A Tale of Two Different CEOs

Xerox's Anne Mulcahy and Symantec's John Thompson are two CEOs on very different paths. That is the only way to describe their journeys. Yet they are alike in that both are powerful, well-respected leaders who require significant support from the solution-provider community if they are to succeed.

Thompson and Mulcahy recently appeared at a gathering of leading distribution and channel executives to share their insights into what is driving their companies and where they see channel opportunities.

Mulcahy is emerging from what can best be described as a harrowing roller-coaster ride that has taken Xerox from the brink of collapse to a position of stability and promise. She deserves a Nobel Prize in economics for saving a venerable American institution, which is now a clear alternative to Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark and others in the printer market. Unlike some other CEOs in the printer industry, Mulcahy exhibits a clear understanding of the channel, along with a desire to grow Xerox's share in the channel not only by moving hardware, but by engaging partners with managed services in the document-management market. "It's a business of pages, not devices," she said. "It's about capturing pages!"

The transformation she and her team have driven during the past five years cannot be underestimated. ("It was a close call," she said.) As a result, Xerox's products, channel leaders and services strategy deserve a hard look. Its track record, at least for the company's network color laser printers--once part of the Tektronix organization, which was acquired by Xerox in 2000--has consistently outperformed every other printer vendor in VARBusiness' Annual Report Card. So, it must be doing something right besides reducing its debt and stemming the flow of red ink.

Mulcahy is also an individual who pulls no punches. With key executives Gary Gillam, vice president of North America channel operations, and Jerry Farmer, vice president and general manager of North American resellers, seated beside her, she said she was baffled as to why the company's new multifunction printer (MFP) product line has not taken off faster in the channel despite the company's commitment to making Xerox more channel-centric. But she understands that success depends on Xerox's developing the tools solution providers need to push that product while doing more to create pull.

Any CEO bold enough to make such an assessment is worth partnering with. In addition, Mulcahy's vision for selling document-management services that help customers manage their digital and paper pages is more compelling than that of any of the leading printer manufacturers. The reason she needs solution providers is the company's lack of SMB market penetration. In that space, "We need more and better channel partners," she said. May sound trite, but it is spoken with a great deal of conviction.

Symantec's Thompson has an equally impressive record that will be put to the test by his decision to purchase storage vendor Veritas. The cross-specialty combination has the potential to transform Symantec into a major enterprise software vendor. While the most difficult portion of Mulcahy's journey is coming to a close, Thompson's is just beginning.

Being superstitious, I never want to hear a baseball announcer talk about a pitcher's no-hitter in too much detail for fear it would jinx the streak. In the same regard, I never want to hear a CEO talk glowingly about the integration of a major acquisition. I cringed when I heard Thompson say, "We are amazed at how painless it has been." And he didn't stop there. He added, "We have done 30 acquisitions and never before seen such a seamless integration."

You probably don't want to disagree with someone of Thompson's caliber, but there is no way the integration is going to be painless for Symantec or Veritas partners. After attending Symantec's recent partner conference, there is no doubt partners feel upbeat, but they are trying to come to terms about supporting both product lines while coming to grips with the company's new message of "security and availability." What awaits those partners is a unified partner program and a long litany of changes in terms of support, partnership and product. Integration certainly won't be painless for them. Maybe they can take solace in the ol' adage, "No pain, no gain."

What do you think about Xerox and Symantec? Let me know at [email protected]. Also, read my online column about Hurricane Katrina's impact on IT, and tune into our latest VARBusiness Podcast at www.varbusiness.com/podcast.