HP’s crossroads as a company
At its 2015 Global Partner Conference, Hewlett-Packard Co. is at a crossroads.
The company is poised this fall to split into two separate Fortune 50 companies: HP Enterprise with the networking, software and services business, and HP Inc. with the printing and personal systems business. Helping partners navigate the change is a key focus, as is encouraging partners to do business with both companies.
Here are six takeaways from day one.
HP has turned the corner
“No company survives without adapting, without the ability to rethink, to change and to renew. I can tell you with pride that HP has turned the corner. We’ve done the hard work to keep HP at the forefront of the IT industry. While there’s a lot more work to do, we’re making real progress.”
— Meg Whitman, president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. and future president and CEO of HP Enterprise and chair of HP Inc.
The new HP Enterprise
“At HP Enterprise we play in very attractive markets — infrastructure, software, cloud and services — and these markets play in our favour. It’s no longer about driving speeds and feeds; companies are looking to drive business outcomes. We’re pivoting here from selling products to selling solutions.”
— Meg Whitman, president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. and future president and CEO of HP Enterprise and chair of HP Inc.
Weisler takes the helm of HP Inc.
“(The split) is an opportunity to accelerate the progress made in printing and personal systems. Together we’re building a company with a unique entrepreneurial spirit with innovation at its core. We’re aggressively embracing the move to a contractual business model, becoming stickier and giving you annuity revenue.”
— Dion Weisler, executive vice-president of HP printing & personal systems and future president and CEO, HP Inc.
Aruba’s airheads are hungry for battle
Just a few weeks before GPC, HP announced the US$3 billion acquisition of wireless networking vendor Aruba Networks. The company calls its employees airheads, and its airheads are hungry to take on Cisco.
“We eat red meat meat for breakfast.”
— Dominic Orr, CEO, Aruba Networks
Keeping HP Enterprise from buying Lenovo laptops
“I’ve got to start looking at what HP Enterprise is going to buy from me (HP Inc.) and I’ve got to forecast it. I will have an account manager looking after HPE — they’ll be one of my biggest accounts — and I’ve got to make sure they’re happy so they don’t go out and buy Lenovo PCs.”
— Jos Brankel, senior vice-president, worldwide sales strategy & operations, printing and personal systems, HP
A new planned MDF model
“We’re moving (Marketing Development Funds) from planning a fund to funding a plan. It allows us to make strategic bets to drive demand. It will be about driving ROI, and it will be great news for partners who are growing, and great news for partners that have great campaigns.”
— Lynn Anderson, senior vice president of demand generation and channel marketing at HP
