'Lotus is the Faberge egg in IBM's Easter basket'

-Jeff Papows, former President and CEO, Lotus Corp.

Bidding adieu
to a company that he had carefully nurtured was not easy. In January,
Jeff Papows stepped down as President and CEO of Lotus Corp, after
a successful four-year tenure. Judging by the rousing ovation he
received as he addressed the keynote session of Lotusphere 2000
held in Orlando recently, it was clear that he will be missed. He
had been a favorite of the customers and employees, and even of
IBM. Speaking to Dataquest, Papows discusses the company, its people,
its relationship with IBM and Microsoft, and his future plans amongst
other issues. Excerpts:

For the sake of the customer, Lotus is planning to collaborate
with Microsoft. But will that not weaken the anti-trust case?

Well it might or it might not. From the perspective of our successful
collaboration with Microsoft, I guess it causes a problem for some
of the arguments of people who say that there is a huge Chinese
Wall between the Microsoft technology and the rest. I personally
have not found that. I think some of the things that Microsoft does,
like the way they bundle the products, are predatory. I don't know
whether that is legal or not. I am no lawyer and I am not going
to comment like one. But I, in all good consciousness, cannot say
a bad thing about either Microsoft or Bill. Every time I picked
up the phone and needed technical help they have responded. If that
has a bearing on the case, then that is up to someone else to judge
that. What I have to do is to manage the company and the relationship
with Microsoft for the benefit of my customers. That has always
been the focus and whatever happens happens, and we will let the
courts sort that out.

From spreadsheets
to messaging, Lotus has done very well. What is going to be the
next era for Lotus?

The next era is going to be about knowledge management (KM). In
an era where the dynamics of competition globally is changing, managing
people assets is going to be of paramount importance. Taking the
collaborative infrastructure and extending it to things like expertise,
location and all of the other KM aspects is what Lotus will focus
on.

Do you think
KM will play a strategic role in countries like India where there
are large economies of scale operating?

Yes it will and it will be much like the way I view it in large
companies. India has a large area geographically, there is tremendous
degree of diversity and also a lot of change. Lotus is actually
looking to India to capture some of the human and intellectual capital
in terms of doing some of our research there. We need a mechanism
for transfer of skill back and forth just like we needed in large
companies like General Motors. So the KM imperative is enormously
important in India considering the rate of change and the wealth
of people.



How will the benefits of a KM implementation be quantified?

I think the results are best quantified in the bottom line. All
of this, at the end of the day, is about competitive advantage and
wealth creation for the share holders. It's about organizations
which are going to be more responsive. The benefits can be seen
in several parameters and I think it's possible to create a tangible
matrix. We have seen it happening in companies like Proctor and
Gamble and other large organizations like Coopers that we have been
working with, who have seen real and tangible benefits.

What is the
major challenge organizations face today?

The biggest challenge would be of speed. In a 7x24 digitally connected
internet world, the pace of change in business terms is collapsing
in almost real time. Also, because of the internet, global boundaries
are disappearing. The requirement to be connected and to have the
capability to work across time zones have never been more heightened
than it is currently. So I don't think it's a basic cost structure
difference, but the rate and pace of change is enormous by comparison
and that is the reason why there is so much focus on it today.

Four to five years ago, the internet was not the phenomenon that
it is today. It hadn't exploded in the public consciousness and
it has only been enabled as a consequence of the ubiquity of access
that we are now just beginning to have. So this is not an opportunity
that people can take lightly. It's life and death and you are going
to have people hugely advantaged or people who are going to run
out of business. This is not an opportunity to sit on the sidelines.

In the collaborative
environment of tomorrow, are partnerships going to be vital for
Lotus?

They absolutely are. This is an environment where you cannot work
in isolation. In fact, I think the partnerships with Nokia, Ericsson,
Motorola and other companies involved in the explosion of secondary
internet devices like WAP phones or pagers are going to be important.
We cannot operate in the collaborative part of the infrastructure
in this economy without developing significant relationships. For
instance, we are dealing with a company called ABT in order to bring
our unified messaging capabilities together. So things like email
and voice mail are aggregated in one place and we can't do that
alone. Fortunately, Lotus is a platform agnostic company. We are
a company whose technologies are made acceptable irrespective of
operating system or platform. So we have a huge opportunity of growing
up to Microsoft, because of the openness in the way our products
are brought to the market.

Isn't the
IBM sphere of influence in the activities of Lotus increasing steadily
and will this not harm Lotus?

Around the five years following the IBM acquisition, we have exercised
a great deal of independence in Lotus. I think a lot of justifiable
skepticism existed at the point of the merger. Nobody would have
predicted, probably including me, that we would have 56 million
users today which is many fold higher than what we had at the time
of the merger. In all of that time, with an increased trust and
understanding, has come an opportunity to create synergy and leverage
the partnership with IBM for economic advantage. A lot of that was
done under my leadership. We have moved about 1,300 employees under
IBM in the course of the last year to core functions like legal,
finance, resources and back office categories where there were great
deal of integration done. However, the need to maintain the culture,
brand and the company identity of Lotus probably can't be overstated.
And it's coming to up to Al Zollar and IBM to nurture that. It's
critically important and I think both sides understand that. We
will see how it happens but I have got big expectations of both
Al Zollar and IBM."

So there
is a possibility that the Lotus identity will cease to exist?

Well, there is always that possibility. Most people predicted that
it would have happened far earlier. We spent a $100 million this
past year on television advertising to promote the Lotus brand.
There was the yellow color, Lotus spokesmen, Notes and Domino branding
and all you ever saw from an IBM perspective was the signature tagline
which said Lotus, an IBM company. That is a pretty significant marketing
communications investment for any company and probably the greatest
proof statement that the Lotus brand will be supported independently.
I can tell you I have had this conversation with Lou Gerstner and
with John Thompson of IBM and they are both extremely anxious to
make sure that the Lotus brand is protected. In a worldwide survey
done this past year, the unaided and aided awareness of the Lotus
brand was 78% which is just 2% away from the recall for Microsoft.
Lotus is the Faberge egg in IBM's Easter basket from a brand awareness
stand point.

Although
Lotus has done well in the enterprise space, has it ignored other
market spaces?

We could be justly criticized for having been over enterprise focused
but it has been a phenomenally successful strategy operationally.
In the past year, we successfully moved into the middle part of
the market in companies with about a 1,000 PCs where it tends to
be a centralized procurement function. We have had a hard time penetrating
the lower end of the market other than with 123, which you know
is out there in 28 million homes. That is why we spent a $100 million
on the Lotus brand last year, because you don't sell to the small
medium business (SMB) space. You create brand identity and people
buy. It's a pull as opposed to a push market. The only way that
Lotus and, from a software perspective, IBM will be successful in
the SMB market, is to continue to have a strong brand identity because
there is no other way to penetrate that market. We haven't always
had the product. It will be a challenge for us and we will see what
happens in the course of the next couple of years.

Even in the
enterprise space, Lotus does not have a product that could be referred
to as being mission critical. Isn't that a worry?

I think there are critical technologies in the enterprise beyond
Lotus. Relational databases, would probably have as much control
over the enterprise in software terms as any company. But Domino
and Notes, from both a messaging and web application stand point,
control about 78% of the Fortune 1000 in terms of owning the majority
of that collaborative infrastructure as opposed to just copies here
and there. Talking about mission critical software, email today
is not like the spreadsheet. If there is an interruption in service,
companies stop working. It's not like SAP and it's not like Oracle
in that a lot of the information is more unstructured and it's more
of a peer-to-peer relationship, but it's probably no less critical.
So I actually think we have a lot of control.

Is the India
emphasis going to be more than what it has been in the past for
Lotus?

We have tried to attack markets aggressively irrespective of the
economic downturns of the countries. As a result, we have seen tremendous
growth throughout south-east Asia and therefore we have invested
heavily in places like Singapore and Malaysia. Obviously, Japan
has always been a big market. But I don't think we have made all
of the investments in India that we could have or perhaps even probably
should have. I think we understand the size and scale of the market
place. Our investments in India will have to be stepped up quite
considerably. I know that IBM has serious designs on the Indian
market place, we can build on their infrastructure and have the
opportunity to leverage the relationship there. In a way that will
perhaps be more important than it has been in some of our more established
markets.

Does Lotus
have plans to open a development center in India?

Actually, we are moving to have development out of India in the
course of the next 24 months for SmartSuite. We think we have access
to both good quality talent and there are some economic advantages
which make it advantageous. So there are already plans that I have
put in place that will be executed in 2000-01. It will not only
be maintenance, but some original research and development out of
India. We will begin with some SmartSuite development and once the
lab gets established it is likely that it will stretch to other
things as well.

What has
been the most significant achievement for Lotus during your tenure
as CEO?

This is a company that stood in the vortex of one of the most competitive
market segments in the industry, and partly one of the most strategic.
We have been competing with Microsoft which is one of the most phenomenal
companies on the planet and won. When you think back it is hard
not to get a lot of gratification out of that kind of an accomplishment
particularly with companies that are as capable as Microsoft.

What about
achievements on a more personal front?

The thing I have got the greatest personal satisfaction out of,
in the course of my career here, has been the people. Every CEO
thinks his company is special in one way or another and I am no
different. Lotus has a unique culture in the company and the employees
here have been consistently willing to make sacrifices that I think
are unimaginable. I think a huge part of the success of the company
is certainly the people and employees. Years later, when I look
back on my career it is the people that I will remember the most.

Can you describe
the Lotus culture?

The most fervent aspect of the Lotus culture that has been consistent
here over the years, irrespective of the individual in the corner
office, is passion. Lotus is not a place where you go to work, Lotus
is a place where you run to work. People invest almost unhealthy
amounts of their energy in the company. We have to deal with the
capability and the talent of Microsoft which everyday brings out
the best in our people. I think that the competitive frame of reference
that Lotus has always enjoyed, has brought the best of passion and
competitive anger in the people of Lotus in a way that has allowed
the company to benefit tremendously. People don't work here, but
they live here and that is what makes Lotus so special.

What made
you quit Lotus at the height of your success?

I think because I care so deeply about the company and the people
that if I had ever waited to a point where there was any uncertainty
whatsoever about the business or the product momentum of the company,
then it would have been impossible for me to leave. The other thing
is that, IBM and Lotus are merging their operations as set by design.
Some one with my breadth of experience will not be fully tested
in running a company not completely independent in all of its functional
dimensions. So the opportunity for me to go run another publicly
traded or soon to be publicly traded company made me quit Lotus.
What made it difficult and makes the timing perhaps a little bit
more curious is, there is an enormous amount of emotion for me in
this decision. It is one of hardest things that I have ever done.
But you know Michael Jordan left at the top of his career and people
understood it. I am no Michael Jordan by any stretch of imagination
but I think people understand the desire of any kind of athlete
to go out at the top of the game. I have given Lotus physically,
intellectually and emotionally everything a CEO could give a company.
We have just had one of the best years in the company's history
and I would much rather leave in those circumstances.

What are
you future plans?

I am like a clean sheet of paper, unlike a lot of CEOs in this situation,
I made a conscious decision not to look for a job or even think
about a job while I was in the role of CEO of Lotus. It is too big
and too complex a position and I don't think I would have been fair
to the employees, customers and shareholders if I had done so. I
haven't had a whole lot of time to think about it in truth. But
I am sure, that it is going to be an internet-based software company.
The economic opportunities that are germane to dot.com companies
today are extraordinarily well illustrated. So, maybe there are
Indian investors or venture capitalists with interest in US companies
who will pick up the phone and contact me. I am going to wait and
react for the offers to come in."

E
Abraham Mathew

in Orlando

abrahamm@cmil.com