Marty indreboe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
>Well, it mine turn to comment on the hp philosophy.....
 
>I used to work for HP in the field as an Se in the early 1980's...
 
>Customers ARE Still first,  the difference is that profit
>was added to the picture...
 
Customers were never FIRST. When I joined HP in the field as an SE in
1977 it was made plain that profits came first but the best way to
make profit was to keep customers happy. This did not mean saying yes
to every request - just making sure the customer believed he was
important.
 
>HP Still believes that you MUST treat customers well
>in order to be profitable.  Therefore they understand that if
>you do not make them happy you do not attain profit over the
>long haul.  Hence and ergo, customers are first.
 
This is true from the field point of view but divisions have always
been PROFIT centers. Their goal is to make profits - full stop. If
they don't they disappear. The profits come from selling NEW products
not from any support work (that is where the field make their
profits). So the only customers who are really important are FUTURE
customers of your products and to a smaller degree CURRENT customers
who may buy newer addons. As far as enhancements are concerned these
are for NEW customers not to really satisfy OLD customers.
 
>To view it from another angle, and this will get them screaming...
>HP now recognises that you can not put EVERY CUSTOMER first.
 
No but you can make most of them believe that you do! That is more the
change - HP now appears to let you know that your ideas, hopes,
aspirations are of no consequence to them. Unless you back it up with
big bucks.
 
>I do not know if this is what Larry is trying to say or what HP
>is trying to say, but it is my opinion.....
 
>marty Indreboe
>Proactive Systems, Inc
 
I have arrived at these opinions more and more since leaving HP just
over 8 years ago and now being independant I find that this applies
even more.
 
Martin JD Green
viridian email: [log in to unmask]