Squeezing margin while waiting to be acquired or go IPO
Pros
Riverbed continues to employee talented, smart, and dedicated women and men that are committed to seeing Riverbed return to glory, but their morale is waning. The technology is solid, but must be integrated into a true platform.
Cons
The company's executive leadership team fails to execute. The Sales organization has failed to sell the portfolio and continually revised targets downward and then misses those. HR leadership is toxic and highly ineffective. They fail to model the values and culture needed to foster the vibrant community that used to exist. HR leadership is ineffective and fails to model the behaviors that are needed for a healthy culture. HR gets in the way of serving the people of Riverbed. They cannot attract quality HR talent to the company and this is a major short coming. Once Sales works out their issues, they need people who can perform and the company needs to be there to support the efforts, but without effective HR, it is a structure built on sand and will fail. Hopefully, should Riverbed be acquired, the new owners will quickly identify this gap and replace HR leadership with people who actually know what effective HR can be. Finally, the company has let the systems and technology needed to support the business languish for far too long. The infrastructure is crumbling and requires investment. IT is ineffective, but really hasn't been given a chance to succeed. They need the proper funding to refresh technology and help the business maximize efficiencies to be effective. IT leadership is well intended, but they get defensive too easily. Their leader needs to acknowledge the areas for improvement in his org and make the courageous call in replacing the members of his team that have been coasting for far too long. They are negatively impacting organizational morale and productivity. Get a team that will perform and motivate. Then hold your peers accountable for the state of the technology infrastructure and get the funds needed to empower the business units to deliver to their potential.
