Memo to HP: Get In the Managed Services Game

I’ve written roughly 600 blog entries about the managed services industry since January. Amazingly, I think I’ve mentioned Hewlett-Packard only once or twice along the way.

Is anybody else shocked by HP’s complete inability to articulate a managed services strategy? Dell has spent more than a year piecing together an MSP strategy and acquiring Silverback Technologies, Everdream and MessageOne.

HP’s response so far has been silence. That’s shocking. Here’s why.

Missed Opportunities

HP commanded roughly 19 percent of the 1Q 2008 worldwide PC market, according to iSuppli, a market research firm. Dell was a distant second at 15.4 percent.

All of those HP PCs represent a huge opportunity to Hewlett-Packard to work more closely with managed service providers.

In the 1990s, HP told the world it built the best-managed PCs. At the same time, HP OpenView was the top enterprise systems management platform.

But somewhere along the way — as MSP software companies gained momentum — HP overlooked the managed services market opportunity.

HP does sponsor MSP Partners, a vendor-driven organization that provides research and education to MSPs.

But when MSPs talk about key partners, I never hear HP’s name enter the conversation. Perhaps I’m just hanging out with the wrong MSPs. Or am I? Let me know.

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