Novell's strengths. We have launched an aggressive public
relations campaign; we have focused our advertising to get the key
messages--Novell knows networking, and Novell is a viable company that
provides value to customers every day--in front of people on a regular,
consistent basis. We're engaging the industry pundits--the analysts and key
press--as well as key customers with in-depth presentations. We're endeavoring
to show Novell as a company deeply entrenched in networking, extremely
knowledgeable about networking, with products that make sense, work together,
and address key user demands.
NC: What are Novell's advertising plans for the next six months?
John: Advertising is only one component of our marketing program. However, it
is one people tend to focus on. I'm not saying that's wrong; I'm only saying
advertising must be put in perspective within a greater marketing program.
In our advertising, we're going to be focusing on publications that make a
difference to Novell and to our customers. That means trade publications,
various web publications, and web advertising. In a general press sense,
probably only The Wall Street Journal. We need to convince the people who
are in the business of employing networks what Novell is about before we cast a
broader set of advertising messages.
In addition, we are refocusing our public relations to be much more engaged with
industry analysts who make up a lot of the opinion leaders. These analysts feel
that the travails Novell has gone through in the last several years have dealt it a
much more severe blow than has actually happened. Part of this perception has
been exacerbated because Novell hasn't been very forthcoming with these
analysts: When you are having difficulties, you generally don't want to talk
about them.
However, if the analysts are engaged, they are reasonably sympathetic to
Novell, even though some of the things they write may not be. Our job is to
show how Novell has changed and to have a constructive dialog with industry
influencers such as consultants, analysts, and trade press editors. I think that
this effort will bring about a positive change, which will help our advertising in
terms of its pointedness and its believability.
NC: Consistency in advertising has not been Novell's strong point. How will you
ensure that Novell's advertising is consistent?
John: There's an old maxim that the most important thing in real estate is
location, location, location. Obviously, this maxim gets to the core of an issue,
but if you have ever bought a house, you know that you consider other factors:
You want to know how many bedrooms there are, what the square footage is,
whether the house is painted or wallpapered, and so on.
I could say the same thing about advertising: The most important thing about
advertising is consistency, consistency, consistency. But it must also strike a
cord within our target audience, and it must be clearly targeted at our customers.
Consistency and a clearer customer target are not enough. We must also test,
audit, and follow up to ensure that our advertising is effective. The team we have
in place is deeply committed to doing that; I'm deeply committed to giving them
the time and resources to do that.
I'm also deeply committed to not playing with our advertising in the sense that
we're going to run the advertising this month, but we're not going to run it next
month. We will have a base advertising message to our major target audiences
that will run in our major publications every week, every month, year round. If we
have to cut back or make changes because of different situations or
opportunities, we'll do that around the edges of that program, not in the heart of
that program. I think that's how you gain consistency.
NC: Can Novell win against Microsoft?
John: I don't believe it's about winning against Microsoft. I mentioned that I
believe the world is changing. Microsoft is a very successful company that
dominated the last stage of computing, which was all about how you run
applications on desktops. We are moving toward a new market that is inherently
a networking market where Novell has a lot of expertise, a lot of insight.
The networking market is a different situation than an operating system tied to a
set of applications that capture information and don't let it go. When you say
that in one sentence, you realize people don't want that old paradigm anymore.
I thought it was very illustra-tive that we announced BorderManager and
GroupWise [5.2] on time, the same week that Microsoft announced another slip
on its products. Microsoft's stuff is getting harder to do because Microsoft is
extending an old paradigm--that of the desktop--to areas where it doesn't work
very well, which is the networking space.
Novell knows networking; we know how to do it. We're conceiving products and
delivering them to the market within nine months. That's what we did with
BorderManager. That's a very significant achievement while Microsoft is
slipping its products.
"Novell knows networking and is a viable company that provides
value to customers every day."
I understand the idea that you have to beat Microsoft, but in this case, it's not a
closed federation wrestling match in which only one survives. This is a kind of
race where there might be some bumping and shoving around the corners, but
it's who crosses the finish line first. And it's a race Novell is uniquely positioned
to win.
NC: Have you had a chance to talk to Novell's customers yet?
John: Yes, I have probably talked to more customers than people who work for
me. But I think it's important to get a perspective. I've really tried to talk to
developers about our products and to talk to customers about their issues. I've
met with some platinum resellers.
I've really been struck with our customer base. Our customers want us to
succeed. I find that a completely energizing and compelling situation where
people are saying, "I believe in Novell. I may have to buy somebody else's
product from time to time, but I understand that you have delivered for me, that
you are a value to my organization, that you know how to do the things that are
important to me in a networking server. I just wish that you would be more public
about the things you do well."
To a person that I've talked to--and I've talked to some people who are unhappy
with Novell--they want us to succeed. The unhappiness comes from
disappointment because they feel that over the last several years, we have not
managed our opportunities correctly. They're very much buoyed by the idea that
Eric Schmidt is an industry definer. He's more than a leader; he's someone who
understands where our industry is going. They have faith in him, as I do.
But it's not just that. It's the rank and file. It's the CNEs they talk to, it's the sales
representatives they talk to, it's the engineers they talk to, it's the BrainShare
events they go to that tell them Novell has got it mostly right. I believe that as
well and that makes my job as the leader of Novell's marketing efforts a lot easier.
The people who don't currently use Novell don't think ill of Novell; they just
don't understand what our values are in relationship to where the market is
going.
We also have to recognize that the market is changing, which leads to a lot of
confusion. People are really tied to the market they understand--the desktop
market. Novell had a lot to say in that market, but I think Novell moved beyond
that to a greater networking market that is emerging.
In any emerging market, it's easier to look back with fondness on what you
understood than to look forward with trepidation to what's facing you--what's
facing us is a heterogeneous world where high value is placed upon connecting
existing systems and adding additional value. I think Novell is going to do well
at that. I think our customers want us to do well at that. I know our employees
are 150 percent behind us. I think 1998 is going to be a good year for Novell.
NC: Microsoft is extremely good at working with its partners and developers.
What can Novell do to work better with its own partners and developers?
John: I think you keep developers by being honest, by being forthright with
them, and by picking up good partners in the process. Chris Stone, our new
senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, and I both strongly
believe that a partnership is more than a press announcement. We need good,
solid business reasons for the partnership--and there are a lot of good business
reasons to work very closely with partners in general.
We want to ensure that our marketing plans and resources are in place so that
instead of a one-shot announcement, we actually build a relationship that over
time is consistent, measurable, and beneficial for both parties. When we do that
consistently, openly, and honestly with our partners, we will build good
partnerships that are long in duration and deep in their ability to deliver business
benefits both to Novell and to the partnering organization.
In addition, we will be rolling out our Java strategy over the next few months,
and Chris Stone is going to speak authoritatively on how you can have your
cake and eat it, too: how you can run in the best networking environment in the
world and be supported on Windows NT, OS/2, and other platforms. That's what
Java is all about. This idea of write once, run anywhere is a huge advantage to
developers because of the amount of time and money they spend to optimize
around a particular environment when they want to be able to run on all
environments.
We'll support not only our ISVs [independent software vendors] in that effort,
but everybody else's. I believe we will offer ISVs compelling value in increased
access to the new networking market.
NetWare Connection, November 1997, pp. 22-26 |
