Hewlett-Packard says 5,000 more job cuts needed

[p(-)0ENiX]

-Reuters File Photo

Hewlett-Packard says 5,000 more job cuts needed​

AFP - 2013-12-31​

​

NEW YORK: Struggling US computer giant Hewlett-Packard plans to slash 5,000 more jobs than previously announced because of a difficult business environment, a regulatory filing shows.

HP will eliminate 34,000 positions by the end of its fiscal year next October, up from an earlier estimate of 29,000, said a document dated Monday and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The California-based firm, one of the biggest makers of personal computers, is in the midst of a multi-year restructuring to cope with the shift away from PCs to mobile devices.

The company said the increased job cuts were “due to continued market and business pressures.”

That will add 15 per cent to HP's one-time costs for the move, resulting in total charges of $4.1 billion, HP said in the document.

HP posted a profit of $5.1 billion on revenue of $112.3 billion in the fiscal year that ended October 31, compared to a $12.7 billion loss the prior year on revenue of $120.4 billion.

Under chief executive Meg Whitman, HP has shaken up its executive leadership team as part of an effort to regain its footing on a computing landscape being transformed by the popularity of smartphones and tablets.

**********​

 

[Star Wars]

almost 35000 job cuts this year

 

[me_itsme]

I am typing this from HP bangalore at the moment.

 

[p(-)0ENiX]

almost 35000 job cuts this year

Yeah, that's the end result of not keeping up with the times. Dell for instance has managed to introduce some interesting offerings to rival Apple in the portable computing market. However, their customer service in Arabia alongside quality control in my opinion is pretty much crap.

I am typing this from HP bangalore at the moment.

How is everything at HP over there?

 

[me_itsme]

Yeah, that's the end result of not keeping up with the times. Dell for instance has managed to introduce some interesting offerings to rival Apple in the portable computing market. However, their customer service in Arabia alongside quality control in my opinion is pretty much crap.





How is everything at HP over there?

I am in the servers & storage division so we dont handle laptops and stuff, and the business here is pretty good atleast as far as I know.

 

[p(-)0ENiX]

I am in the servers & storage division so we dont handle laptops and stuff, and the business here is pretty good atleast as far as I know.

Ah, when I brought up portable computing in relation to Dell, I was discussing the consumer market of course. According to the article, it's the consumer market where HP faces problems at. The servers & storage division I presume would be serving the enterprise market. That's relativity stable in my opinion because servers are procured for long term usage. What truly matters in that particular market is after sales support, professional software availability, etc.

Off topic:

I think the new Mac Pro is an epitome of great engineering, & a worthy purchase for business customers.

 

[Developereo]

The servers & storage division I presume would be serving the enterprise market. That's relativity stable in my opinion because servers are procured for long term usage. What truly matters in that particular market is after sales support, professional software availability, etc.

I wonder how cloud computing and SaaS would impact the server market, long term.

 

[p(-)0ENiX]

I wonder how cloud computing and SaaS would impact the server market, long term.

At the moment, all we can do is predict the impact of cloud computing & SaaS in the long run. On-demand software as I recall still hasn't got the functionality or power of locally installed applications. Office 365 for instance sounds like a good idea for businesses as a subscription based model, but it's success remains to be seen in the long run. Over here, many companies only upgrade software & devices once they reach the end of the support cycle. That might be less costly for them, but I am not too certain about that. Let's not forget that Internet access is bound to affect the adoption for SaaS.

As far as cloud computing goes, I think it will have a good future. The enterprise market will be probably continue to host their own servers "clouds" for storage as they have done in the past. I don't predict subscription based cloud computing getting too popular for companies that desire to store sensitive content. It is a good service for the general public though. Last I heard, Western Digital has released some networked hard disks that function as a personal cloud once they are connected to a router for the general consumer. That's a pretty good move, & it will manage to hamper the success of subscription services like Dropbox. That's why Apple's iCloud for instance has expanded by infusing software services in to their cloud storage offerings. That's where I predict the competition will get tough, & the winners are likely to be those manufacturers that have their own set of mobile devices & application ecosystems.

 

[Developereo]

At the moment, all we can do is predict the impact of cloud computing & SaaS in the long run. On-demand software as I recall still hasn't got the functionality or power of locally installed applications. Office 365 for instance sounds like a good idea for businesses as a subscription based model, but it's success remains to be seen in the long run. Over here, many companies only upgrade software & devices once they reach the end of the support cycle. That might be less costly for them, but I am not too certain about that. Let's not forget that Internet access is bound to affect the adoption for SaaS.

As far as cloud computing goes, I think it will have a good future. The enterprise market will be probably continue to host their own servers "clouds" for storage as they have done in the past. I don't predict subscription based cloud computing getting too popular for companies that desire to store sensitive content. It is a good service for the general public though. Last I heard, Western Digital has released some networked hard disks that function as a personal cloud once they are connected to a router for the general consumer. That's a pretty good move, & it will manage to hamper the success of subscription services like Dropbox. That's why Apple's iCloud for instance has expanded by infusing software services in to their cloud storage offerings. That's where I predict the competition will tough, & the winners are likely to be those manufacturers that have their own set of mobile devices & application ecosystems.

Companies have been outsourcing back office work to faraway countries for a while, so they seem to be developing a level of comfort with storing sensitive data offshore. Google has also had some success selling its email system as a SaaS to big customers. I suspect software vendors would start pushing the SaaS model and provide incentives for customers to adopt that option. Internet connectivity is good enough already in the developed world.

On the consumer end, Microsoft's "scrooged" ads against Google Chromebook are interesting, and they do make some valid points. Only time will tell whether people care about those points. If people are indeed shifting more to mobile devices, as opposed to desktops, then maybe Google's gamble will pay off. Most ordinary consumers seem to be very cavalier with their personal information anyway, so I doubt they would care for privacy concerns.

 

[me_itsme]

Ah, when I brought up portable computing in relation to Dell, I was discussing the consumer market of course. According to the article, it's the consumer market where HP faces problems at. The servers & storage division I presume would be serving the enterprise market. That's relativity stable in my opinion because servers are procured for long term usage. What truly matters in that particular market is after sales support, professional software availability, etc.

Off topic:

I think the new Mac Pro is an epitome of great engineering, & a worthy purchase for business customers.

Yup you are right, the ESSN or enterprise division is doing much better compared to the pther divisions at the moment, and I handle this new virtual storage system called HP store virtual. This is like Cloud.

 

[Guynextdoor2]

I wonder how cloud computing and SaaS would impact the server market, long term.

it already has. Somehow SaaS has been slower to pick up as a technology than expected. But I guess when the inflexion point is crossed and more legacy systems are abandoned, SaaS will take off like wildfire (take Salesforce.Com as an example)

 

[RayOfLight]

I guess, Job cuts normally starts in US, EU and then comes to Asia because of the cost advantage.

 

[p(-)0ENiX]

Companies have been outsourcing back office work to faraway countries for a while, so they seem to be developing a level of comfort with storing sensitive data offshore. Google has also had some success selling its email system as a SaaS to big customers. I suspect software vendors would start pushing the SaaS model and provide incentives for customers to adopt that option. Internet connectivity is good enough already in the developed world.

On the consumer end, Microsoft's "scrooged" ads against Google Chromebook are interesting, and they do make some valid points. Only time will tell whether people care about those points. If people are indeed shifting more to mobile devices, as opposed to desktops, then maybe Google's gamble will pay off. Most ordinary consumers seem to be very cavalier with their personal information anyway, so I doubt they would care for privacy concerns.

Yes, outsourcing is becoming common among multinationals, but it all depends on the kind of information that needs to be provided to the outsourcing firm. Outsourcing customer support for instance is safer than allowing sensitive information relating to R&D or patents falling in to the wrong hands, even if that simply involves storing files in the cloud. Offering e-mail services as SaaS isn't really new, there are smaller e-mail service providers that do this at the moment for corporations. However, e-mail services are a comparatively simple offering in contrast to lets say an on-demand office suite something that I think Google Docs might evolve in to. Internet connectivity is great in developed countries, but multinationals will be operating in both the developing & developed world.

That's something they are going to have to consider before adopting SaaS. I don't think operating different software & services in accordance to region would be very feasible to them knowing that most SaaS software simply isn't on par with locally installed programs. It's not just about trust though, the reliability of cloud computing, SaaS, personal security, et cetera would require accounting for alongside contingency plans in case of data loss or hardware failure. Yet, there is always going to be use for local software. Storing files locally seems a lot safer psychologically than storing things online. Think of professional tools like video & photo editors, in a professional environment those programs simply can't be replaced at the moment. Google's attempts might pay off in the future when people consider paying for on-demand software acceptable. In the developing world, software piracy is common, & I just don't see many ordinary consumers developing an interest in SaaS any time soon for now.

 

[Sashan]

HP had to go through this phase to reinvent itself as an end to end IT solutions company similar to IBM though it has its servers business not yet threatened by the competition though Dell is making significant inroads in this space. HP is going through what Oracle went through last decade. I think HP will emerge a winner as it has acquired various exciting technology companies like Autonomy, Verrtica, Outerbay, Mercury.