Conference 7.286::digital

>>        In his new role, Gullotti will also have responsibility for 
>>   Digital's Customer Value Chain (CVC) activity and the Computer Special 
>>   Systems (CSS) organization.
  
This is the most interesting part of the announcement.  CSS was part of Digital
Consulting and it appears as though pieces of DC thought to be closely tied
to DEC's core business will be separated.  Is an announcement about DC far
behind?

>         In his new role, Gullotti will also have responsibility for 
>   Digital's Customer Value Chain (CVC) activity and the Computer Special 
>   Systems (CSS) organization.

I'm baffled. The announcement implies CSS still exists; I thought CSS was
completely absorbed into EIS and then eventually DC. 

Well, IMHO, Russ' appointment is very good news for M&L, and Digital.

    Does this imply that the reorganization of territories/geographies is
    being rethought?

    The thing I find most fascinating about this announcement is that
    the appointments were announced by Pesatori, not Palmer.  The tea
    leaves look to me as they're indicating Enrico is being set up to
    take over as head of Digital; if anyone is up to the task, I
    think he is.
    
    					Steve

    Re: .2  CSS definately still exists.  We've changed acronyms and
    parent organizations several times over the past few years, but
    both customers and Sales Reps alike preferred "CSS".

    It appears to me that Enrico made an announcement affecting Sales and,
    since he now owns it, he's the appropriate announcer. As for the CSS
    work/business, I don't see any PC like company (Enrico's style?) that's
    involved in this. ...However, before anyone jumps down my throat, there
    are specific (large) customers that currently expect one stop shopping
    from Digital. By and large however, the commodity sector leaves the
    specials up to the VARs it would seem.

    re .3
    
    hhhmmm ....
    

    re .5
    
    customers et al may prefer CSS, but i would have thought that
    management would have called it the current name, ie EIS.  
    
    Or have i missed another change ?
    
    N.

    re: .8
    
    You have missed a few changes.
    
    In the UK CSS changed to the EIC and then to the SIC and now are the
    PSC (Profesional Service Centre).  At each change we have either lost
    sub-groups or gained/joined other groups.  The PSC's are part of DC.  I
    believe that Annecy are the same but Munich was joined with a small
    company we aquired.  In the USA I think that during one of the changes
    an original part of CSS stayed as CSS and still exists with that name.
    
    After being in "CSS" for 20 years I don't think that the changes in
    names has made that much differance to the work we do.  It's the market
    that has changed.
    
    Mike.  

    Well, i hope that reprinting all the business cards was worthwhile.
    
    N.
    
    p.s.  I didn't see EIS in your potted history (as also mentioned by .2)
    I remember working for them on a few occasions so i know they must have
    existed at one time !
    

>>   <<< Note 3210.3 by DPDMAI::RESENDE "Visualize whirled peas -- RUAUU2?" >>>
                        -< Is there a broader meaning? >-

>>    Does this imply that the reorganization of territories/geographies is
>>    being rethought?


Of course.  We've been told here in NY that ALL plans for FY95 are put on hold
through July.

What's intriguing to me is the fact that Russ' old job was actually filled.  I 
mean, here we have a massive reduction in staff underway and we're maintaining
an inordinately large organizational structure.  For the life of me, I don't
know why we need a "president" of the Americas division.

        I'm more concerned about the other part of this announcement. 
        Digital is bringing in someone that has proven he can lead a
        computer corporation into a Chapter 11 situation, from which it
        probably won't emerge, and placing him in charge of the Americas
        Zone. 
        
        Dave Zaniewski

    re .12
    
    If our previous management did any better, then there would not be a
    change, or a need for a change.
    
    Mr. Pesatori and his management staff for the PCBU accomplished the
    impossible.  After at least ten years and at least three failed
    attempts, Digital is finally a respectable player in the PC business.
    
    Maybe these guys really know what they're doing???  Hell, they can't do
    any worse!  But at least they've demonstrated that they understand the
    computer business today, and they know how to run a business.  

    CSS definitely still exists.  We *have* gone through name changes
    over the years (CSS, to EIS, to Custom Systems PSC, which very recently
    split from DC and now aligns under the Systems Business Unit), but the 
    core business remains the same - developing custom, but repeatable, 
    solutions (hardware/software/service) to meet customer needs (and
    provide profit to the Digital).  
    
    There has been some dispute over going back to the "CSS" name.  Some
    folks try to use CS, but since we keep having to clarify who we are
    by saying "we used to be CSS", most of us just use CSS now.  It
    surprised me, however, to see "CSS" used in this official announcement.
    
    We don't get new business cards with every name change.  Heck, I've
    still got the blue logo ones.
    
    There is a CSS Sales Support Hotline (1-800-TEAM-CSS) to issue quotes
    for repeatable (but low volume, compared to most products) products,
    and field questions regarding our products and services.
    
    We have local Sales Representatives in the districts (we call them
    CS4s - Computer Special Systems Sales Specialists, or more recently
    Custom System's Solution Sales Specialists) to identify CSS
    opportunities and qualify them before engaging our Engineering
    design teams and producing a CSS quote.
    
    There's even a Notesfile for questions regarding CSS products
    (AUSSIE::CSS_PRODUCTS).
    
    I don't know what this announcement will mean to the future of
    CSS.   I personally have a lot of respect for Russ, having worked
    with him years ago, and hope to be part of the continuing evolution
    of CSS and Digital.
    
    Noranne, a Custom Product/Project Manager in CSS
    

    Russ G. has more lives than a two cats put together......
    
    boy this is real creative leadership replenishment.....
    
    A

Re: 14,15

>    Noranne, a Custom Product/Project Manager in CSS
    
Hi Noranne, glad to see you're still around, and it appears that CSS is getting
its "real" name back!

I have a lot of good memories of CSS, back when it was in NUO, ran as 
practically a separate business, and Russ was Mfg. Manager, before he went
to Salem (NIO).

As for Russ G., I suppose not everyone likes him, but I never met a manager
that worked harder, knew more about what he was doing, and was still able to
talk plainly and straightforwardly to his troops. I have a lot of respect for
him, going back to the mid-80's. His career deserves 18 lives (2 cat's).

Obviously, your milage may vary.

John O.

    All of the replies so far have dealt with the impact on M&L.  There is
    also a real message here for Sales.  The continued appointment of
    management with PC and/or Chip backgrounds to Sales management bodes an
    ill wind for our sales force and for our major accounts.  It is a
    continuing push to remove Digital from the "value priced" marketplace.
    To these management types, there is apparently no value to be added by
    DEC that is saleable to our customer base.  Thus, DEC is headed for
    the low cost/no value-added sales model.  Unfortunately, our customers
    have complex problems (like Digital's I.S. problems) and want to deal
    with vendors that can help them solve problems.  And, they ARE willing
    to pay for it.  DEC's problem has not been that it's in the wrong
    business.  It's been that it hasn't responded to the needs of it's
    customers.  In my 8.25 years here, it has been apparent that our
    products are too complex, our business practices are not in line with
    our customer's needs or our competition's offerings, and we've had too
    much fat in the system brought about by matrix management.  Rather than
    fix these problems, our management has chosen to re-discover DEC.  It's
    now magenta "digital" and it will never recover.
    
    I was just TSFO'd this morning.  I'm bitter, but I'll recover.  I wish
    those of you that are remaining on the sinking ship good luck.  Just be
    aware of where this company is going and make sure you want to go with
    it.
    
    CW (who was only 21 months from retirement)

	re: CSS, et. al. alphabet soup

	One of the most silly things I've seen about this company in
	eight years as a customer and four as an employee is how they/we
	always keep changing the names of groups without ever really
	making any significant change in the group itself ... given
	that the customer base doesn't even know that DEC is the same 
	as Digital, why would anybody assume that the latest TLA/FLA
	for some support function has any meaning at all - major joke.

	Pick five or six names (not strings of letters - this is the
	90's) that describe the architypical activities that go into
	running the company and put everyone into those boxes. Next step,
	create an org chart for each group that describes what you need
	to make it work, last put the people who can do that work into
	those positions - fire the two-hundred VP's and the 500-1000
	middle managers left and let us get back to work. Shesh.

	Oops, I was thinking again ... sorry.

	Larry_feeling_cynical_about_the_6-figure_salary_cheerleaders

    Rus is the first person to have been a sales VP at DEC and moved to
    another job. Everyone else has ended their DEC career at that job.
    
    Cant recall all the names now, but Ted johnson, Gerry Moore, Ed Kramer,
    Dave Granger, Jack Shields, Chic Shue.......
    

    re: .-1...
    
    VP's changing places is nothing new here.  Many of those ex-veeps had 4
    or 5 different veep assignments before they got fed up or another
    job or invited to resign or whatever the heck happened to them.  Can't
    recall all the names, just the litany of announcement memos saying " So
    and So, formerly VP of XYZ org., has been appointed VP of PDQ....."
    
    Seems like they were coming out about 2-3 times a week in the last
    months of the K.O. reign.
    
    M.

    Not that this is directly related to Copperman, but I owned stock
    in JWP........35.....34 1/2......20......19.......12......0....
    CRAASSSSSHHHHHHH...... Problem with their financial books....

    
    CSS is definitely alive.  No only do we have an active sales force and
    sales hotline (SST or 1-800-Team-CSS), but the CSS newsflashes and the
    "CSS Focus" monthly newsletter are very popular, with direct
    distributions to over 700 employees, who, in turn, forward the messages
    to their 'circles of influence' within the company.
    
    A good example of a CSS newsflash can be found in this note file, under
    #3172.6.  Whoever submitted that note is not on a direct distribution
    for CSS news.  For some reason (unknown to me), they stripped out the
    CSS headder that accompanies every news message and also the CSS
    contact name (in this case, the SST), and entered the remainder of the
    message.  <I thought notes added from other sources were suppose to
    keep the references in them.>    
    
    As Noranne says (in note #3210.14), our name has changed over the
    years, but our function and focus has remained pretty much the same. 
    I've been with CSS for over 10 years now and it's always been a unique
    place to work.  Even though our name has changed, most of the employees
    and customers and sales reps still think of us as CSS.  
    
    About four years ago (I think it was May of 1990) I did a presentation
    at DECUS titled, "Unique Hardware Solutions."  This was the very first
    time anyone had ever presented Digital's "Custom Solution" business. 
    When I finished talking, the first customer went to the mike and asked,
    "If Digital's been doing custom business for over 25 years, how come no
    one knows about it?"  In answering the question, I mentioned that we
    were the "best kept secret" in all of Digital and that's why we had
    called ourselves "CSS" for years .... that we were the "Computer Secret
    Services" group of Digital!  I jokingly told the audience that now that
    we've been discovered, we've changed our name!   Isn't that how Digital
    operates?  When something works, change it! 
    
    In any case, when the 3 EIC groups merges into one (December 1992), we
    became Custom Systems and Platforms, PSC, and were called CSP/PSC. 
    Then Digital Consulting took us over, and we were called Custom Systems
    and Components.  I've been responsible for all CSS field communications
    since 12/92 and it's been interesting keeping up with terminology.  I
    began using the "CSS" acronym in all our communications since 8/93 ...
    and that makes life much simpler ... most folks know us as CSS and we
    couldn't stop the field from using "CSS" and, neither did the customers
    want to call us anything but "CSS!"
    
    As for comments about Russ Gullotti:  I personally am glad that he 
    is responsible for our group.  I've known him for over 10 years and
    have a great deal of respect for him.  He definitely understands CSS
    and it's value to Digital.
    
    Peggy, CSS Marketing Services Group, Sales Communications 

    Yes, CSS still exists in the hearts of the grunts. IMHO, everyone who
    had something to do with the various name changes should be FIRED!
    
    We had taken the name, CSS and brought it up from trash to something to
    be proud of. Then 'they' had an idea...
    
    We were the bright stars of DEC. 'Hey I have a great idea. Why don't we
    change our name?' [so that I can show I did something] Change for the
    sake of (doing something) change. 'Hey lets change the company
    colors...'
    
    Would Sony change their name to RGB? Of course not, and anyone who
    would suggest something like that would be drummed out of the company!
    
    The good news is that Russ was made by CSS and he knows the business.
    We probably have the highest productivity in the company from the
    numbers that I heard the other day for the group I work in.
    
    
    
    Steve

Re. -1    
    >We were the bright stars of DEC. 'Hey I have a great idea. Why don't we
    >change our name?' [so that I can show I did something] Change for the
    >sake of (doing something) change. 'Hey lets change the company
    >colors...'

	It's like city traffic planners. The previous change to traffic
	circulation / streets / busroutes etc. has hardly been implemented,
	when everything is planned again.

	-That way the planners keep themselves busy.
	-They can't be blamed of the actual results, because the impact
         can't be seen due to new changes.

	But they produce great looking design documents.....
	Pity, that these slides and plans can't be sold ;-(.

--Ritva

I reread -.1 several times and was not sure of the direction of the sarcasm.
Just in case (we in the what ever we are called this week are sensitive) this was
an attack on CSS and the value we bring to the corporation, let me strutt some
of our stuff. Last week we certed almost 19 million dollars worth of "CUSTOM"
stuff, which contributed to a quarter of certs of almost 110 Million. We are
traditionally 20% of the total US certs and all from a group who nobody knows
the name of. Much can be said about the value that we add in some of the orders
that come our way verses the certs credit we are claiming but there is a signif-
icant part of that 110 million that would not have been sold had it not been for 
the brilliant rack mount and packaging engineering talent that we bring to bear
on our product line, or the low volume, high tech solutions of emerging businesses
that we bring along such as Digital Voice Products, or the totally custom, off the
wall engineering designs that go far beyond the confines of Digital product to
solve our customers problems.

CSS is alive and well and smelling great no matter what our name is. Russ is
a godsend, after all, it was partially his success with CSS that made him a VP,
a point I am sure he has not forgotten. Now he (and CSS) are in a position to
really join the systems business units and support them and the field and our
customers in a way we are capable of.

OK enough soapboxing. Just that I am damn proud of my groups efforts and damn
tired of individuals not entirely in the know taking pot shots at us.

Joel,  Custom opportunity manager, CSS or what ever our name is

    and just to add my 2-bits worth regarding CSS...
    
    These guys are good, I deal with them on a regular basis due to my
    position as an on-site resident at <insert Large AeroSpace Company name
    here>. I service our products built into a ground defense style radar
    system, and it's one hell of a system! CSS worked with the customer to
    design and configure it, the radar performance went up about a
    bazillion percent and now they are being installed all over the planet.
    
    Without CSS, Digital would not have been a player in this multi-million
    dollar deal. Keep up the good work...
    
    .mike.

    RE. -.1
    Thanks for the kind words Mike, in fact, double thanks since the Radar
    design of which you speak was one of wins I handled personally. We do
    have a great bunch of talented engineers and the premium price a
    customer pays for our services usually winds up saving them time which
    is the biggest cost factor there is.
    
    Bring on the opportunitites......
    
    Joel

    Rumor (confirmed in my opinion) is that Russ has quit and is leaving
    for a CEO position in the midwest.  Another sad day at Digital!

    Kevin