Conference 7.286::digital

    There is a lot of truth in this, although there are interpretations to
    be made base on a possibly minor typographical error.
    
    *exiting* times ahead - I think we are going through lots of exits
    right now,
    
    *exciting* times ahead - remember the ancient Chinese curse "May you
    live in interesting times".  This is probably as accurate.  Digital has
    been unnecessarily exiting or exciting for quite a while now.  Before
    th
    
    Martin

>    Creating a 'virtual' corporation where only 'managers' are employed,
>    to 'manage' all outsourced non-core activities.
>    Believe me, this will establish a new breed of managers.
>    No longer people need to be managed, but BUSINESS itself, through 

  Yes, this is the ultimate out-sourced company. And there are lots of companies
in the U.S. that are like this; that's why the term "virtual corporation" was
coined.
  Virtual coporations may work in some industries such as shoes, but I don't
think it will work for Digital. 

re:       <<< Note 3357.2 by TOOK::MORRISON "Bob M. LKG1-3/A11 226-7570" >>>

|  Yes, this is the ultimate out-sourced company. And there are lots of companies
|in the U.S. that are like this; that's why the term "virtual corporation" was
|coined.
|  Virtual coporations may work in some industries such as shoes, but I don't
|think it will work for Digital. 

Please name some of the many U.S. companies that are "virtual corporations".
Thanks.

MS

    Re .3- some virtualcorporations.
    
    How about AMBRA? Its an IBM division, was published somewhere tht they
    had only 64 employees, all else is contracted.

IBM pulled the plug on Ambra about three weeks ago.

A friend sent good-bye mail stating that the company to which he was going 
was getting rid of their contractors and hiring permanent people.  The reason
was "they're tired of seeing the business-specific knowledge walk out of 
the door."  So it seems that the pendulum is swinging back for at least
some of the companies who've tried outsourcing and have learned from it.
Why is it that it seems like we want to jump on a bandwagon that has
already turned around and going in the opposite direction?  Behind the curve 
again.

Mark

    A book worth a glance - "The Age of Unreason", written by Charles Handy,
    published by Harvard Business School Press, 1990.
    

    This reply seems to fit well within your topic also.  Although it relates
    to MCS, any organization which directly interfaces with our customer,
    could be inserted within the context.
    
    
         <<< HUMANE::DISK$CONFERENCES:[NOTES$LIBRARY]DIGITAL.NOTE;1 >>>
                        -< The Digital way of working >-
================================================================================
Note 3337.41             MCS engineers or Contractors??                 41 of 41
PENUTS::STEVENS                                      32 lines  29-AUG-1994 21:23
                            -< Balance is Critical >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    During a recent social function I had the opportunity to speak with
    a Digital/IBM customer, who is also a distant relative.  She is an
    MIS Manager who makes purchasing decisions, so I asked her what she
    thought of the service she received.  This is what she said....
    
    "The IBM people come across with a holier-than-thou attitude and I
     don't enjoy dealing with them."
    
    I then asked what about the service Digital provides?  She said...
    
    "John doe is great!  No problems, always there for us, very helpful,
     very pleasant, a pleasure to deal with."
    
    ** Notice when I asked about Digital she used an MCS Engineer/Account
       Representative's name, ( phony name inserted above, although I will
       say he is in Connecticut ).  To this important multivendor customer, 
       John Doe, Is Digital.  This personalized service is what 
       differentiated Digitial from IBM.    
    
       If Digital/MCS were to invest heavily in outsourcing/contracting
       while divesting in their existing frontline service engineers, we
       may jeopardize an important competitive advantage which we have 
       established over the years.  The proper balance must found to meet 
       the individual needs of our diverse customer base or Digital may lose
       a clear service product differentiator.  
    
       Beware - a service product commodity mind set, it may lead to a 
       tragically flawed strategic plan.     
      
       Regards,
    
       Dave

   Re: several back..  I believe BP (British Petroleum) operate as a virtual 
   corporate company  ie. a relatively small permanent workforce controlling a 
   much larger population or contract staff. I can see it working for the some 
   of stuff they do - survey work and drilling etc. - so that when the oil/gas 
   well dries up they lay everyone off. If a "product line" fails to make the 
   expected return (they used to be quite diversified, don't know if they still 
   are...) they get rid of it ! No pensions/redundancy payouts !  Really quite 
   "cold" and strictly business-like...
 
   Whether we can see this translating into our world or parts of it I would 
   have to ponder for a while...  I think it would come hard to me to become 
   THAT hard-nosed.
 
   I once heard - perhaps 2-3 years ago, before we experienced layoffs etc. - 
   that Digital in the UK wanted to get down to below 2000 employees (the rate 
   it's going that won't be long !). The inference being that something akin to 
   the BP model above would be put in place.
 
   At the same time it was suggested that you/we could work as self-employed 
   contractors based at home. In the morning you work for Digital, in the 
   afternoon you could work for Joe Bloggs (John Doe I guess in the US)... 
   Freaky !!  I could see it working for some functions and disciplines but not 
   all. 
 
   A previous note sums it up for me in that I believe we would lose a lot if 
   we "depersonalised" Digital's differentiators to such a broad extent.
 
   Rog

Where have I heard BP before???

8^)

In my 26 years in this business, one thing has remained constant:
data processing management underrating the importance of expertise.

Go pick up Weinberg's 1971 classic _The Psychology of Computer
Programming_ (avbl in the US in PB from van Nostrand Reinhold):
except for discussions of technical matters like programming
languages, it could have been written yesterday.  And that is
chilling, because it means the people that run our companies
haven't learned a bloody thing in a quarter of a century.

Steve

    
    It may interest everyone to know that the person credited with coining
    the term "virtual corporation" (in at least one publication I've seen)
    is none other than Digital's own Jan Hopland.  (of Digital Consulting)
    
    Julian.