Dear Mr. Hurd

Dear Mr. Hurd: Congratulations on your appointment. You face a big challenge as you take steps to help HP reach its potential. I know you will be gathering information from customers, employees and, yes, partners over the next several months. Please don't forget that two-thirds of the company's $80 billion in sales comes from the channel. Don't shortchange solution providers as you gather data. In that spirit, here is some advice.

1. Get a good cost accountant and do your own financial analysis on the benefits of selling through the channel vs. selling through HP's direct-sales force and HP.com. And don't be afraid to dig under the covers to get the right information.

2. Get the real story about the channel from HP's customers as well as the channel leaders and solution provider sales reps in the field who are driving the bulk of HP's sales. These people have bet their businesses on HP, and their cries for help have fallen on deaf ears. The fact is, partners have not been embraced for what they are: an extension of the HP sales force.

3. Don't get "Dell-itis." The surest way to fail in the SMB segment is to try and copy Dell. Yes, you should work with the channel to reduce inventory, but don't try to transform HP into a commodity technology products distributor like Dell. HP is about quality and innovation. Customers will pay more for better products and service wrapped together in a business solution.

4. Set a clear channel strategy for the entire company—and then enforce it. It all starts from the top. You are the leader. Don't leave this to the business units or middle managers because it will end up in the HP black hole and you will fail. If you are looking at best practices here, check out IBM. Everyone in IBM knows that partners are the vendor's face to customers. When someone inside IBM goes off the reservation, he or she is taken to task.

5. Remember that HP is a great institution with thousands of partners relying on the company's products as solution building blocks. They want HP to succeed, but they have been battered, bruised and numbed by a company that has been inconsistent and outright unpredictable. Do the right thing. Give HP's channel partners the tools and support they need to be successful.

What's your advice for HP's new CEO? Let me know at (781) 839-1221 or via e-mail at [email protected].