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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spartex who wrote (23559)	8/22/1998 4:23:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 42771

Coffee Break With: Sheri Anderson, CIO, Novell -- Maintaining Credibility There's no doubt that during her three-year tenure at Novell-the struggling network software giant lost $78.3 million last year-Sheri Anderson, the company's CIO and senior vice president, has had her work cut out for her. Anderson recently spoke with InternetWeek contributor Rivka Tadjer about the internetworking marketplace, Novell's struggle to stay in it and her focused management ideas. Tadjer: What is your big-gest challenge in terms of products? Anderson: To re-establish relevance in the market. We need to reconnect with customers, taking our historical strengths and installed base and leveraging that into the Internet space. Tadjer: What's IT's role in delivering products? Anderson: Critical to my strategy is making sure that Novell as a company is the test bed for any new Novell product. We play the role of the first customer so we can say, with credibility, that our products have been tested. Tadjer: How did you get top brass to give you the time? Anderson: We-the IT department-have to demonstrate to engineering that we can add value and that we're on their side, so we're careful to give engineering quality feedback and not to overload them with trivialities. I also have to do a lot of in-house marketing. We have to tell people, "Hey, remember when the network went down? Well, guess what we found? Good thing our customers won't have to deal with that, because we caught it and can fix it before we sell it." It sounds corny, but it's so necessary. Tadjer: How much do you budget for training? Anderson: I can't give you budget numbers, but let's just say that time, not money, is the obstacle for my team. We have aggressive timetables for product rollout and service, so what I do is try and leverage the training we get. I'll send one person for a particular kind of training, designate that person as expert and then have him or her teach others. We also have a "lunch-and-learn" program, which is an informal "anyone-who-wants-can-attend" lunch-hour discussion to learn about products and techniques. I believe that it is key to institutionalize all training. One thing I've learned, though, is that in the applications area, formal, outside training-as much of it as you can get-is still necessary. Tadjer: How do you keep morale up? Anderson: First, it's clarity, clarity, clarity-what are we doing and how do we contribute to the company's success. Second is recognition. For each of the six new products we're working on, we have objectives posted around the company so everyone can see who on my team is working on it and what they're doing every step of the way. Third-and maybe most important-is a reward system. All 200 employees who work for me have stock options. We also have a quarterly bonus system. And now we're developing what we call the President's Award. This award will be granted to employees who are leading the way. It's special recognition of people who are making significant contributions and who are passionate and committed. All nominees will be chosen by fellow employees and winners will receive a large stock grant. Keeping people motivated and happy is my job, really. That, and making sure my people know I'll go to bat for them. techweb.com