Fiorina Comes Clean

In a Saturday afternoon sit-down, Fiorina said she is committed to HP's Hard Deck approach as the centerpiece of the combined companies' channel program.

"We've fixed our channel problems, and we don't want to go backward," she said. "We are going to keep the Hard Deck." That's good news for solution providers, who have been concerned that Compaq's Partner Engagement Principles could prevail.

But Fiorina also makes no bones about the fact that the combined company will follow the direct-distribution path taken by Compaq, a path that has completely confused solution providers.

Fiorina maintains that Compaq's logistics arm (the former Inacom) can match Dell's logistics muscle. Top channel executives and distributors doubt that would be the case, given the incredible costs associated with building core competency distribution capabilities. None of the major computer makers has a true handle on how this affects sales, general and administrative expenses, and none of them will ever beat Dell at that distribution game.

The message for solution providers: Continue to drive your services business by focusing on key markets such as security and storage, and either move to a white-box PC business or partner with the vendor that does the best job of partnering with you. That may very well be HP, given its straightforward, no-nonsense approach to partnering in the enterprise solutions business.

Overall, solution providers have been satisfied with the clarity and precision with which HP has embraced them, and disheartened by mixed signals from Compaq. That has certainly been borne out in CRN Channel Satisfaction survey numbers.

In our cover story this week, Fiorina tells channel partners that HP's "Hard Deck has demonstrated that we can collaborate effectively even in our largest accounts where we add value and they add value." That pledge of cooperation is going to go a long way toward making the combined company a success, if the merger is approved by shareholders.

Do you support the HP-Compaq merger? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].