Joe's Jottings
Jottings Number 50, Reply E, by Stephen Hamilton:
From: uunet!HP6650.desk.hp.com!STEPHEN_HAMILTON
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 96 10:22:00 -0800
Re: Penzias Axiom or the dis-intermediation of everything Joe is right to bring Arno Penzias' chilling thought to our attention. And it is a phenomena as Joe rightly points out that is not restricted to internal IT services. As we struggle in the field with the declining profit margins, the commoditization of technology (Wintel vs RISC/UNIX or is that RISCIX?) we have to face the question what will the value of the direct sales team be in the future? Will that function be disintermediated by technologies such as the Web and full multi-media capabilities? If we think of the sales function as merely an product information provider and an order taker then these functions can clearly be disintermediated (well, if we can solve our order processing / fulfillment issues they can be!!). On-line comparison 'shopping' including benchmarks and demonstrations with electronic ordering are available, though not deployed, today. And what will happen if the customers 'merely' rent MIPS from an information utility? However, if the sales function is a consulting function that creates value through identifying innovative application of technologies to business problems, I feel it will be a long time before this can be disintermediated. As Joe points out as technologies are new there is a great need for pathfinders, and consultants who can help us apply the technology. As the technology matures then Clearly we at HP are in a great position to help our customers understand where the technology is going and how they can apply it to disintermediate their value chain too. But as the technologies become widely available to all players in the industry (HP ? Intel alliance as an example) we have to focus less on the raw box performance and more on the integration of the technologies and business processes. Its a long way from knowing speeds and feeds to understanding how to reshape business with technology. And its a journey our sales teams must make to be successful in the future. Which brings me back to my comments on Joe's recent jotting. Everyone is faced with the dilemma of identifying where they add value in today's business processes, and if that value is one that will endure. Chances are it won't and we will continually have to find new ways to create value for our customers ... or be disintermediated. As many have said before change is the only constant. Stephen