EDS, the wayward outsourcing giant, is stumbling to compete in the global economy.
Cost-cutting was the theme of Wednesday’s announcement to shareholders that the company is beefing up its workforce in low-labor-cost regions while offering “packages” to 12,000 U.S. employees. A company spokesman said, “In order to remain competitive, we must constantly rebalance our workforce on a global basis.”
Frankly, I don’t think they get it. EDS needs to do more than cut costs. It needs radical surgery to reboot its Ross Perot-spawned culture. Until the company adopts a truly global, multi-cultural, multi-national approach to services - starting with its leadership in Plano, Texas - this is a company that is destined to keep downsizing.
One visit to EDS’ headquarters - a monolith on the plains - says way too much about this top-down organization. Those who contend that America is unable to compete on a global playing field will use EDS as an exclamation point.
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Your comments are dated, and more appropriate to the EDS of ten, perhaps fifteen years ago. While NO major IT organization is as completely healthy and nimble as would be best, EDS has made enormous progress in focusing its attention and its energies on the bottom line. That focus wavers but is never absent. As for the ‘monolith on the plains’, there’s no such thing — though you could be forgiven for thinking that of the Headquarters building, aka The Godpod, which does resemble a dirigible docking station or a Starfleet installation — but thats just one of several sprawling buildings on the EDS campus that would do credit to Microsoft or Google. And, by the way, they’re in Plano, Texas, just north of Dallas. Not ‘the plains’ by a long shot.
Focusing on the bottom line is fine but it’s not the answer to what’s troubling EDS. You can’t become a global power in services without having a more global DNA. We can spare everyone a debate about whether Plano is on the plains literally or figuratively …