HP Channel Chief's 15-Point Memo to Channel Partners

HP Channel Chief Stephen DiFranco

1. Three Key Themes: DiFranco opened by describing how One HP, with an expanded Portfolio, is pursuing Partnerships in the channel. “We want to talk about numbers because they tell a story,” said DiFranco. “They are a foundation for how we should make decisions together. When I stood here last year, we did not own 3Par and we did not own Palm. The portfolio breadth sometimes gets criticized. But our portfolio is one of the principle reasons we’re driving growth.”

2. Facts Not Hype: DiFranco said recent third-party partner summits were filled with hype. Instead, HP wants to use analytics to ensure partners can make informed investments.

3. Humble Learner: DiFranco has been at HP for about a year. He conceded that the job has involved a steep learning curve. And he says he spent considerable time on operations to ensure partners

4. Growth Mode: Channel revenues in the Americas has grown 20 percent in the past year. HP also paid out more than $50 million in additional dollars to channel partners.

5. Talent Pool: DiFranco says there’s never been an IT person at HP responsible for the channel. But there was never really a CIO within HP responsible for the channel. “We never got our fair share of IT investment dollars.” Now there’s a CIO of the Channel: Rory Hunter. Deborah Leblanc, VP of channels for the Americas, has been re-engineering processes to improve deal registration, DiFranco also noted. (The VAR Guy is checking the spellings on Leblanc and Hunter.)

6. Measure Everything: DiFranco wants to measure partner tools on utilization rates, utility (features) and usability (how quickly partners leverage the tools). DiFranco says the partner tools have seen an 80% increase in utilization rates, 42% increase in utility and 2.5X faster on the usability front.

7. Direct vs. Indirect: “It’s an issue we’ve had to address. Over time, channels have about the same cost of going to market as going direct. In the past 12 months, our channel revenue has grown 2.5 times faster than any of our direct business. It’s a statement in terms of how we’re moving toward the channel.”

8. Memo to MSPs: 70 percent of businesses with fewer than 250 people will be doing some form of managed print services soon, DiFranco predicted.

9. Leapfrog: DiFranco claims HP has leapfrogged Dell’s market share in the commercial notebook market.

10. SMB Opportunities: DiFranco says the U.S. SMB opportunity is $71 billion. But the key challenge: Most VARs have a challenge stretching beyond a 40-mile radius. DiFranco says HP’s SMB Central portal will help partners to coordinate efforts and boost SMB sales.

11. Health Care: It’s a $31 billion opportunity in the U.S., DiFranco said. “It’s a government, public policy market place,” said DiFranco, allowing partners to plan their long-term strategies based on government policies. HP is introducing Point of Care and COW (computers on wheels) for the health care market.

12. Mobility an WebOS: “I want to show you WebOS is part of a strategy to bring our partners into the mobile marketplace by encouraging you to bring practices into the market,” said DiFranco. “Let’s go from discussing deals to discussing practices.”

13. Audiovisual: The digital signage and audiovisual markets are a big, big opportunity for HP channel partners, said DiFranco. “I think it will be a battle between the audiovisual resellers and the IT resellers.”

14. Acquisitions: DiFranco says HP is “channelizing” recent acquisitions like 3Par and Palm’s WebOS.

15. Closing thought: In the past year, all HP partners grew 18% on average, and HP-centric partners grew 50 percent on average,” DiFranco concluded.

That’s all for now. CEO Leo Apotheker is taking the stage now. The VAR Guy will be back soon with more insights.

Sign up for The VAR Guy’s Weekly Newsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow The VAR Guy via RSS, Facebook and Twitter. Follow experts at VARtweet. Read The VAR Guy’s editorial disclosures here.