Dear Novell: Beef up your marketing

Dear Eric and John,

Your company has seen many trials and tribulations over the past few years. It's got to be tough on any company to change top executives and product strategies as often as Novell has. And with the Bad Boys from Redmond breathing down your necks, it's understandable that your company has had a few missteps along the way.

Since you took the helm last year, Eric, Novell seems to be on solid ground. You've recommitted yourselves to the networking business and staked a healthy claim in the e-mail and Internet markets. Perhaps most promising is your product line for directory services, a vital component for any enterprise network. Even your archrival Microsoft is giving you enough time to grab significant market share for directory services in the Windows NT space before Microsoft attacks with Active Directory and NT 5.0. What more could you ask for?

Well, there is still a bit of work ahead for you. I've addressed this letter to you, too, John, because many of your loyal followers believe that marketing, not technology, is Novell's biggest shortcoming. If you don't believe me, perhaps you'll believe about 170 dedicated network managers who dared to dispute that NetWare is destined for oblivion.

One of the open forums currently running on the Network World Fusion online site is about NetWare's prospects for survival. This forum is a must-read for everyone at Novell. The editors of Network World posed the following questions: Is NetWare destined to follow other network operating systems (NOS) into oblivion? Or is the new Novell going to kick Microsoft back to Redmond?

The last time I tuned in to this forum, there were 168 responses. What a great collection of free market research for you! Having read through most of the postings and estimating that 90% of them were in Novell's favor, I'd say that Novell has quite a loyal following. What's more, while many of these techies are passionate about their commitment to Novell, they are almost equally as passionate in their disdain for Microsoft. ("No one who has actually worked closely with NetWare and NT would ever recommend NT over NetWare as a main OS," one respondent asserted.)

This begs the question, if the knowledgeable technical experts prefer Novell's networking products and strategies to Microsoft's, why are they purchasing and implementing Windows NT as a NOS? The answer is marketing.

Novell does a fine job of marketing its products to the techies. But the techies don't need to be sold; they are already in Novell's camp. Where you need to spend your marketing dollars, John, is with the corporate executives and high-level decision makers. ("The decision to switch to an NT house almost always comes from upper management because they read some article or saw some commercial saying NT does this or NT does that," another forum respondent contended.)

We're also concerned that you don't devote enough resources to courting the independent software vendors (ISV) and hardware vendors (IHV) that provide a push for your products. One of the reasons Windows NT has been able to make inroads in the NOS space is that there are plenty of ISVs that are creating products to fill the gaps left by Microsoft.

Microsoft spends megabucks every year to encourage ISVs to put their limited resources in Redmond's camp. That's not to say that Microsoft has better programs for developers than Novell does: You both offer the products, training and tools to help ISVs make a living off your respective environments. But somehow, Microsoft has played the numbers game to show ISVs that they have more opportunity by partnering with Microsoft than with Novell.

The numbers game plays well with IHVs, too. Companies such as Digital and Compaq want to sell more high-end servers. Because it's a resource hog, Windows NT helps them do that. Perhaps NetWare has been too resource-efficient for its own good. But NetWare still appeals to the masses, which means high volumes of servers, much to the IHVs' delight.

How about stepping up the marketing on the basis of overall network stability? Eric and John, you also would do well to heed the warnings of a few concerned customers who are worried that great technology isn't enough. Banyan and Apple thought the same thing, and look where it got them. We're behind you, guys. No one (except perhaps Microsoft) wants to see Novell go away. We're encouraged by your current direction. One forum respondent summed it up well: "Novell has turned the corner. Schmidt has the right vision and the right apps. All Novell really needs is a little more marketing savvy."

Sincerely,

Linda Musthaler and 168 of your closest friends

NetWare vs. NT
The forum on which this column is based.

Musthaler is vice president for Currid & Company, a technology research and assessment firm based in Houston. She can be reached at linda@currid.com.