HP, Channel Partners Providing Free Access To Educational Content

‘We have a great program called HP Turn to Learn, where we looked end-to-end to be able to provide curriculum, free access to content, and printing services through our channel partners to those underserved schools and students to have that available out in all of the markets,’ says HP’s Anneliese Olson.

For students, teachers and their families, getting access to educational content amid the coronavirus crisis has been a struggle that millions are facing globally.

HP Inc. is now offering immediate relief with the help of their channel partners to bring critical digital resources to school districts and underserved students across the U.S.

“As we look at education [for] people working and learning at home, we have a number of offers we brought to bear to help people,” said Anneliese Olson, general manger and global head of HP’s printing category, in a virtual interview with CRNtv.

“So we have a great program called HP Turn to Learn, where we looked end-to-end to be able to provide curriculum, free access to content, and printing services through our channel partners to those underserved schools and students, [and] have that available out in all of the markets.”

Olson told CRN that the first step in equipping HP partners to better serve their education customers is “to make sure we provide all of the right channels and training for helping people to understand what solutions and bundles are available that they can take up and take to their customers.”

“And then, especially for those focused on education utilizing things like HP Turn to Learn, or the HP Refresh Program for PCs, it’s a great opportunity to bring those people to give more access to students to learn,” she added.

Which is why HP’s financial services are so important during this time, Olson said.

“Budgets are tight. People don’t have capital expenditure freedom right now. And so to be able to take HP financial services along with some of these education offers, and have a channel partner take those to customers, [it gives] them a service and a predictable lower-cost way to manage.”

Moving in this direction “can really help out their end-user customer and really provide value that that channel partner can take to them,” Olson said.

Enabling Better Learning Outcomes

Solution provider executives told CRN that school districts are trying to figure out how to best connect with their students and teachers who have transitioned to remote learning, and technology is a big part of that — especially HP technology.

“What we’re seeing is that in California, where we’re based, all the schools have basically gone to school from home if you will--but the school districts are still looking at, what does the future look like? And they're looking for technology solutions that will continue to empower them to do these sorts of things,” said Luis Alvarez, president and CEO of Alvarez Technology Group, a Salinas, Calif.-based managed service provider.

“Education is an interesting animal right now,” said Bob Venero, president and CEO of Holbrook, N.Y.-based solution provider Future Tech Enterprise. “A lot of what we're seeing is video driven from the schools, whether it’s K-12, or whether it's higher ed--and having those needs from a video, collaborative perspective is very important.”

Some HP tool sets that are built into the company’s desktops and notebooks “really tie themselves well to supporting education,” he said.

And with these products, the PC vendor and its partners are working hard to close the homework and digital access gap.

“School districts want to stock up, if you will, on having laptops ready to go because some of their students don't have laptops or PCs at home,” said Alvarez. “[In] our area, where we're at in central California, we have a lot of farmworkers’ kids and we have a lot of people that work and live in rural areas, so they don't have high bandwidth.”

“So, solving those problems has become one of our biggest challenges,” added Alvarez.

“In the education space the tool sets that are tied to these systems help drive that connected space and it needs to become more and more connected as we start to look forward,” Venero said. “And I think what you'll see in a lot of these manufacturers, even from HP, is that they're going to really enhance some of those offerings so that the connected education space can be more and more prevalent out there in the market.”

Watch CRNtv to learn more about HP’s latest technology to support remote learning worldwide along with the help of solution providers.