F&F
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Just the facts figures
IMOKIA
Focus, energy and self-confidence are key
concepts for all companies seeking to revise
their strategy. Here are three famous examples.
In the 1990s, Silicon Valley had become
enthralled with software. Software was seen
as the magie formula that would guarantee
major future revenues and profits via licens-
ing. It takes courage to swim against the tide
in such circumstances, but courage is one
thing that Apple has never been accused of
lacking, even when, as was the case then,
it was going through difficult times. Apple
made a strategie choice to focus on hard
ware. As a result, a range of very user-friendly
and, above all, beautifully designed products
were launched on the market, starting with
the Mac and culminating, for the time being,
in the iPhone and iPad.
This new strategy was complemented by a
decision to link (often exclusive) products
and services to this hardware, ranging from
iTunes to the apps designed for the iPhone
and iPad. To launch and implement such a
daring business strategy, all that was needed
was a visionary leader who was unafraid of
risking everything to win everything: in this
case Steve Jobs.
At the beginning of the 1990s, IBM was staring
into the abyss. One of the largest and most
legendary companies in the world had
become a cumbersome and bureaucratie
law unto itself. It had very little aptitude for
thinking and acting quickly and innovatively.
Meanwhile rivals, such as Microsoft and Dell,
were agile and imaginative and giving IBM
ever-more-intense competition.
In this case, salvation came in the form of
Louis Gerstner, who completely transformed
the business culture at IBM. Starting with
major reorganisations (including more than
100,000 job reductions), he succeeded in
keeping the strongest parts of the organi-
sation afloat and, step by step, refocused the
company on IT services and Internet busi-
nesses. He transformed IBM into a focused,
energetic and self-confident organisation,
and gave it a future again.
In the second half of the previous century,
Nokia had become an enormous conglomerate,
with units devoted to a wide variety of products
including paper, rubber, consumer electronics
and cable network products. There was very
little focus and even less synergy between
the numerous units.
The choice was either to continue trying to
function as a group of disparate entities or to
adopt an entirely new strategy, with a focus
on those segments of the company which
held the greatest promise of rapid and vibrant
growth. Led by CEO Jorma Ollila, Nokia
decided to focus on the mobile telephone
sector. As a result, many of its units were either
sold or discontinued, and Nokia invested
heavily in R&D for the mobile telephone
sector.
6 ISSUE 26 JANUARY 2011 RI WORLD
Rabobank, N.A. has received an award
recognising the implementation of its new
personal online banking service. In May, the
bank received a 2010 Celent Model Bank
award for the efficiency and speed with
which the service was implemented. Celent,
a research and consulting firm specialising
in the use of information technology in the
global fïnancial services industry, chose
From left to right: Amie Hale (Rabobank, AVP/ Project
Manager), Jacob Jegher (Celent) and Erwin Martinez
(Rabobank, SVP/ Chief Information Officer)
Rabobank after the bank was nominated for
the award by Fiserv, which is Rabobank, N.A.'s
personal online banking vendor.
Separately, Rabobank, N.A. made 201 O's
InformationWeek 500 list, placing 134th out
of 500, surpassing several major companies.
InformationWeek honours companies that it
views as being the most innovative users of
information technology in the United States
with its annual 500-company listing. This is
the first year Rabobank submitted an appli-
cation. The bank was selected for its efforts to
improve its electronic products offerings and
increase the number available to clients.
"It is a great honour to be named in the Infor
mationWeek 500 list," said Kim Hval, SVP/
Director of Retail Sales. "This demonstrates
Rabobank's commitment to providing our
customers with new and convenient ways
for them to do their banking. It also honours
the hard work of those employees who spent
countless hours working on these projects
to ensure their success."
