An evangelist for Lotus Notes software predicts Qantas' decision to move to Microsoft Exchange and Outlook will see its share price fall. Oh dear.
We’re prepared to bet that the Lotus Notes camp wasn’t happy to learn in February that Qantas had decided to switch sides and was now playing for the Exchange team.
But not everyone took the decision lying down … one Keith Brooks from Boca Raton, Florida (Twitter handle: @lotusevangelist) decided to set the record straight. In a post entitled “Qantas outsources their brains too?”, he exhorted revolution:
“Qantas employees, fight this. Not because of Outlook or Notes but because of your job and the precarious nature of where this expense may send your company and thus your job.”
Qantas executive manager of corporate services and technology, David Hall, he said, should pay for the Notes move out of his bonus. But don’t worry, he said. It’s not like Hall will be around for long anyway.
“The average tenure of an executive in your position is 5.3 years so you will be fine before the next huge bill comes back to the company. Especially if you start this process in year 2 of your tenure.”
The change of email suite, he said, would affect the airline’s share price.
“By the way, if you own Qantas shares get ready to sell them. If past histories tell us anything it’s that companies that leave Lotus Notes to Exchange (or some other system) go into free fall for at least a year.
The whole deal, he said, would result in:
“A mess that anyone with some intelligence would look at and question.”
Brooks’ company, Vanessa Brooks, claims to be one of the few Lotus Business Partners in the world dedicated to Lotus infrastructure projects, according to its website, which also states it “wants to earn your respect, one project at a time”. The Lotus enthusiast, also an executive at the SAS Group, according to his LinkedIn profile, finished his article with an attempt to earn that respect from Hall:
Fujitsu, or Mr. Hall, let us help you, contact me so we can show you the error of your ways.
What, we wonder, would Brooks think of the news that Qantas flight attendants are encouraged to use their own personal email — Gmail or Hotmail — for work-related matters?
Oh dear.