In my very first blog on The Directive, I wrote a not-so-nice article about Mark Hurd, the CEO of HP. The blog was a reaction to Hurd’s major cutbacks in HP’s R&D expenditures, and the idea was that by cutting back on R&D programs, HP would lose its innovative edge and corner itself into commoditized markets. I find myself perplexed by Hurd again. I have nothing against the man, or the company he leads. In less than 12 hours from publishing this article, I’ll be buying an HP laptop, so there.
This isn’t about laptops though. How much innovation is left in laptops? Or margins for that matter?
In a Q&A with Gartner analysts this week, Hurd made some comments about cloud computing that need major PR damage control. In a nutshell, he said that he doesn’t trust cloud computing due to security issues, and that if HP CIO, Randy Mott, had a big idea and wanted to put general ledger and accounting in the cloud, Hurd “would send him back to work.” He added, “We have 1,000 hacks a day and I can’t tell you why, but they keep showing up. We wouldn’t put anything material in nature outside the firewall.”
Really?!
This, coming from the CEO of a company that is heavily pushing cloud computing into the enterprise markets, and boasts articles and brochures about “Cloud Assure” for “enabling business confidence in the cloud.”
Wouldn’t you know, I have a few thoughts on this.
Thought #1. HP needs to think about why its customers should believe in cloud computing if HP’s own CEO doesn’t. Sales rule #1: believe in what you’re selling.
Thought #2. Millions of internet users trust in their banking and brokerage firms keeping their financial data in the clouds. If Fidelity and Wells Fargo have figured out how to keep client data securely in the clouds, shouldn’t HP be miles ahead of them? This is the company that’s developing the technologies for cloud computing in their R&D labs.
Thought #3. I work out of a small office on a single computer (sometimes two), and I get hacked several times a day (I know this because my computer is set to alert me with that annoying ding whenever a hack has been attempted). I have relatively inexpensive software to protect my computer and my data. 1,000 hacks a day on HP? I’m sure someone at HP’s IT can figure out how to deal with this. You can’t control the problem, but you can control the solution.
Thought #4. Cloud computing is here to stay. Instead of open expressions of doubt about this market and related technologies, shouldn’t Hurd discuss how HP is working to alleviate the problems in this relatively nascent market through innovation and technological excellence?
Thought #5. Google will lead the way and leave the rest in the dust. Enough said.
Thought #6. HP needs to ponder Thought #1, really really hard.
HP is on my radar screen because I followed the company’s product line competitively for many years. I have the highest regards for the company and its culture, but I want the company to show some signs of innovation again.
Bring back “HP invent” any time!
Showing posts with label technology innovation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology innovation. Show all posts
October 22, 2009
August 6, 2009
How patents can benefit small businesses (yes, yours too!)
Before I started working with Corporate America, I thought patents were exclusively reserved for mad scientists and geniuses, those who spend hours in a laboratory mixing chemicals, and blow up the lab and burn half their hair in the process. A patent workshop at Xerox, my first real employer out of college, was my first exposure to patents and patent protection. Xerox had good reasons to encourage its employee base to focus on patents. The company had grown fat off of its xerography patents for decades, and the year the main patents ran out, the Japanese had very competitive products sitting on the shelves all over US.
Point #1: Patents can protect your business from competition. That translates to revenues and profits for you, and more work for your competition.
Years after that workshop, I landed a marketing job at a small company with a handful of patents. There, I saw (and fully unleashed) the PR power of patents. Every sales presentation, press release, data sheet, and outbound communication was peppered with mentions of our patents and patent-pending technologies that we licensed to large corporate clients. Not only the patents firmed up a tight niche for our technologies by fending off competition, they also helped us present our smallish group as the innovative elites in the field: you really want our technologies, because we were the geniuses who came up with them first!
Point #2: Patents can be optimally used in marketing and PR because of the elite factor associated with them. Use this to your advantage!
Through various consulting and business ventures, I got more and more entrenched with companies developing intellectual properties (which eventually became a niche for my own services) – companies ranging from the third largest patent holder in the world at the time, to mad scientist outfits mixing chemicals day in and day out. I ended up with a few patents of my own. And here’s the kick – it all happened by accident. I wasn’t thinking about developing patents. I was developing a program that I thought was unique and clever, and the next thing I knew I was sitting across the table from patent attorneys filling out the documents.
Point #3: Patents are often the result of unplanned activities that are easily overlooked. Pay attention any time a new idea is put on the table and ask yourselves: can we patent this?
One of the small companies I worked with developed light conducting chemicals and LED patents. The founder of the company had many patents under his belt and continued to produce more. Despite the best efforts of those around him, the company eventually folded without a viable product or client base due to poor business execution.
Point #3: Patents protect your business but don’t build it. You still need to execute.
I’ve made a habit of asking potential clients about their patent portfolio – within the first 10 minutes. It makes a huge difference to me whether or not the client is cognizant of the power of their own innovation or what they can do with it. Not too long ago, I sat across the table from the CEO of a small software company who lamented lowered sales “because of the bad economy”. Or so he thought. Turns out they had developed very unique web technologies without patenting them. They had a good run until a couple of overseas outfits developed identical technologies and attacked their customer base with no licensing fees and very low royalties. Last I checked, a few of the top executives were connecting to recruiters on LinkedIn. OOPS!
Point #4: Read point #1 – over and over again.
Point #5: If you think securing patents is an expensive proposition, read point #4 – over and over again.
During the recent downturn, even as hordes of small companies are shutting down, those with patent portfolios have edged out those without. Although venture capital funding is down by 63% so far this year, the market for buying intellectual properties and patent portfolios is as hot as ever. Those money people don’t cease to realize the power of innovation and are actively purchasing intellectual properties and patent portfolios of distressed companies. So even in death, companies can realize the benefits of their patents.
I hate to end this blog post talking about the death of companies. So get to work, execute, and … read point #1 – over and over again.
Point #1: Patents can protect your business from competition. That translates to revenues and profits for you, and more work for your competition.
Years after that workshop, I landed a marketing job at a small company with a handful of patents. There, I saw (and fully unleashed) the PR power of patents. Every sales presentation, press release, data sheet, and outbound communication was peppered with mentions of our patents and patent-pending technologies that we licensed to large corporate clients. Not only the patents firmed up a tight niche for our technologies by fending off competition, they also helped us present our smallish group as the innovative elites in the field: you really want our technologies, because we were the geniuses who came up with them first!
Point #2: Patents can be optimally used in marketing and PR because of the elite factor associated with them. Use this to your advantage!
Through various consulting and business ventures, I got more and more entrenched with companies developing intellectual properties (which eventually became a niche for my own services) – companies ranging from the third largest patent holder in the world at the time, to mad scientist outfits mixing chemicals day in and day out. I ended up with a few patents of my own. And here’s the kick – it all happened by accident. I wasn’t thinking about developing patents. I was developing a program that I thought was unique and clever, and the next thing I knew I was sitting across the table from patent attorneys filling out the documents.
Point #3: Patents are often the result of unplanned activities that are easily overlooked. Pay attention any time a new idea is put on the table and ask yourselves: can we patent this?
One of the small companies I worked with developed light conducting chemicals and LED patents. The founder of the company had many patents under his belt and continued to produce more. Despite the best efforts of those around him, the company eventually folded without a viable product or client base due to poor business execution.
Point #3: Patents protect your business but don’t build it. You still need to execute.
I’ve made a habit of asking potential clients about their patent portfolio – within the first 10 minutes. It makes a huge difference to me whether or not the client is cognizant of the power of their own innovation or what they can do with it. Not too long ago, I sat across the table from the CEO of a small software company who lamented lowered sales “because of the bad economy”. Or so he thought. Turns out they had developed very unique web technologies without patenting them. They had a good run until a couple of overseas outfits developed identical technologies and attacked their customer base with no licensing fees and very low royalties. Last I checked, a few of the top executives were connecting to recruiters on LinkedIn. OOPS!
Point #4: Read point #1 – over and over again.
Point #5: If you think securing patents is an expensive proposition, read point #4 – over and over again.
During the recent downturn, even as hordes of small companies are shutting down, those with patent portfolios have edged out those without. Although venture capital funding is down by 63% so far this year, the market for buying intellectual properties and patent portfolios is as hot as ever. Those money people don’t cease to realize the power of innovation and are actively purchasing intellectual properties and patent portfolios of distressed companies. So even in death, companies can realize the benefits of their patents.
I hate to end this blog post talking about the death of companies. So get to work, execute, and … read point #1 – over and over again.
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