Friends have been telling me for years that I need to hear J-P speak, so I was keen to get to this segment. What I was surprised by is that he is such a simple operational salesman. Straight forward box and licence shifting is a major part of his life. Probably the right way to get to the top in his job. His view is that impact on software is patchy and not predictable at the customer company level, and that the impact is being felt worldwide at about the same level across territories. With IT investment being 50% of most CEO’s decisions, this is a tough time, so the winner – if it is be Microsoft – will emerge from winning market share in a down cycle. CIOs are being told to cut budgets by 30%.   more »

Some small companies got toasted. I came away from the innovation session having realised that there were some amazingly clever venture capital companies with serious long-term investment profiles who were not only ready, but willing, fully capitalised, and in many ways determined, to buck the negative trend that seems to be emanating from places like Sequoia capital, and their ilk.   more »