Thread regarding Sungard Availability Services layoffs

"the world had moved on"

I can't begin to describe how infuriating this Stern quote is: "The approach the company had taken to disaster recovery really hadn’t changed in 20 years — and the world had moved on," Stern reportedly said. "We had been slow in recognizing the business had to change.”

Anybody who does not read this as a huge fed flag and leave - both employees & customers - is in complete denial.

These id--ts were told over and over and over (since 2012 at least!) that cloud services were the future and Colo DR was dead. They were given detailed marketing plans, system requirements, and budgeting. They hemmed and hawed and diddled and would change direction on a whim, without any product or engineering input, to chase the latest vendor shiny object.

There is no customer with a grain of sense that should be willing to put their corporate data into a company that "hadn't changed in 20 years". Especially one that is willing to screw creditors to the tune of almost a billion dollars.

Why would anyone want to do business with this bankrupt, inept, directionless, immoral shell of a company?

by
| 2821 views | | 13 replies (last April 7, 2019) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+YpclXk9

13 replies (most recent on top)

@YpclXk9-1ydj Stern will walk away with 10 million and will rid off into the sunset once the creditors take control and start separating and selling off assets.

I think there will be a fire similar to his previous company

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @3pyu+YpclXk9

There is no customer with a grain of sense that should be willing to put their corporate data into a company that “hadn’t changed in 20 years”. [Ed: A claim made, oddly, by CEO Stern] Especially one that is willing to screw creditors to the tune of almost a billion dollars.

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @2hlg+YpclXk9

Stern admitted he didn’t do his job - he should be let go without severence

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @1ydj+YpclXk9

If only SunGard could invent a new phone...

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @1qbu+YpclXk9

There are great people at sungard, many I have known for years, but, it is time to move on. There is no turning this ship unfortunately. I decided to leave after 20 years in 2018, and hope my colleagues do as well. I wish all well.

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @1yqg+YpclXk9

Yes, giggles is annoying and called the philly.com article fake news. Sad!

It's a shame he didn't have pride in the services he was ceo and he left his people with one more morale hit. His lack of self-awareness is horrendous, but I also don't think he's a bad guy. He was also dealt a tough hand.

Look, this disaster officially began with the leveraged buyout, the data center acquisition strategy, selling those data centers at a premium, and being saddled with humongo debt from the Mitt Romney types. I will also point a big finger at some former people who ran 'sales leadership.' They were more interesting in protecting their people than the company. The dam really broke in late 2016.

We have good people who work at the gard and will have your back when sh-- hits the fan. You should take pride in the work we do and will continue to do.

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @1wwc+YpclXk9

Gotcha. Agree

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @mjo+YpclXk9

In no way am I saying that sgas is like apple... I was just responding to previous question as to whether a company had ever come back from the edge and transformed itself into a success... apple clearly did that.

I agree 100% that new owners have no interest in re-building sgas and will only be looking for quickest way to recoup their losses on debt they gave up with a hefty premium - meaning selling off anything they can... the time to turn sgas around has come and gone....

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @bwb+YpclXk9

SgAS is no Apple! Are you comparing Stern to Steve Jobs?? The hedge fund VCs are only interested in flipping or selling off the parts of AS for a quick return on their coup. You can't tell me they're interested in running a company. I 110% confirm they have no interest in growing AS.

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @lyc+YpclXk9

Apple comes to mind.... they were almost dead when they brought Steve Jobs back.... he created markets that just didn’t exist before...

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @wua+YpclXk9

Totally in agreement here.

Are there any companies like us that did change with the times and are a glowing example of what Sungard should have been, or could have been? Just curious.

Also it's mind boggling how he admitted to the reason Sungard was run to the ground...surprised he did so and thought he would have put a spin on the reason the company had failed.

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @sts+YpclXk9

Agree with the comments, but the real people who will get screwed in all of this will be the loyal employees. Keep in mind, Stern and the old board will still walk away with millions as a reward for years of failure. The new board creditors who will own the company after Ch 11 are the true winners and will figure out a way to make back everything they loaned the old board and then some. VCs are absolutely ruthless when it comes to reclaiming their loaned money and probably even more ruthless knowing they were almost the people screwed. There will be no regard to people, property, or plant anything outside of basic operations to comply with contractual agreements will be subject to elimination for cost savings. I sincerely hope anyone that can see though all the BS we've been fed over the last few days is actively looking for a new job. Anyone (including customers) who believes the BS that the company has turned a corner to success deserves everything they will get.

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @qvo+YpclXk9

Not to mention the fact that they had more than one IaaS offerings, which were killed off due to various extremely short sighted executive decisions that blew up in their faces. So Maddening. Andy Stern has a golf day with Rob Lloyd, and suddenly Cisco is dictating the technical direction for SGAS. Complete idiocy, and this is the end result. The weakest link is at the top.

by
| | Reply
Post ID: @rit+YpclXk9

Post a reply

: