HP moves have customers worried about where the company is heading

Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) decision last month to spin off its PC business and give up its tablet business has had unintended consequences: some long-term customers are concerned the company "is lost right now" and are putting some big buying decisions on hold until its new strategic plans gel.

"I've put all that on hold," Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) CIO Ray Barnard told the The Wall Street Journal, in response to the company's plans to buy computers and tablets from the company.

He's not alone. Other customers are worried the company simply has not decided on a clear direction for its business, the same criticism Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) faced before CEO John Chambers began aggressively cutting expenses and underperforming businesses and product earlier this year.

"This appears to just come out of the blue without a really good explanation," said Frank Cervone, vice chancellor for information services at Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, Ind. "It makes you wonder what the strategy really is and where they are going."

But, unlike Cisco, which aggressively streamlined its business by killing its Flip video camera business, selling off a set-top box manufacturing facility in Mexico and cutting thousands of jobs, HP also announced the purchase of U.K. software company Autonotmy for $10.2 billion, befuddling Wall Street and many customers.

"It would be hard for me to think that innovation in the PC is over," Darren Dworkin, CIO at Cedars Sinai Health System in Los Angeles told the WSJ, comparing HP's move to General Electric Co. getting out of light bulbs.

While the move might make business sense, Dworkin said he remains disappointed in the direction the company has decided to take.

In June, the company sold its visual collaboration business to Polycom for $89 million, including its Halo products and managed services business.

For more:
- see this WSJ article

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