In her keynote at HP World, Carly Fiorina acknowledged customers' competing demands for better technology at less cost—and took some sharp jabs at competitors Dell and IBM.
ATLANTA—Hewlett-Packard Co.s Adaptive Enterprise
initiative is not "magic pixie dust [or] magic
binoculars," but a strategy that already has proven
its value in the companys acquisition of Compaq
Computer Corp., according to HP Chairman and CEO Carly
Fiorina.
Talking to several thousand customers and partners
here at HP World, Fiorina said the steps that HP is
now pushing out to customers are the same ones the
Palo Alto, Calif., company used to squeeze $3.5
billion in savings and to cut its supply chain costs
over the past year.
In a keynote speech that acknowledged customers
competing demands for better technology at less
cost—and offered some sharp barbs at competitors Dell
Inc. and IBM—Fiorina said that the Adaptive Enterprise
strategy is the clearest example of HPs commitment
to offering technology that improves the way
enterprises do business.
"We are a technology company. Innovation is our
lifes blood," she said, adding that the company wants
to offer "high tech, low cost [and] the best total
customer experience."
Its that focus that separates HP from its
competitors, she said. Fiorina quipped that Dells announcement that it was getting into the plasma TV business is an example of
what the company does best.
"I think there is a reason they took the word
computer out of their name," Fiorina said. "Theyre
not a technology company. I think theyre a
distribution company."
IBM offers high quality, but at a high cost.
"IBM is high tech, high cost, and—when we speak to
customers—a mediocre total customer experience,"
Fiorina said.
Through its Adaptive Enterprise initiative, HP is
offering what customers are looking for: a way to
link their IT infrastructure to their business
processes so that their technology can quickly adapt
to their business demands.
"There is no separation between technology and
business," she said.
In addition, business executives are demanding that
there is a clear return on their IT dollars, Fiorina
said. They want to see what their money is doing for
their company.
"It has to be an investment that is transparent and
that delivers," she said. "It can no longer be a
science experiment, a secret handshake."
Thats why it was important for HP to try out its
strategy before introducing it to the industry,
Fiorina said. Now businesses know that what HP is
offering in it Adaptive Enterprise initiative—from
its Darwin reference architecture to its Unified Data
Center offering and services support—not only can
work, but already has, she said.
HP is not the only vendor pushing such a plan. IBM is
offering its on-demand computing strategy, and Sun
Microsystems Inc. has its N1 initiative, all of which
have the same goals of creating an IT infrastructure
that is simplified and flexible.
The key to HPs offering, she said, was that it doesnt
require enterprises to throw out what they already are
using, or to change course. It starts with an
assessment of a business IT infrastructure and
involves software, hardware and services that can
create a more virtualized data center.
"It is something that can be achieved in wherever
you start and achieved in a step-by-step basis," she
said.
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