HPE Software employee Ann McCaig shares some interesting insights about the upcoming spin-merge of our Software business, why she thinks this is the right move and how Micro Focus currently manages their product portfolio.
If you have read the recent news about Hewlett Packard Enterprise, you have heard about the HPE Software Spin Off and Merge with Micro Focus. We believe this is the right move for HPE Software for 3 main reasons:
Scale:
- HPE Software is currently a $3.2B dollar business in a $50B diversified IT company that is primarily focused on hardware.
- Combined with Micro Focus we will be a $4.5B pure play Sofware company. The 6th largest behind likes of Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Adobe.
- We will be the largest infrastructure software company in the world.
- We will have a diverse product portfolio spanning IT operations, security, information management, big data analytics, cloud, open source and development.
- With that kind of scale, we will be positioned to better deliver for our customers.
Focus:
- Focus on a competitive software portfolio will be one of our biggest advantages.
- As a pure play software company we will have 100% of management’s attention.
- We will focus on building, selling and supporting software solutions that bring long-term value to our customers
- Many of the company’s investments will go to creating world-class software.
- The investments we make as a combined company will create more opportunities for customer growth and career growth for employees
Continuity:
- HPE Software remains committed to providing our customers the best.
- HPE Software and Micro Focus have highly complementary portfolios and our customers will continue to have access to the same products and team that they do today.
- An HPE senior executive will serve on the board and HPE will nominate 50% of the independent directors.
We get asked very often: What do you currently know about Micro Focus? Why are they a great strategic partner for HPE? Well, here is why!
Track record of success:
Since Kevin Loosemore, the company’s executive chairman, took over about five years ago, they have had a 700% increase in stock price. They have grown from $200M to $1.3B through acquisitions like Attachmate, Serena, SUSE and Borland.
Proven approach to manage both growth and mature assets:
They invest in the growth areas, while maintaining a stable platform for mission-critical and mature software products.
- One of their growth assets is SUSE. Since they acquired SUSE they’ve increased engineering by 50% and added 250 employees. It’s growing strong. Two-thirds of the Fortune Global 100 use SUSE Linux and 70% of all SAP applications run on SUSE. Today it is one of the fastest growing Linux, Open Stack Platforms
- They also have mature assets like Cobol. Cobol has doubled in last 15 years and it’s still growing today. They have invested making it more relevant for future. They realize customers can’t just throw away investments. Micro Focus helps customers link the old to the new:
Micro Focus is a financially strong and stable company:
They spend 15-16% of revenue on Research & Development, enabling high levels of investment in growth areas.
Overall they don’t shut down products. As they make acquisitions, similar products in the same sub category are kept. They invest and bring the best of both for customers.
Within its extensive customer base, Micro Focus:
- Has a customer-centered innovation approach that leverages latest industry innovations and prior investments.
- Has a wide and deep portfolio of software products.
- Delivers increased continuity and availability for legacy products, along with high customer satisfaction.
- Has a global footprint of customers of all sizes, across all geographies, industries and vertical sectors.
In case you are wondering about the future structure of HPE Software as they merge into Micro Focus, you should know:
Today, Micro Focus has about 4,500 employees total. HPE Software has about 13,000 employees total. Micro Focus Business Units run fairly independent. Most of their functions are business unit focused. Product lines each have their own sales team. The combined company will have over 50,000 customers and over 60% of the combined revenue will come from recurring streams.
The future model is an M&A Platform. Since HPE acquired Voltage a few years ago, we have been waiting to do an acquisition. There is a lot of good technology to pick up in that small company environment. This will allow us to get back to an organic and inorganic agenda.
If you want to be part of what's next and find out more about our available opportunities, make sure you visit our HPE Careers website.
Disclaimer: For those countries that require consultation with works councils or other employee representatives, this is not intended to provide country-specific complete information and in no way reflects that final decisions have been made at a country level. With respect to such countries, final decisions are subject to prior consultation with works councils and other employee representatives, as required, and in compliance with local laws.
About the author
Ann McCaig brings over 15 years’ experience in successful executive search, currently leading Global Executive Recruiting for HPE’s Software Business Unit. Prior to HPE, Ann led Corporate Recruiting for a 40k employee healthcare provider and led the HR practice at a boutique search firm.
Ann holds a BA in Psychology from Clemson University (go Tigers!) and is mom to three beautiful girls that keep her active, at the soccer fields, in her spare time.
Connect with Ann on LinkedIn here
DesireeCH
Employer brand and digital media evangelist. Proactively searching for new trends and best in class practices to find, converse, share, engage and refer potential candidates and bring the best Talent for the company.
