Opinion: HP Enterprise has yet another confusing plan to simplify itself

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is going to do more “re-architecting” of its business, just after it has spun itself down to a smaller version of the company that broke out of a larger company two years ago. Confused yet? Welcome to the club.  HP Enterprise HPE, -1.89% Chief Executive Meg Whitman said Tuesday in discussing the company’s fiscal third quarter earnings that HPE now has the opportunity to create a structure and operating model that is “simpler, nimbler and faster,” and it will begin a program called HPE Next to “simplify how we work.” If that doesn’t sound familiar, you haven’t been following the HPE odyssey. When the $100 billion computing and printing giant Hewlett-Packard split into two businesses, Whitman promised it would make both companies nimbler. Instead, HP Inc. HPQ, -0.62% the printing and personal computer maker, is faring better as a more focused company, while HP Enterprise is still struggling and Whitman is still talking about “more work to do.” Read also: Why HPE investors are wondering if they bet on the wrong horse in split When first announcing the software spinoff, Whitman sounded a similar tune, saying HPE “will now be fully optimized for a faster growing, higher margin and more robust free cash flow business.” It appears HPE needs yet another new route to get to the nimble, optimized company Whitman wants, though Tuesday’s earnings seemed to be an improvement from quarters past. The company beat analyst estimates for the quarter, with some much needed stability in its server business and growth in other areas. Its shares rose 5% in after-hours trading, after tumbling 20% (temporarily, before adjustments) on Friday, as its completed its latest spinoff. Amid all the shuffling of deck chairs, HPE has also been bringing in new businesses, that show its plans for “HPE Next.” Earlier Monday HPE said it bought a cloud computing consulting business as part of it goal to become the company for corporations to turn to when they want one foot in cloud computing and another on premises, which is referred to as hybrid cloud. SimpliVity, the hyperconvergance startup that it bought for $650 million, showed 200% growth off a small base. Nimble Storage, which HPE bought earlier this year for $1 billion, also drove big growth of 30% in its all-flash storage business. Don’t miss: Is hyperconvergence the next big thing in tech? HPE could be heading in the right direction with these acquisitions, but it is hard to tell amid the seemingly endless restructuring and new programs described with corporate buzzwords like “clean sheeting” and “right sizing.” And given HPE’s recent history, it could only be a couple of years before these new acquisitions are spun out in a new attempt at finding the simple company that Whitman is seeking.

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