Here is what HP is losing by separating itself in two.
According to former HP Canada senior executive Dave Frederickson, who is now a senior vice president at CDN Top 100 Solution Provider LongView Systems, the ease of integration benefits from a channel perspective may not be there any more now that HP is two companies instead of one.
The PartnerOne channel program made it easy for HP staffers and the solution providers to work with the two business units and there were plenty of incentives involved that would reward partners, Frederickson said.
“PartnerOne is a cost effective way to engage with HP and often times we would book various things with the two groups and it was unfettered. This will now create an extra layer and could create an opportunity for other players,” Frederickson said.
Will that continue with HP Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise? We shall see in the next 13 months or so.
Research and Development will now be in question. It’s clear from CEO Meg Whitman that HP will be two separate organizations. What will that mean from an R&D perspective has still not been addressed. This may put the HP Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise at a disadvantage.
HP also got clear benefits with alliance partners such as Intel. The company could leverage Intel as a supplier as one big company as opposed to two smaller companies. Those economies of scale are also in question.
When asked about this Intel Canada country manager Graham Palmer did not want to speculate on what the new relationship between his company and HP Inc. or Hewlett-Packard Enterprise would look like. He did say, however, that HP is an important customer and partner of Intel and the hope is to be productive with them going forward.
What hasn’t changed is the company’s approach to market. HP has had two distinct business units for a long while now and the channel along with customers have recognized that and accepted it.
So in a sense HP has properly prepared itself for this day.
Frederickson agreed telling CDN that he has mixed emotions about the split, but added that it was very clear HP has been operating on the Enterprise side and on the Printing and Personal Systems side over the last few years.
He added that the new separated businesses came from the desire of shareholders to increase the value of each organization and for them to now focus on not burdening the other.
Also the HP split will only encourage competitors such as Lenovo and Dell to go after channel partners who wanted to keep the status quo with HP.
What a split means internally is that there will be new sales plans, account plans and go-to-market plans that in the past were integrated. Those now have to be created on each side a communicated to the marketplace.
This could create a distraction as HP is working on closing its year, while getting their plan ready for a 2015 rollout.
Frederickson added that HP Canada executives now have to be laser focused more than ever before.
One quick hit before I go. FlexITy Solutions Inc. has hired Shane Warnez, who recently led Cisco Systems in the Prairies as a Regional Director, onto the CDN Top 100 Solution Provider’s senior leadership team.
