BlackBerry Names New COO, Marty Beard, ex-CEO Of Enterprise Cloud Startup LiveOps
On the heels of news that Apple would be significantly ramping up its mobile enterprise push in a partnership with IBM, BlackBerry is also looking to step up its game. Today, the company announced that it is appointing a new COO, Marty Beard.
Context & Ripple Effects
BlackBerry’s appointment follows a late-2013 executive reshuffle that removed its COO, CMO and CFO and the February departure of its BBM leader as the company sought to reinforce its enterprise business. Its stated strategy has centered on enterprise services, messaging and QNX adoption rather than a single product line.
Beard arrives from enterprise cloud startup LiveOps as Apple and IBM begin a confirmed mobile-enterprise partnership. The hire gives BlackBerry an operating executive with enterprise-cloud experience at a point when execution against that strategy is central to its competitive position.
First-order effects
- Marty Beard takes the COO role, restoring a senior operating post that had been vacant after BlackBerry’s 2013 leadership overhaul.
- BlackBerry’s enterprise-services, messaging and QNX priorities gain an operator whose prior role was leading LiveOps, an enterprise cloud startup.
Second-order effects
- Apple and IBM’s enterprise push raises the pressure on BlackBerry to translate its enterprise focus into a coherent operating response for corporate mobile customers.
- The appointment concentrates accountability for executing BlackBerry’s enterprise strategy while the company also manages the earlier loss of its BBM chief.
Third-order effects
- If BlackBerry can pair enterprise software and services with operational leadership, competition for corporate mobile accounts will increasingly turn on managed platforms and partnerships rather than handset differentiation alone.
The trend: Mobile vendors are reorganizing around enterprise services and partnerships as corporate mobility becomes a platform and operations contest.