HP today announced the redirection of its Solutions Partner Organisation strategy with a bid to increase focus on final-tier, leverage a profitable value-proposition to partners and to deliver an enhanced customer experience to end-users.
During the first phase of this restructuring programme, HP will categorise its partners based on speciality and has started actively shifting resources from distribution to the final-tier thus investing more capital and resources in retail management and in developing customer relationships. With a shift towards partner business management, HP is set to drive the market by moving towards a PULL as opposed to PUSH strategy where the focus is on enhancing the customer experience and driving demand from the core.
“The primary goal is to develop our key partners and take them to the next level” said Christoph Schell, Solutions Partner Organisation Manager, HP ISE (International Sales Europe). Adding that the details of the ‘next level’ would be announced mid-September, Schell noted, “We are emphasizing HP certification and specialisation as the key to success for our channel partners. A custom-made training programme, offered solely for Middle East channel partners equips them with the business and industry skills to ensure that they can provide an enhanced customer experience – and make a healthier profit. Middle East partners with a proven track record in terms of certification and loyalty have already achieved top 5 status on an (ISE) Eastern Europe and Middle East level and continue to be the forerunners, setting the benchmark for the industry.”
Commenting on the strength of HP’s channel community in the Arab world, Hazem M. Bazan, Solutions Partner Organisation Manager, HP Middle East confirmed that partners in the Middle East and Africa were the driving force for regionalisation and that partners venturing into new markets had to demonstrate local know-how, existing resources and commitment to new territory. “We are at the beginning of the channel restructuring programme and have already experienced documented improvements in efficiency and operations management – average product turnaround cycle has been reduced to 2 weeks, on certain portfolios,” Bazan added.
The move to ‘PULL’ activities, termed by Bazan as a more ‘proactive business model’ has also resulted in improvements in margins for partners and a healthier bottom line.
In terms of Middle East certification status, Hazem M. Bazan added, “Partners are keen to get HP certified and see this step as a competitive edge in delivering best-in-class solutions to customers. We now have 1214 certified professionals across the region with over 244 authorized HP managed partners and over 2000 partners. The total number of certified sales and pres-sales professionals is over 1000 personnel across the Middle East,”
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2005, HP revenue totalled $83.3 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, NASDAQ: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.
About HP Middle East
HP is the largest technology and solutions provider in the Middle East with 670 employees and subsidiaries in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Cairo and Ramallah servicing the GCC, Egypt and the Levant. HP has been present in the Middle East since 1968, and opened its first regional office in 1994. HP Middle East is the market leader for Enterprise, Small and Medium Business and Consumer technology products, and offers a large portfolio of solutions and services in various business domains.
For more information about HP in the Middle East, please visit www.hp.com/me.
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