Another week of scraps. The suppliers didn’t make any noise during the last week, which was expected. As a result, news outlets took to speculation for 2016.
The major news coming out of the week is that EMC is expected to reduce headcount early in 2016 and some sites are predicting that Meg Whitman might step away from HP some time in 2016.
IBM
- As Vodafone looks for new vendors, this time IBM may have to share the $1 billion contract
The contract discussions will enter the final round of negotiations over the coming weeks and at the moment IBM is battling hard against domestic and multinational rivals to save a lion’s share of one of its largest telecom outsourcing contracts in Asia, the people mentioned above said. All of them requested anonymity as these discussions are confidential.
- IBM CFO Schroeter on the company’s innovation strategy
“With that we get [data on] about a hundred million lives … and we get a few billion images that describe all sorts of medical conditions. When you put that into Watson, you now have a system that can help doctors understand what they’re dealing with, so you get to outcome faster,” he said. “You can help payers understand what courses of treatment have worked the best and find insights in that data. And you get a system and an ability to change an industry from a pay-for-service to a pay-for-value.”
- Air pollution in China could be big biz for IBM, Microsoft
Leader of IBM’s Green Horizon initiative: Dr. Jin Dong, Distinguished Engineer & Member of IBM Industry Academy, Associate Director, IBM Research – China. Business clients – in particular renewable power generation companies – are another target, along with consumers. IBM’s tech is also already being used by solar farms in China for its ability to predict sunlight availability.
http://hexanews.com/2015/12/31/air-pollution-in-china-could-be-big-biz-for-ibm-microsoft.html
Hewlett Packard Enterprise | HP Inc
- Prediction: Meg Whitman Will Leave HP
Count on this one. Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Chairman of HP Inc. HP will initiate a search for a replacement (if she hasn’t already), find one, and take a victory lap before departing.
http://fortune.com/2015/12/30/5-predictions-for-2016/?xid=gn_editorspicks
EMC | Dell
- EMC To Cut Jobs Ahead Of Dell Deal
The workforce reduction is expected to be substantially completed by the end of the first quarter of 2016 and fully completed by the end of 2016. The total charge resulting from the plan is expected to be approximately $250 million, with total cash payments associated with the plan expected to be $220 million.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/emc-to-cut-jobs-ahead-of-dell-deal-20160101-00005
Other
- Why Salesforce.com Wants SteelBrick
In the last part of this series, we looked at Salesforce.com’s (CRM) acquisition target—SteelBricks. SteelBrick’s Quote-to-Cash software, which is aimed primarily at SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses), is attracting a lot of attention. SteelBrick managed to raise $48 million funds in its Series C round in October 2015, largely due to this software. Apttus, a company that’s built on the Salesforce App Cloud, managed to raise $108 million in September 2015.
http://marketrealist.com/2015/12/salesforce-com-wants-steelbrick/
- Tableau in 2015: Year in Review
The year 2015 was expected to be a tough one for leading business intelligence company Tableau, but the company powered through the fears of increased competition eating into its growth. The year saw major updates in the business intelligence tools offered by software giantsSalesforce.com and Microsoft. At the same time, Tableau’s biggest riva lQlik released Qlik Sense Enterprise, a visualization tool for businesses that competes directly with Tableau. Despite the tightening race in the business intelligence and visualization market, Tableau consistently achieved solid performance throughout the year. We believe that a strong product portfolio and dominant position in the industry will help it continue to perform well in 2016.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2015/12/30/tableau-in-2015-year-in-review/
Photo: Natasha Vasiljeva