Steven Zolman

Feb. 17,2011

Due to Microsoft’s fiscal year-end in June, we see more agreement renewals in June than any other month of the year. As many customers prepare for their renewal evaluations, they should keep in mind these important topics. 1) Desktop virtualization promises reduced TCO, faster, easier application upgrades and better security management. Almost every enterprise is interested in these topics, but full-scale deployments are rare. Most clients are in the early stages of considering various methods of virtualization, though some enterprises are doing small-scale tests, while a few others have rolled out deployments to certain functional groups. ...

Steven Zolman

Feb. 17,2011

You've been held captive by inflexible, inscrutable and inexplicable software licensing arrangements by likewise uncooperative, unsupportive and unabashedly shameless software suppliers. And, unfortunately, you seem to have Stockholm Syndrome-esque tendencies when it comes to escaping these predatory arrangements and ruthless relationships. [Because it's crass to suggest that software licensees should be likened to actual hostages whose very lives are threatened, I think it important to note that my supposition in this article is not meant to demean or otherwise belittle the suffering of those actually held hostage.] You've been held captive ...

Steven Zolman

Jan. 31,2011

You Don't Need Us. Or Do You? Some prospective clients may believe they have all the right answers, get the best deals, have the best terms and conditions, have the best supplier relationships, manage their contracts and suppliers effectively, and therefore don't need services like ours. If you're of this belief, please consider the following. We offer a full scope of services to help clients improve sustainable value from their IT investments, but let's consider just one small area of IT Optimization for the purposes of illustration. Supplier configurtation options and pricing models can create vast consumer inequities. Even a simple ...

Steven Zolman

Dec. 18,2010

Achieving commercial business success in a volatile global marketplace requires the vision to continually shape and re-shape the negotiation process and the ability to continually engineer and re-engineer the desired outcomes. This needs to be done, despite the obstacles that are in your way, and the obstacles that are placed in your way after your goals and objectives are known. Most of our clients agree that they must constantly negotiate to create and capture value and structure that value into complex agreements. This challenge becomes exponentially more difficult when dealing with suppliers with power in vertically integrated solutions, ...

Steven Zolman

Nov. 16,2010

Every organization is hopeful that it will see a point where its IT investments achieve optimum value. This Optimum Value Point is the point where three axes intersect. On the “X” axis, you’ll find the capabilities of an organization to leverage technology to drive tangible business value, on the “Y” axis, you’ll find the supplier’s ability to understand the client’s business challenges, and their subsequent ability to architect and configure a solution in the way that maximizes strategic value for the intended use. On the “Z” axis, you’ll find the ability to maximize the economic and strategic value by way of industry best pricing and terms ...

Steven Zolman

Nov. 12,2010

We don't often discuss topics of morality in business, and we think that's both a shame and a serious governance error. What are the characteristics of a "fair" business deal? Is there value in "holding the moral high ground" in a negotiation? What does "moral high ground" even mean, in the context of a large business transaction? Let's take a typical Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) contract renewal as a case study. For most EA customers, the proposed renewal order would consist almost entirely of Software Assurance (SA) coverage for the client’s existing licenses. New licenses are typically added during the annual True-Up process, and ...

Steven Zolman

Oct. 20,2010

New CEO Leo Apotheker is already off to a questionable start as HP’s new CEO. He hasn’t even started his new job yet (he starts on November 1), but what does he plan to do on day one? Well, he’ll be starting his new career in the cross-hairs of Oracle’s lawyers, as a witness in a courtroom in Oracle’s corporate espionage trial against SAP as he’s been called as a witness. SAP doesn’t deny the wrongdoing of former subsidiary TomorrowNow, but is simply disputing the amount of the damages. Clearly, Oracle’s goal will be to find out how much Leo knew about this, and when he knew it in an attempt to discredit him as much as possible amid ...

Steven Zolman

Oct. 18,2010

On September 30, HP announced its highly anticipated replacement of ousted CEO Mark Hurd with the appointment of former (fired) SAP CEO Leo Apotheker taking the helm, effective November 1, 2010. Once again, the HP board shocks many experts. The HP board has a long history of bungling many high profile situations, and unlike any other organization I can think of, the board has become notorious not only in the minds of many experts, but also in the minds of many normal professionals in the industry. Seemingly, the HP board missed the mark yet again. They had several good internal candidates including PC and consumer business leader Todd ...

Steven Zolman

Oct. 15,2010

If HP was a coyote, it would seemingly chew off its three good legs, leaving its one bad leg still stuck in the trap. Leg 1 You may remember the Carly Fiorina fiasco? The embattled former leader of HP was fired by HP’s board after persisting disagreements about how to execute HP’s strategy could no longer be reconciled. It played out like a bad reality TV show until she was eventually voted off the island in disgrace. Her consolation prize? About a gazillion dollars in severance pay. Nice moves all around, board – NOT. Leg 2 Patricia Dunn was then named as Chairperson of the Board, and presided over a spying scandal, designed to drive out ...

Steven Zolman

Oct. 15,2010

HP’s board has been widely criticized for the ousting of former CEO Mark Hurd. After initially publicizing accusations of sexual harassment, HP had to acknowledge that it actually found that Hurd did not violate the company’s policy on sexual harassment. In a Martha Stewart like moment, it then switched the crime from the actual crime itself, to lying about the investigation of the crime – with a focus on Hurd’s alleged fudging of some expense report information. The bottom line is that the board wanted Hurd out, and they didn’t want to take a stand on anything material, so they wussed out and picked on an administrative detail. In our book, ...