CRN Interview: Carly Fiorina, HP

Following her keynote speech at Hewlett-Packard's Americas Partner conference last week, HP Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina spoke about the channel and HP's partnering initiatives in a wide-ranging interview with CMP Technology Solutions Group President Robert Faletra, CMP Vice President and Editorial Director Robert DeMarzo and Editor Heather Clancy. Below are excerpts from the interview.

CRN: What is the "ultimate channel," or the vision you have for where the channel is going to go in the future?

FIORINA: Unfortunately it is not that simple. ... Just like technology isn't a silver bullet anymore, there isn't a silver bullet for the channel. One of the things you also heard me say today is we know one size doesn't fit all. There are differences in how certain market segments buy and assess value. There are differences in how certain geographies buy and assess value. But I guess here is what I would say is common, rather than trying to design the perfect channel. I think what is common is the following: When I talk about our desire for collaboration, what we are really talking about is building as seamless a model of collaboration as we can get. And that is important because we have to achieve the enhanced capability and the extended reach of two companies and compete against one company. Therefore, that collaboration has got to be really seamless, and it has to be seamless in terms of how we work with the supply chain.

What does that mean: seamless in terms of costs? We can't be duplicating each other's costs. We can't be replicating each other's costs. That requires a level of trust and transparency that we want to step up to, and I think our partners want to step up to. Seamless collaboration in terms of how we go to market, how we deliver solutions? Again, that is going to require a level of trust and collaboration and transparency between us that maybe will be uncomfortable at first but is absolutely necessary. We have got to look and act and respond as a seamless value chain. That is ultimately the way we are going to win.

CRN: What investments does that require on the part of your company and your partners?

FIORINA: Of course it requires systems and processes. But I actually think the systems and processes part is not the most challenging. What it really requires is mutual trust, a level of transparency. We as partners are going to have to be open and willing to share a level of information that perhaps we haven't in the past, so that we really understand where all the opportunities for leverage are. Where are all the opportunities for efficiency? Where are all the opportunities to grow together? So I think it is less about the systems and more about the mind-set, frankly.

CRN: So treating your partners like they are an extension of your company?

FIORINA: And vice versa. This is not a one-way street. It is a two-way street. And it requires a level of commitment on both sides. By the way, I think we are all up to it. But I think that is harder than systems and processes. The truth is that while we are a technology company, technology usually isn't the hardest part. It is the change stuff.

CRN: Is that a cultural asset that you will use to compete with the competitor you kept mentioning this morning,IBM? What will it take for you to win out against IBM?

FIORINA: We have a very different product portfolio than they do, very different. We tend to think technology can solve problems. They throw lots of people at it. But beyond that, beyond the portfolio and the capabilities that we,HP and our partners,bring to the table, which I think are very different, [is collaboration]. We are collaborators by history, by strategy, by personality and by choice. And I think if you ask any customer, any partner, what they will tell you is HP has a history of personality, of strategy, of collaboration. We are just better at it than most people. And that's what it takes.

CRN: So your partner network is the differentiator in your mind in terms of winning over customers, driving satisfaction, beating out IBM or whomever else it might be?

FIORINA: Our partner network has to be a differentiator. It has to be a differentiator.