Dell complaints

Uwe · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 29

Following the thread that.... if BPI = ficticious cost savings, versus real revenue generation.

If BPI is only "paper" savings and not real savings. Does Dell actually integrate the BPI savings as part of its official cost reporting to bolster stock price ?

If the BPI is ficticious... then the stock price is artifically bolstered. But the market treats these savings as actual savings in brick-mortar terms. Question is whether is also violates SEC regulations given the massive corp scandals a few years back.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 9:39 pm Post subject:

Great observation Uwe. There's no hard data on Wall Street reactions, they're nebulous, like who killed Kennedy. Observing them though, one gets the impression there are (at least) two tiers to Wall Street. One is the herd mentality, that which follows any trend as long as it's trendy. This includes buying into management buzzwords like BPI.

The other is deeper, guys who really research, actually KNOW who is running corporations, their track records and potential, even their kid's middle names. Notice the stock started 'standing still' when Mort Topher quit? That's a datapoint, suggesting that Topher was identified by the deep-tier of Wall Street as someone who could make good things happen.

More recent management has failed to inspire either tier. The herd tier temporarily bought the BPI stuff, and the market-share grab, hence the $10 fluctuations. The deeper tier recognizes the fundamental lack of foundation within the company, the same lack that makes them appear rudderless to those of us who work there, hence the stock value is within pocket-change of where it was 5 years ago.

There's always a market for bullshit; look at the product of the 'major' television networks. It's always limited; look at the other 95 channels on the average cable system. (That's a bit of a logical and philosophical leap. But hey, whaddya want for free?)
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mondeo · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 5:46 am Post subject:

Well just found out today I am one of the ones being made redundant - it seems 8 years of examplary service and consistent over achievement against target means nothing when your face doesnt fit and your manager just doesnt like you. Cant say too much until my redundancy is completed but, suffice to say, Im actually happy in a strange sort of way while obviously worried for the future..............

Scoop · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 1158 Location: TN

Sorry to hear you're being considered a redundancy and hope your future works out better than your last 8 years.
Also anxious to hear the full story, we do hope you'll keep us posted.
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Chosen One · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:42 am Post subject:

huh
this thread title maeks ya think it's tx an china only, but lookin round it looks like europe, ok, and tn also got some folks bein laidoff.
makes 1 think it's a lot more than just a few 100 an why they ain't sayin a number.
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mondeo · Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 10:27 am Post subject:

ExMillbank · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 3

I heard 170 got made redundant in Bracknell today - pretty much all of customer care, order entry, software and peripherals and Advanced Systems Group.

Anyone able to confirm/deny this?

mondeo · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 11:36 am Post subject:

ExMillbank · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 3

Damn. There's a couple of people I hope are okay, but don't really want to post names on here. Atmosphere must be horrible over there right now.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject:

rustyboots · Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:31 am Post subject:

Sorry about this late reply to Uwe regarding his BPI commnets. I have been working making a living now.
The fictitious part of BPI is in all probability listed as a savings on Dells
finacial reports. While some BPI will save "real" money, I suspect too much of the BPI is a paper (fictitious) savings that looks good, but nothing is really saved.
I too wonder what will happen if the SEC ever looks deep. If they want, I can name one BPI program that was ran in Consumer tech support and I doubt it saved 10 cents, even though it was presented as saving $192K per year.
I got an email today from a friend still at Dell that said more layoffs today...any word on that??
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Uwe · Journeyman Dellhater Joined: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 29

[quote="rustyboots"]Sorry about this late reply to Uwe regarding his BPI commnets. I have been working making a living now.
The fictitious part of BPI is in all probability listed as a savings on Dells
finacial reports. While some BPI will save "real" money, I suspect too much of the BPI is a paper (fictitious) savings that looks good, but nothing is really saved.[/quote]

Follow-up, just chatted with a senior colleague within info from Dell Finance on this BPI fluff, interesting lead :

1) Finance folks privately "laugh" at all those BPI, they know it is all fluff and can never pass a SEC investigation. So they actually launch internal investigations from time to time to examine the validity of these projects. Their conclusion is common-sense, aka... someone is trying to quickly climb the career ladder with this fluff.

2) Confirming above, BPI so-called "savings" cannot be legally posted as part of cost reduction or revenue enhancement since it is statistical savings, not real savings

3) BPI savings are integrated into revenue forecast, that is at least legal. But this caused another major Dell headache in managing stock market expectation on its revenue growth. Since Dell is heavily dependent on BPI savings to bolster revenue projections, failure to actually produce these savings automatically undermines the quarterly revenue.

This maybe also a prime reason why the market "poo-poo" all over Dell stocks with multiple quarters of failing to meet expectations. In other words... keep your BPI, show me the real money ! Smile

ExMillbank · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 3

Here's comedy. They've told the local paper that they plan to hire another 150 in Bracknell over the next 6 months, after laying off 180-230. Fucking brilliant...

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/11/09/dell_uk_lay-offs/

Texas16309 · Apprentice Dellhater Joined: 06 Nov 2005 Posts: 6

Don't you get it? It's all about Dell's bottom line. You (me included) was just an obsticale their bottom line. They'll get rid of you today to meet numbers tomorrow. That's all they're worried about, certainly not loyality to longterm employees. They laid me off after six and a half years, but kept the contractors in my dept.

How about firing those who can't forecast properly or who can't provide direction for the company anymore? Ro, Joe, Kevin? Why are they still there after seven quarters of declining sales?

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2005 5:48 pm Post subject:

Austin American-Statesman, week of 11/7: Total layoff worldwide, ~1000.

Commentary:
That's just corporate, and doesn't count the hundreds of imaginary PIPs that will follow, or contractors/subcontractors. Layoffs are Wall Street spin for bad quarterly results. As if the core Wall Street analysts are going to fall for THAT Laughing

. Telegram for Kevin Rollins Exclamation

These guys control YOUR fortune. They're a tad more perceptive than you give them credit for. Think they'll buy the spin? NASDAQ will tell. Watch it. I dare you. Twisted Evil

Workgroup Psychology 321: Every time you fracture the workforce, two things happen. 1) Morale plummets and takes absolute productivity (quantity TIMES quality) with it. 2) Unproductive buttsnugglers survive. All layoffs are ultimately political. So they don't shed dead weight at all. They are more likely to shed people who were busy doing their jobs and didn't spend enough time buttsnuggling. Gawddammit management, you're dealing with a bureaucracy. The behavior of a bureaucracy is almost totally predictable, and it's the number-one impediment to effective management. Get a bleeding clue! Please!

Business cycle, yadda-yadda. Yes the workload fluctuates. So does the bioenergy of everyone who works for you. It's natural. Organic even. Let it. Guess what? It fluctuates around the highest point on the absolute-productivity curve! That's where you want to be. Duh.

The results of operating this way (stability) are imminently quantifiable, in terms of Customer Experience, Wall Street (substantive, not spin), and morale.

Management people, why am I telling you this? I'm just a hardware engineer. This stuff is supposed to be what you know. Why don't you?
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