A special note to Ambush and Jerry.

Guys, Yeah, lets blame the down turn in sales numbers on the economies. Even though we all know that IBM sales each quarter represent a 'hockey stick' and that well, for the last two weeks of the quarter, things started to pick up. Perhaps numbers are down because like usual, a deal gets in to the pipeline and is forcast and at the last moment the customer pulls back causing a panic. Then your illustrious sales force responds with J level - 90% deals! just to get the deal on the books and the reps can say that they hit their quota and their management delivers on licenses. But the reality is that while Jerry preaches to the Informix faithful, and there are 'marketing reps in Boston (area code 617)' making calls to Informix users and asking them if they know about the new data warehouse features... over all, IBM isn't promoting Informix. For the past 3+ years since Janet's departure, the ability to create parity within the sales force and to develop an actual 'go to market' strategy has been told to IBM execs. Yet it has fallen on deaf ears. IBM can take immediate steps to correct their marketing and sales deficiencies with little cost in terms of incentives and some travel. (Modifying the PBCs doesn't cost a thing and it does wonders.) I guess you need to sit back and wonder what will happen to your staff that's left, when the recruiters start calling. Survivors of the recent purges are wondering when its going to be their turn and many don't trust upper management... So why don't you take some time and reflect on how you can stop this downward invisible death spiral. Add to this the near term start of MIPS revenue declining which impacts all of IM. But hey! What do I know? Its not like I was responsible for the first cross brand premiere services deal. (Which lead to premium services being managed at the SWG level ... ) Oh wait. I did do that. Its not like I started to work with the GSIs to foster a better relationship from a lab services perspective. (Thanks to working with Joe C.) ... Oh wait. I did do that. Oh there's more, but it takes two to communicate. Jerry, where's the love? Chicago is only a 40-50min flight away on Southwest airlines. And knowing IBM's travel policy, you can take the Orange Line in to the city. (As a perk you can stay at the Drake Hotel on Michigan Ave and get IBM's rates. Its a Hilton property.... ;-) Maybe you could convince Ambush in to finally coming to Chicago too. Heck in a couple of weeks, Elate, the restaurant in the new Hotel Felix is going to open and I know a guy who can get us a really good table... ;-) So why not come in and say hi. You guys could also go and meet a couple of customers. TransUnion (Informix and DB2), Hyatt (CSC outsourcing Informix customer), Peapod (Informix but not supported by the local sales team), Motorola. They are still embedding IDS, right? Sears? (Oh wait they're rumored to be swapping out IDS for MySQL, but they did migrate their PeopleSoft to DB2...) And isn't UBS controlling some of their IDS engines locally too? Maybe a sales call on Miller and talk to them about migrating their mainframe app to an IBM database... Or take a trip out to HSBC and see what they are still planning on doing in the states.... Heck.. I've been free from the beast for 4 years now and yet I still know a lot of your clients. So where's the love? If not to come visit little ol me, but to come see your customers.. which are getting courted by Oracle and other vendors. Like I said, What do I know? -G _________________________________________________________________ Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/QuickAdd?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_QuickAdd_062009