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On the Right Path
Now, finally, CEO Chen may be getting things back on track. Second-quarter results, published in September, showed a significant growth in software revenues, triggering a 13% gain in the company's shares. The announcement lauded sales in both parts of BlackBerry's business, with UBS Group signing up for UEM while Delphi Automotive signed a deal to use QNX with its self-driving car technology. Chen's first objective, which was to stabilize BlackBerry's finances, might be starting to pay off.
Like most of the world, I really haven't paid much attention to BlackBerry for the past few years, but I was interested in getting a look at where the company is today. In particular, I wanted to size up Chen, who has been leading the company since late 2013 and is going to be key in whether BlackBerry sinks or swims.
Chen strikes me as a straight business guy -- very personable, clearly driven, and seemingly quite at home with the numbers. He doesn't seem to be especially comfortable with the technology though, and that's not a good sign for a guy charged with reviving a troubled technology company. BlackBerry's future rests with how well Chen can manage the company's resources. In addition to Good, BlackBerry has picked up five other companies since Chen has taken the helm, most focused on the company's core mobile security expertise.
But Chen's greatest resource might be his executive team. A business background will help you staunch the bleeding and stabilize a company, but that only gets the patient out of the emergency room. Nursing it back to health takes a leader and a program that makes sense in the context of the overall industry dynamics. If this endeavor is going to be successful, Chen will likely be leaning heavily on his management team to bring that about.
BlackBerry (and RIM before that) has always had a stable of topnotch managers and technologists, and today's group is no exception. The analyst session I attended, for example, featured Carl Weise, president, Global Sales; Billy Ho, EVP Enterprise Products and Value-Added Solutions; and most notably, Sandeep Chennakeshu, President, BlackBerry Technology Solutions.
BlackBerry has a long and proud tradition in mobile, and essentially drove the first generation of the smartphone market. The company still has a strong reputation for security in the mobile space, but that reputation is starting to age. If BlackBerry can establish a foothold in its traditional government and financial services markets, perhaps it can dig its way back in the MDM sector and whatever follows it.
QNX? I still don't know where that's going (except maybe, on the block).
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@dBrnWireless
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