HP drops CIO in executive shake up

The chief information officer of Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest IT company, is to leave his post immediately following an executive shake-up by CEO Leo Apotheker.

Mott’s departure has been on the cards for some time. A report by the Wall Street Journal in January 2011 said that Apotheker, who joined as CEO in November 2010, had already identified which executives would leave the company as he reshaped it to match his new strategy, which includes placing greater significance on software and cloud computing and improving profitability.

Other changes at the company include Ann Livermore, the head of the company’s enterprise division, stepping down to join the board of directors. Dave Donatelli, the head of HP’s servers, storage and networking division, will be given extra responsibilities.

Randy Mott joined HP in 2005, having previously been CIO of computer maker Dell. Since then, he has overseen the modernisation of HP’s legacy application infrastructure.

Hewlett-Packard’s financial performance has trailed the industry of late. Last month it reported quarterly revenue growth of just 3% to $31.6 billion. Sales of consumer devices fell 23%, while the IT service grew by just 2% to $9.0 billion.

Just before those numbers were published, a memo from former SAP-chief Apotheker to HP executives was leaked to the press. In it, he warned that the company faced "another tough quarter" ahead.

He wrote that executives must  "watch every penny and minimise all hiring” and that the company’s current level of staffing is  “unaffordable given the pressures on our business".

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Ben Rossi

Ben was Vitesse Media's editorial director, leading content creation and editorial strategy across all Vitesse products, including its market-leading B2B and consumer magazines, websites, research and...

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