Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd's daughter is 12 and doesn't understand why you can't call a company and get an instant response. She doesn't understand why there isn't a search box on every site.
Good approach. View the world with children's eyes!
Several aspects of her question come to my mind:
- Literally: Why isn't there a search box on every site?
- Why aren't top consulting companies applying state-of-the art Web 2.0 publishing streams on their web sites - years after they recommend their customers to do so? Markets are conversations, remember?
- Why is enterprise software in many cases trapped in 20th century technology and in proprietary developments deployed to local machines?
- Why aren't my technology vendors' online touchpoints integrated with their offline marketing campaigns?
- Why can't I get someone on the phone?
Her daddy's answer: "It's complicated due to legacy infrastructure. Internally, HP is wrestling with its infrastructure as are most of its customers."
Sounds familiar?
"While the cost cutting forges ahead, Hurd noted that HP needs to focus on high-growth areas. One big area is revamping information technology infrastructure to serve a world awash in digital content. HP sees that necessary retooling as an opportunity as a $1.2 trillion market. To get there, HP plans on skewing its product mix more toward software."
Found on ZDNet. Read Between the Lines!
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Related: Eric Schmidt on 'Instant Information' in the NYT: