XChange 2010: HP Prepares For Growth With Economic Recovery

Hewlett-Packard is growing both its share in key product markets and its channel focus, a one-two punch it says will reward existing and new partners who invest in the company and its broad portfolio range.

Tom LaRocca, vice president of marketing and strategy for HP's Americas Solution Partners organization, told an audience of solution providers at Everything Channel's XChange conference Wednesday that the coming economic recovery is a real opportunity to decide how to grow.

During the recent economic downturn, HP managed to significantly grow its business and its market share in many product areas including notebook PCs, servers and storage, and printing, LaRocca said.

Such growth presents several opportunities to its channel partners, he said, particularly in such areas as converged infrastructure, the fast-growing data storage market, and healthcare.

Healthcare has become a top priority for HP's channel team, LaRocca said. The company recently unveiled partnerships with McKesson, a provider of services and products to health care providers and payers, and Allscripts, a provider of services related to electronic medical records, both of which HP's solution providers can leverage. And neither are exclusive relationships, giving partners other opportunities going forward, he said.

HP also recently introduced a new SMB channel program called Healthcare Expressway, which LaRocca said makes it easier for partners to go to medical customers with mobility, electronic medical records, point-of-care technology, and e-prescription solutions.

To make it easier for partners to work with HP, the company is making a number of changes to its PartnerOne channel program which address certain complexities that arise from the program and which can make it more consistent across different partner types, LaRocca said.

However, he said, HP is not changing the basics of the program in order to ensure that partners are not surprised by it. "We want to give everybody a lot of runway to understand the program, invest in it, and grow with it," he said.

HP is often thought of as something like the Queen Mary in terms of how difficult it is to change directions, but LaRocca shows that such a belief is a mistake, said John Convery, executive vice president of vendor relations and marketing at Denali Advanced Integration, a Redmond, Wash.-based solution provider and HP partner.

"From what I've seen, HP is more like a jet ski, and very nimble," Convery said.

HP has one of the richest channel programs in the industry, programs that keep Denali highly motivated to work with the vendor, Convery said.

"What we saw today is a doubling down on their channel focus," he said. "They have a unique approach to the marketplace. They're working with our sales team, and we're mapping with their direct sales. We never see a conflict."

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