CRN Interview: Jim Kleeman, Avnet

It's been four months since Jim Kleeman took over Avnet Hall-Mark's Hewlett-Packard business unit, but there have been many changes in HP's channel since that time. Industry Editor Craig Zarley and Distribution Editor Scott Campbell recently spoke with Kleeman about his experience thus far. The following are excerpts from that conversation. GO TO CRN.COM/EXTRA for the full interview.

CRN: Kevin Gilroy was officially named the head of HP's North American channels. Do you have any indication how HP will handle its broadline commercial distributors and enterprise distributors now that they're lumped into one organization?

Kleeman: You know as much as we do about the new organization. We are having discussions now in terms of how things will fall. We assume it will have a somewhat different look, but we have no indication what that look will be.

CRN: You have been working with Dan Vertrees. Tell me what you think of the job he did, and how well do you know Gilroy?

Kleeman: Kevin did a fine job before the merger [with Compaq]. Dan has more of a channel background. We worked with Kevin back in mid to late 1990s. I'm comfortable with Kevin in that respect. How it will change the program, I don't know. I'm not sure what he will do to make it different. If they consolidate all the channels, it still has to function somewhat different.

CRN: How would you like to be viewed in the new HP channel organization, different from Tech Data or Ingram Micro?

Kleeman: My biggest focus is on driving customer growth [and in] our ability to help customers grow their business. That's been difficult the last couple of years because of the economy. But people are upbeat now and anything they can help us [do] to help our customers grow is what we want.

CRN: The new HP Integrated Partner program has been in effect for a couple of months now. How is that going?

Kleeman: HP put a lot of time and effort into the program. With any transition, you have some challenges. But we've gotten through a lot of them. We've seen the worst of it. Hopefully, we're all back to selling now.

CRN: The first two weeks of the transition were rumored to have been difficult because of issues with pricing and other functions that were previously handled by HP. Has it gotten better?

Kleeman: It was a big transition for everybody: HP, us, partners. We developed tools to help the transition. I don't know what anybody else experienced, but we managed it fairly well. There are some more technology tools, Web-based ordering, quote-to-order, tracking. We've streamlined the special pricing processes %85 one of the things people had difficulties with.

CRN: HP business was flat last year. Has it grown this year?

Kleeman: Being here for 90 days, I haven't had a chance to get into the nitty-gritty of the effects of the last year of business. We had some growth and I feel comfortable with where we're going. What I'm trying to figure out is how to change business to bring my past experience [as a solution provider] into the mix. From the side of an ex-reseller, people keep asking me why did I come out of retirement. It was a tremendous opportunity. It's been enlightening, challenging.

CRN: IBM is boasting about getting some HP customers to switch to the IBM platform. Do you see from HP a similar aggressive recruitment of some IBM guys to get them to the HP camp?

Kleeman: I don't know too much about IBM's strategy, but I do know we aggressively are going after Sun resellers. As we all know, the Sun market is slowing down. There are great opportunities for HP, great programs from HP to go after that market. From IBM, I haven't seen much of that.

CRN: Are you successful recruiting against Sun?

Kleeman: Moderately successful. They're definitely willing to sit down and listen to us more than last year. That's due to the market and where Sun is heading. We've had some hits.

CRN: What is Avnet doing to help solution providers grow their business?

Kleeman: We have a positive attitude coming from the entrepreneurial side of the business. Our customers have a lot of questions on how to grow. %85 We're bringing a better connection to market opportunities, lead-generation programs. The excitement comes from the ability to drive the right programs and help them grow their business. That's the bottom line. How you go out, sell [and] get new business. That's what a small- to medium- business owner looks at every day.