JDRogers: Thanks for the annual meeting synopsis.
I know many of the ex-employees who were probably at that meeting. I'll bet if I named 3 names, one of them would be the one who asked the most questions. Or, if not the most in number, at least the most direct-and-to-the-point questions.
I was intrigued by the question about staff attrition. Actually, it was the answer to that question that intrigued me. "Viasoft may even be able to entice certain prior Viasoft employees to return to the company". Oh, really? From what I hear out of the mouths (and emails) of several of the people who left, the entire company no longer resembles the place they used to enjoy working. The initial entrepreneurial go-getter types have been leaving for many months, leaving the ones behind who are happy to have a job and won't rock the boat by stating firm opinions on how to make the company go. The result is a mediocre company. If Viasoft is somehow going to change the employment culture to make those go-getters feel welcome again, I'd love to see how they do it. I'll give them a hint ... at no charge ... monthly "theme parties" designed to develop teamwork is not the way to do it. That might work in those management books written by MBAs, but in a real life R&D company, it won't. You need strong, dynamic leadership. Leaders who are empowered to make decisions without having to sit through countless committee meetings. Viasoft is a small company that will have to grow to survive. The big company "status quo" mentality won't cut it.
So, the Y2K mainframe revenue is dead, and the Euro is not a strategic revenue source? Well, since it takes a long time to develop new software products, I wonder what they're going to do to grow their revenues? Looks like the services arm will have to take over for a while. First it was a Development company, then services were brought in to leverage the products. That didn't work as well as expected, so the services were cut back and focus was on product sales again. This happened a couple of times. Now, Viasoft has a Worldwide Services Manager. Why do I suddenly have this vision of a pendulum swinging back and forth?
I shall remain hoping for the best, but expecting mediocrity.
Best of luck to Viasoft employees and stockholders.
Regards,
TED |
