Experts sound off on Siebel's CEO switch

Siebel's announcement that it replaced CEO Mike Lawrie with George Shaheen has been met with considerable criticism from customers, investors, and experts. While Gartner says bringing on Shaheen is a good move, AMR Research shows a strong view to the contrary, saying that the abrupt firing will have a negative effect on the software maker's development plans.

Meanwhile, InformationWeek blogger, Tony Kontzer, tries to soften the blow of what it means to a cover story he did about Lawrie just a few weeks ago. As for George Shaheen, who had a great run at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), his resume does have a blaring tarnish on it; the Webvan (an Internet grocery startup) flop. This political blog trumpets that point:

I’m sorry. Am I missing something here? First, raise almost a half $billion from investors, and then go out of business. And this resume qualifies him for what?

Look for Siebel to empty its deep pockets for an acquisition sometime soon.