Joe,
Thanks for your ideas. I'll suggest (to those in charge) making bios and responsibilities more widely available.
Willy Donahoo's sole responsiblity is for marketing IntranetWare. Since the departure of Christine Hughes, there has not been a Corporate Marketing VP. And I don't think Willy ever had even a dotted line to her. However, Joe (Marenji) shares your view. He believes "One Novell" is a strong Novell. He's already flattened the organization and consolidated a number of the product groups. IMO, hiring a new VP of Corporate Marketing, one that could get some synergy by focusing the marketing efforts, would come just after hiring a new CEO.
You're right Joe, Donahoo may share the same title of "100 or so" but his responsibilities (and visibility) differ from the masses. I think by virtue of backing up so many VPs through the years, Willy has developed his share of scar tissue. He's become trusted enough to speak in behalf of the company, but still gets his marching orders from group V.P. Denise Gibson.
In defense of Novell's marketing effort, I agree we've got a long way to go. But I also think the company has come a long way in just the last year. For example:
-- The open Beta program
-- The Early Access Technology Releases (EAR)
-- The Software Connection Library (NSCL) (Bundle of CDs that carry *all* of Novell's products (100-user, no time-bomb), much of the beta and early access technologies sent to partners (resellers) every quarter.)
-- $20 million in advertising per quarter (unheard of a year ago)
-- Early access to information and product direction (Green River, Moab, Park City, Kayak, Jefferson Project, Proxy Caching, Virtual Private Network (VPN), Z-file services).
Thanks again for the suggestions, Joe.
Kevin |
