I spent a day last week at Hitachi Data Systems' (HDS) conference (disclosure, HDS paid for my accommodation to attend the event). You'd be forgiven for assuming that HDS is one of the most boring of vendors. Traditionally a legacy storage shop, it's not the sort of place that springs to mind when looking for a glimpse of the future.
But I have to say that the HDS summit was an enlightening event. It is important to set the scene with a little context about HDS and its parent company,
It was particularly interesting to look at this strategy and contrast it with the strategy of US-based vendors, many of whom are currently looking at splitting large companies up as a strategy to increase agility. Symantec, HP, and
Hitachi, on the other hand, looks to the synergies between its divisions in order to to differentiate and add value. At the summit, which was first and foremost a sales kickoff for HDS, a select group of industry analysts were invited to attend, and speak to HDS executives about the company's approach.
I found it somewhat humorous when taking an analyst tour of the trade show area at the event, that many of the attendant analysts were critical of HDS. There was much moaning about the company's approach of articulating an inspirational vision across so many sectors and industries. These analysts, somewhat arrogantly, criticized the company for not focusing closely on particular technology areas but instead articulating a business-centric value proposition. Part of this disconnect was created through the fact that the event was primarily a sales kickoff. I'm a little skeptical of running an analyst event alongside a sales kickoff. Sales events are, by definition, an opportunity for the company to rouse the troops and get them suckling at the KoolAide. They then send them out into the market energized by the opportunities that exist. Analysts tend to rail against this sort of exuberance and, as a response, if they weren't already cynical enough, increase their level of cynicism as a result. That said, beyond the obvious disconnect of a bunch of grumpy old analysts hanging out with thousands of sales staff, the summit was an excellent glimpse into a very non-Western way of doing business.
One thing that struck me immediately at the event was the incredible culture that Hitachi seems to have. Everyone I met genuinely thought of the company as a family and was focused on building the business in an ethical and honest way. This is almost a direct contrast from US technology vendors. Salespeople for US vendors may be excellent operators, but honest and ethical is perhaps the last word I would have used to describe the way they work. The other very obvious thing about Hitachi was how the company fostered employee loyalty. Everyone I met had been with the company for many years, something almost unheard of from US vendors. This is a company in the traditional Japanese mold where loyalty from the employees to the company, and a corresponding protecting and nurturing of the employees by the company, is the norm.
I came away from the summit very positive about the Hitachi strategy. This is particularly surprising since, as primarily a legacy storage vendor, I would have previously lumped HDS in with the other vendors standing on burning and increasingly irrelevant platforms. At the expo we saw a huge array of product offerings, some already in-market, others in a prototype stage. From automated systems to run the production processes of large mining operations, to healthcare solutions for treating cancer. From facial recognition offerings for the law enforcement industry to wearable technology offering heads up displays for manufacturing and production workers. The diversity of Hitachi's product offering is something to behold indeed.
While very positive about what the company is doing I did have some questions around their ability to harness this bewildering array of product opportunities. I spent time talking with Hitachi executives about the problem. With 900 subsidiary companies, and a large portfolio of individual technologies that are broadly applicable across virtually every industry and sector that exists, the difficulty is in knowing where to start for Hitachi. The matrix of possible combinations and permutations is incredibly large.
Michael Hay, VP and Chief Engineer at Hitachi, took the time to explain to me that the company is very customer-centric when it comes to developing new products and services. Their salespeople and engineers, not to mention the wide variety of third-party partners they have, are continually looking at opportunities. They are searching for situations where they can package various parts of the company's technology and services alongside other business offerings from the broader Hitachi group, in order to meet specific needs from their customers.
Hitachi is a copybook example of internal innovation and disruption. The company has an organic feel in terms of ideating and creating new product offerings. There are some challenges, however. At the event, Hitachi was pushing a concept it calls "social innovation". No one was quite sure what this means, and many thought it was a translation of a Japanese concept that simply doesn't convert into English. The best I could come up with that this social innovation strategy is one which sees Hitachi work with its subsidiaries, its partners, and its customers to create new offerings. While the term is a fairly horrid one, the idea is solid.
I'm very impressed with what Hitachi is doing. Executional challenges remain, but this is a company that totally knows that it needs to change and is front footing that process. All good stuff.
