View Poll Results: Did you buy shares ?

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  • Yes, I'm acting now !

    702 62.18%
  • No

    427 37.82%
  1. elfabio80's Avatar
    Hi Guys, I think such kind of reviews are very useful and informative why company is so strugling in sales..

    "BlackBerry upper management has unrealistic expectations regarding the solutions available in the market. Very few solutions BlackBerry sells are market leading anymore. The pivot to enterprise software services has had many hiccups and has led to a discconect between, sales, engineering, support etc. BlackBerry will over quota reps and act shocked when there is a low attainment rate. Good mid-level managers are forced out when they try to tell the truth regarding the market expectations. Most sales people leave within 1-2 years so there is a constantly revolving door. Management appears to be fine ignoring problems and kicking the can down the road.

    Advice to Management
    Reset expectations and play to strengths. Spark and UEM are the only Enterpise solutions that the market percieves as having value so focus on selling those and phase out the rest. This will streamline sales and allow to build around solutions that have growth potential. Trust sales maangers that give a realistic picture and don't toe the corporate line."

    "Pros

    There were some good people in sales leadership, sales engineering and sales enablement that were invested in our success. They have long since departed for better opportunities.

    Benefits are ok

    Cons
    After surviving the Cylance acquisition, going several quarters with underpayment or no payment due to commission issues, and changing territories, the new leadership in sales is making it even more difficult to provide value to our customers and to make money.

    The Cylance product was a good solution pre-acquisition. Since then, it simply cannot perform against competitors, who have all hired the best that Cylance had and know its many problems in reality

    Advice to Management
    No advice - it is not desired nor will it be followed. I wish you the best of luck."
    Who released this "review"? It looks like an BB internal thing. Enough to show the underperformance and weakness of Chen last years.
    10-14-20 10:12 AM
  2. EchoTango's Avatar
    Who released this "review"? It looks like an BB internal thing. Enough to show the underperformance and weakness of Chen last years.
    This look like an "exit interview" from an employee who was on his way out the door. At least it has a tone of honesty in absence of any fear of consequence.

    Who hasn't worked for a company who's senior management is totally out of touch with the market and their own company's capabilities ? I certainly have and it's always a shock when this is revealed at some point. I think Chen and Co. suffer greatly from this affliction and live in a bubble of delusion, as evidenced by their recent sales/revenue performance. They really need to have a third party assess their products against current market offerings and have a sober discussion with the senior staff. Of course, this will never happen as their collective understanding can not and will not be impugned.

    An so we will continue to play the "Emperor's New Clothes" with the marketplace. This is one reason why I believe Chen's shelf life has expired.
    elfabio80 likes this.
    10-14-20 12:04 PM
  3. John Tomasson1's Avatar
    This is rather fresh reviews from current or former bb employees.
    10-14-20 12:43 PM
  4. John Tomasson1's Avatar
    Here is other key points from bb employees (mostly from sales team):

    "Cylance Protect was a simple and easy product to deploy and protect customer IT environments, once bought out it has since become a toxic work environment."

    "Tough name recognition challenges. Prospective clients would require a lot of education about the "new" BlackBerry, before the conversation could progress."

    "Poor senior leadership inclusive of the CEO John Chen, Mr. Chen was the right person to save the company but is not the one to execute the growth phase"

    "Beyond unrealistic sales quotas equals constant revolving door in sales and channel teams."

    "Vision from the upper management not clear enough"- Systems Engineer

    "Highly bureaucratic management and nepotism exist across the company."

    "Lot of un-productive veteran resources projecting themselves as leaders in the company ,but doing nothing and adding burden to the company and creating hurdles to the company's cause."

    "Company has no desire to truly invest in the products they have.
    Company doesn't know how to operate in a modern security space.
    Followers not leaders."

    "No marketing budgets"

    "While John Chen may have been the right person to save the company he is not the right person to execute a growth strategy."

    "BlackBerry is the opposite of Cylance. Cylance was a very aggressive, modern, forward thinking SW company that offered great salaries and bonuses to attract top talent because Cylance was shooting for the moon. BlackBerry is the opposite, they are one of the few security SW companies not hiring or growing or making money in the COVID-19 WFH paradigm."

    "During the COVID-19 lockdown crisis it was Cylance leadership that took the initial lead to start sending people home, not BlackBerry execs whose company owned Cylance- BlackBerry execs waited until the last moment to where they were forced to lock things up by the governments. With security companies trying to cash in on the WFH paradigm with various WFH security solutions, do you really think BlackBerry is going to be successful selling a WFH SW solution to potential customers when the BlackBerry execs deep down don't believe in it and are not at all experienced in managing a WFH or remote-worker workforce?"

    "Not a "real" cybersecurity company. Too many offerings to sell, but most don't work. No advancement opportunities."

    "Talent people left or are leaving the company"
    10-14-20 12:47 PM
  5. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    This is rather fresh reviews from current or former bb employees.
    Are you the former BB employee?
    10-14-20 04:41 PM
  6. curves2000's Avatar
    John,

    Thank you so much for this insight as it can be very valuable for investors to hear this type of thing.

    Although no company is perfect and there are always different viewpoints, it's become clear that Blackberry Ltd isn't performing to the expectations that a lot of investors and the market is expecting.

    Software or technical aspects are not my strong suit but I have been very miffed about the lack of sales at Blackberry over the years.

    They are dealing with some of the largest companies and governments in the world with vast budgets and financial resources. They are in a space that is growing significantly and there is an ever changing need for security solutions.

    I have been in amazement at the lack of larger sales in order to drive some revenue growth. I don't know the pricing grid that they sell their products at but we aren't talking about moving $5 and $10 items here.

    With all the security issues, hacks, cybersecurity, IOT and other needs, it's criminal that they aren't able to sell dozens and dozens of deals at $300-500k each a quarter? Throw in a few million dollar deals and we can get some top line revenue growth.

    Would you object if I were to send this thread to Blackberry Investor Relations for comment? Anything in these posts that could identify you or somebody else and have professional repercussions?

    Thanks in advance and great post!

    Posted via CB10
    FeitaInc and Rice Dawg like this.
    10-14-20 05:19 PM
  7. EllaMentri's Avatar
    Since these are all from Glassdoor reviews over the last few months, they aren't exactly hidden from BB as it is.
    10-14-20 09:33 PM
  8. John Tomasson1's Avatar
    Don't make me an epic insider))
    This is open info from company reviews on glassdoor. So I don't work for Blackberry
    10-15-20 02:19 AM
  9. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    I completely forgot about this similar thread which back in the day had some participants in both threads. Go back through entire thread and see that history does repeat itself but also discussing take-under and such...

    https://forums.crackberry.com/bbry-f...rrians-782494/
    10-16-20 03:42 PM
  10. EchoTango's Avatar
    Have we come to the end of Blackberry ?

    In recent months I've sensed a seismic shift in the perception of Blackberry from both industry and more troubling, investors. After a series of train-wreck quarters, we all observed a slow but steady march from material losses to the break-even point. Most of us determined this was the culmination of the company's refocus away from the devices to the highly profitable security and imbedded software markets. Since then, the company has posted a long string of anemic financial results which clearly demonstrates the company has stalled right at the point of success. Blackberry continues to "straddle" the GAAP and Non-GAAP earnings line with such pyrrhic precision it has caused some (myself included) to speculate whether it's intentional. Of even more concern is there does not seem to be any current or near term plans that is going to change this dynamic in the near term.

    I'm happy to be corrected by others who believe otherwise, but I'm not so sure that will happen. Today we sit at around $5 per share after a recent spike downward to an historic low of $2.70, which pales in comparison to the $145 share price it once had. If we imagine hypothetically ending the Blackberry story here, what a sad legacy it is even after the much recounted loss of the device market to Apple. Chen's tenure seems to be defined as grasping failure from the jaws of failure.

    I'm wondering if anyone else has any optimism to share that will change what is a very pessimistic outlook.
    Last edited by EchoTango; 10-20-20 at 12:19 PM.
    10-20-20 11:38 AM
  11. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Have we come to the end of Blackberry ?

    In recent months I've sensed a seismic shift in the perception of Blackberry from both industry and more troubling, investors. After a series of train-wreck quarters, we all observed a slow but steady march from material losses to the break-even point. Most of us determined this was the culmination of the company's refocus away from the devices to the highly profitable security and imbedded software markets. Since then, the company has posted a long string of anemic financial results which clearly demonstrates the company has stalled right at the point of success. Blackberry continues to "straddle" the GAAP and Non-GAAP earnings line with such pyrrhic precision it has caused some (myself included) to speculate whether it's intentional. Of even more concern is there does not seem to be any current or near term plans that is going to change this dynamic in the near term.

    I'm happy to be corrected by others who believe otherwise, but I'm not so sure that will happen. Today we sit at around $5 per share after a recent spike downward to an historic low of $2.70, which pales in comparison to the $145 share price it once had. If we imagine hypothetically ending the Blackberry story here, what a sad legacy it is even after the much recounted loss of the device market to Apple. Chen's tenure seems to be defined as grasping failure from the jaws of failure.

    I'm wondering if anyone else has any optimism to share that will change what is a very pessimistic outlook.
    The Story ended a decade ago.... there have been attempts to save them, BB10, IoT, UEM, Cylance. But in the end those have been delaying actions at best.

    Chen still seems to think SPARK Cloud is the answer... check back in a year to see if it was.

    Sadly I think they are just too small, in a very competitive markets with much bigger players that can out spend on development. And they are already too small, with too many irons (products) in the fire. Which in turn causes them to ignore some products over others.... Wonder where QNX would be if all the focuses hadn't been on BB10, Enterprise Software, Cylance and Spark?
    10-20-20 01:30 PM
  12. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    Have we come to the end of Blackberry ?

    In recent months I've sensed a seismic shift in the perception of Blackberry from both industry and more troubling, investors. After a series of train-wreck quarters, we all observed a slow but steady march from material losses to the break-even point. Most of us determined this was the culmination of the company's refocus away from the devices to the highly profitable security and imbedded software markets. Since then, the company has posted a long string of anemic financial results which clearly demonstrates the company has stalled right at the point of success. Blackberry continues to "straddle" the GAAP and Non-GAAP earnings line with such pyrrhic precision it has caused some (myself included) to speculate whether it's intentional. Of even more concern is there does not seem to be any current or near term plans that is going to change this dynamic in the near term.

    I'm happy to be corrected by others who believe otherwise, but I'm not so sure that will happen. Today we sit at around $5 per share after a recent spike downward to an historic low of $2.70, which pales in comparison to the $145 share price it once had. If we imagine hypothetically ending the Blackberry story here, what a sad legacy it is even after the much recounted loss of the device market to Apple. Chen's tenure seems to be defined as grasping failure from the jaws of failure.

    I'm wondering if anyone else has any optimism to share that will change what is a very pessimistic outlook.
    If Fairfax and Prem aren't successful in a BlackBerry takeunder, I suppose it would be the end. The institutional ownership is the only thing I see keeping it from going under.
    10-20-20 01:42 PM
  13. Rico4you's Avatar
    I amuse myself with these DeathStar scenarios. BlackBerry is far from over.
    Shareholder and increasing my stake.
    10-20-20 02:26 PM
  14. conite's Avatar
    I amuse myself with these DeathStar scenarios. BlackBerry is far from over.
    Shareholder and increasing my stake.
    Care to elaborate on your financial analysis?
    10-20-20 02:34 PM
  15. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    I amuse myself with these DeathStar scenarios. BlackBerry is far from over.
    Shareholder and increasing my stake.
    I don't think BlackBerry the company is over either way. If Fairfax takeunder succeeds, your shares will receive somewhere between $.01-6.00 plus any damages ($.01-1.50) for any type alleged securities violations or lawsuit settlements.

    If unsuccessful in attempts, imagine all the institutional ownership dumping shares and you'd be lucky for a $3/share. BB credit lines could be impaired and BB forced into reorganization or worse liquidation. Either way, this is biggest reason shares never go up. Fairfax consortium has aggressively collared your upside.
    10-20-20 02:47 PM
  16. Rico4you's Avatar
    I don't think BlackBerry the company is over either way. If Fairfax takeunder succeeds, your shares will receive somewhere between $.01-6.00 plus any damages ($.01-1.50) for any type alleged securities violations or lawsuit settlements.

    If unsuccessful in attempts, imagine all the institutional ownership dumping shares and you'd be lucky for a $3/share. BB credit lines could be impaired and BB forced into reorganization or worse liquidation. Either way, this is biggest reason shares never go up. Fairfax consortium has aggressively collared your upside.
    Hmmm...I see your point. Appreciate your educated response. thanks
    10-20-20 02:55 PM
  17. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    Hmmm...I see your point. Appreciate your educated response. thanks
    No problem. I love BlackBerry the hardware. I hope you understand now, BlackBerry the company or the licensees, is not about my hardware opinions.

    I literally do this stuff for a living and corporate strategies and outcomes especially publicly traded are fun to study for me....
    rarsen likes this.
    10-20-20 09:09 PM
  18. Corbu's Avatar
    10-20-20 09:19 PM
  19. Chuck Finley69's Avatar
    10-20-20 09:23 PM
  20. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    That’s awesome looking ride
    Every time you turn around there is some new tech startup looking to copy TESLA and build smart electric cars. Some of which are getting good sized contracts with fleet owners.

    Read where FoxCon was gearing up to be able to build these as well. So really wonder about the more traditional auto makers?

    Is the "tech" part really more important than the "car" it's running on? Sad that BlackBerry hasn't gotten off their but* and moved into another type of hardware.....
    10-21-20 07:19 AM
  21. Redzinaldas's Avatar
    https://blogs.blackberry.com/en/2020...source=Twitter

    BlackBerry Achieves Highest Score in Gartner Critical Capabilities Report for Unmanaged/BYO Use Case
    rarsen, Corbu, dusdal and 1 others like this.
    10-21-20 08:18 AM
  22. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    https://blogs.blackberry.com/en/2020...source=Twitter

    BlackBerry Achieves Highest Score in Gartner Critical Capabilities Report for Unmanaged/BYO Use Case
    VMWARE let's you look at the full report (as they were the clear winners overall): https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/d...pabilities.pdf

    And how Gartner summed up BlackBerry

    BlackBerry
    BlackBerry continues to demonstrate strength in securely delivering apps and data on managed
    and unmanaged mobile devices. BlackBerry Access workspace can provide users access to
    Dynamics-enabled apps, virtual apps and desktops (via its Awingu partnership), positioning the
    BlackBerry Digital Workplace as a viable alternative to a company-managed device.
    BlackBerry UEM lags competing solutions by offering only basic macOS and Windows 10
    management capabilities. Its UEM is ideal for organizations seeking robust control over apps and
    data consumed on BYO and unmanaged devices and those with complex security and compliance
    needs.
    BlackBerry remains strong in the unmanaged/BYO and compliance-driven use cases.
    BlackBerry is a strong player.... but something is preventing them from monetizing their technical capabilities. Lack of sales staff? Poor communications/support? Price? Name? Chen's got to figure it out....
    Redzinaldas likes this.
    10-21-20 09:31 AM
  23. app_Developer's Avatar
    Every time you turn around there is some new tech startup looking to copy TESLA and build smart electric cars. Some of which are getting good sized contracts with fleet owners.

    Read where FoxCon was gearing up to be able to build these as well. So really wonder about the more traditional auto makers?

    Is the "tech" part really more important than the "car" it's running on? Sad that BlackBerry hasn't gotten off their but* and moved into another type of hardware.....
    Yes, the general consensus in the industry is that tech (including driver and passenger experience) will be the biggest differentiator.

    There are still scale advantages for existing manufacturers. Not saying Foxconn and similar can't get there, but they have a long way to go on that.

    But you've hit on why my teams do what they do. The big manufacturers want to own the overall differentiated digital experience.
    rarsen likes this.
    10-21-20 10:11 AM
  24. Dunt Dunt Dunt's Avatar
    Yes, the general consensus in the industry is that tech (including driver and passenger experience) will be the biggest differentiator.

    There are still scale advantages for existing manufacturers. Not saying Foxconn and similar can't get there, but they have a long way to go on that.

    But you've hit on why my teams do what they do. The big manufacturers want to own the overall differentiated digital experience.
    Maybe that's part of the issue.... they deal in scale that's too big for these EV Smart Vehicle to be viable for them at this point? Amazon's order of 100K delivery vehicles from Rivian is impressive.... not as much when it over then next ten years. But Rivian will bend over backwards to offer the software package that Amazon wants. Ford or GM would say here you go.... want it customized, visit one of our 3rd party vendors. Or worse... no you can't add that.
    10-21-20 11:35 AM
  25. beavertail2's Avatar
    While lots of gloom and doom by retail investors, institutions averaged down to below $5?
    https://stocktwits.com/MaximusRiskCa...sage/251260335
    Last edited by beavertail2; 10-22-20 at 09:34 AM. Reason: typo
    10-22-20 09:28 AM
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