Las Vegas — The education market in Canada is basically owned by Apple Canada and Dell Canada. Coming up behind them is HP Canada and Derek Smith, vice-president and general manager of the subsidiary’s Personal Systems Group (PSG), wants to change that.
Education will be HP (NYSE: HPQ) PSG’s top priority right after the SMB market, he said at HP’s Americas Partner Conference, held here.
Smith admitted that education was not a primary focus for HP PSG in the past. The education market in Canada is worth $500 million annually with a growth rate between five and six per cent, according to IDC. “I think it’s a market that we haven’t gotten our rightful share (of),” he said.
HP Canada’s PSG has put together a comprehensive plan around education to position the company as an enabler of learning. At the heart of this plan is HP’s digital classroom initiative.
According to Michael McAvoy, director, commercial marketing for HP Canada, the key will be providing the right products and price points, and developing relationships with teachers to further their professional development efforts.
”Teachers are prepared to use the PC as a learning tool, but they do not want to look stupid against kids who know more about the PC than they do,” McAvoy said.
HP’s strategy to gain marketshare in education is to provide products along with the right IT solutions for curriculum development through education partners.
“It’s a big challenge and we’re not talking about just hardware, but the solution using third party products such as Calgary’s Smart Technologies‘ digital chalkboard,” said Smith, “If we get to No. 2 that would be a great increase in sales.”
A new initiative from HP is Total Care, which is intended to provide a complete ecosystem for customer lifecycle. The plan is for HP partners to deliver Total Care, McAvoy said.
”They’re the defacto IT managers in the SMB across Canada,” he said.
Total Care addresses the broad portfolio of products and services and protects data and equipment. “It makes sure that it is up and running for a small business,” he added.Another aspect of Total Care is an upgrade path to transition from office solution to environmentally friendly solutions, McAvoy said.
The Total Care program will also provide incentive to resellers to the tune of $100 plus rebates. HP Canada soft launched Total Care last October. The program is expected to be available sometime within the next 30 to 60 days.
The other challenge to HP Canada’s drive in the Canadian education market is that budgets are still tight across most school boards. According to Dave Walsh, global vice-president of IT Xchange, some customers in education are not looking for state-of-the-art technology and are completely satisfied with non-current or secondary market products.
McAvoy confirmed that has been the legacy in the education market, but that it was changing quite noticeably.
”In some cases there are providers of refurbished or used gear (getting under pressure) with price points coming down education can not get full solutions that are complimented by third party products,” he said.
That fact has pushed white box sales, for example, out of the marketplace unless there is a vertical solution.
”We are going to make it tough to compete with HP,” McAvoy said.
