@ec Well said.
OT knows nothing about Enterprise Cyber selling. OT has spent its time removing those that did and replacing them with a bunch of people who haven’t the faintest idea on what it takes to actually close an Enterprise level deal.
A fresh Enterprise level sale takes between 18 and 36 months to close. Which is why OT Cyber is done.
The Cyber lights are on, but nobody of any capability is still at home.
@ex Well, at least Brian isn’t overreacting.
@eq "I’m in favor of execution and maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight," -- Brian Kelly
@ec Four Cyber reps on one enterprise account in four years says a lot. At some point you can’t keep calling it an “execution problem” when the organization keeps changing the people expected to execute. Constant churn resets relationships, destroys continuity and then conveniently gives management another person to blame when the numbers don’t improve. Eventually you have to ask whether the problem is the reps or the system they’re being asked to operate in. I’d bet the house on the latter.
Frankly, I think shareholders need to stop accepting “execution” as though it somehow exists independently of management. Who owns execution? Who designs the organization? Who sets the strategy, changes the structure, establishes the targets and decides who stays and who goes? Leadership does.
If the people keep changing but the same problems remain, maybe shareholders should start looking at the one variable that isn’t being replaced nearly as often: the people at the top.
You can restructure, reduce headcount and talk about improving execution quarter after quarter, but eventually revenue tells the truth. If supposedly Core growth businesses continue shrinking, shareholders should be asking much tougher questions of Ayman and the executive team rather than assuming another round of cost reductions constitutes a turnaround.
@d3 cyber is a basket case in Europe. Poor management and very little execution with teams working in silos, running amateur hr sales plays, skipping sales steps(pressure to close) and /then very quick to point the finger with continuous change in personal not helping, one enterprise account iam involved in has had 4 cyper reps in 4 years!!
@d3 You're only predicting business as usual at opentext.
Here's what worries me about the ITOM and Cyber numbers. OT describes Content, Business Network, ITOM and Enterprise Cybersecurity as the Core businesses that drive growth. Yet in Q1, ITOM fell 12.3% and Enterprise Cyber fell 12.4% YoY.
Management's response wasn't that these businesses are expected to remain in decline. AA said every Core category is expected to grow for FY27, including ITOM and Cyber, with improvement expected each quarter from here. That's a very public commitment.
My personal view is that if the revenue turnaround doesn't happen quickly, the alternative route to preserving financial performance will be more aggressive cost reduction. I wouldn't be surprised at all if ITOM and Cyber end up under particularly heavy scrutiny.
I don't have inside information that layoffs are coming to those groups. But when two "Core growth" businesses are declining at double-digit rates, while the company is simultaneously executing a savings program targeting roughly $580M annually, I don't think it's unreasonable to connect the dots and ask where additional savings could come from.
This is what concerns me about the current version of "growth." Cutting expenses can improve margins, EPS and cash flow. It can make the financial picture look better. But cost reduction is not the same thing as growing a technology business. Eventually the revenue line has to prove the strategy is working.
If ITOM and Cyber are still declining materially over the next few quarters, my guess is that the response won't just be another PowerPoint about execution. The pressure to take costs and people out of those businesses could become very real.
Lots more after them earning results for Q1.
@ax where are you getting that date from
November 9th.
@OP Looking at history, cuts here are forever and always. The financials this week will be your clue to the magnitude in the near future.