How HP is ‘changing cadence’ with Aussie partners

This year saw Chris Hewlett and Brad Pulford arrive at HP’s annual channel conference with a renewed vision for Australia’s partner ecosystem.

Despite a rapidly advancing technology landscape, the Australia channel chief and Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) managing director, respectively, are now looking for a new rhythm with partners. 

This, according to Pulford, means a deeper level of partner engagement and support while readying the channel for the next major tech shift: artificial intelligence (AI). 

“It’s about ensuring all the right engagement models are in place,” Pulford told ARN during HP’s Amplify Partner Conference in Las Vegas. 

“We all talk about innovation and technology, but we don’t often talk about efficiencies of engagement. So how do we ensure a seamless engagement that simplifies that? 

“We want to establish all our points of opportunity with the partners. That relates to anything from supply chain resiliency, AI and hybrid working. The opportunities are enormous, but it’s how do we ensure we have the right plans to be successful together.  

“We’ve formalised our planning processes with our partners and our distributors. We’ve changed the cadence with how we run things with partners internally. We’re making sure they have the support they need and are having discussions with the right people. 

“More importantly, it’s about the planning cycles with partners. It’s making sure that all the opportunities are understood and aligned with.” 

Pulford joined HP Australia and New Zealand as its managing director following Michael Boyle’s promotion in November 2022.

Meanwhile, Hewlett returned to lead HP Australia’s channel last year following a four-year break overseeing the vendor’s enterprise end-user sales. 

After returning to channel, Hewlett said he now sees the channel through a “new lens”. 

“I’ve been looking at the end-users’ outcomes, what they’re trying to achieve, and brought that to my sales team in the channel and to our partners,” he said. 

“We’re a channel-first company and have been since we were born. It’s part of our DNA. Our commercial revenue is strong. We have strong loyalty, commitment and trust from our partners.” 

Hewlett noted that while the speed of technology change required by customers is now faster, their decision-making is slower. However, as Pulford added, HP itself has been playing catch-up with the pace of change required for emerging technology. 

“The speed [of change] hasn’t been quite what it should have been. It’s a journey we’re on. It’s taken a lot longer than we may have expected. But it’s a great acknowledgment of the solutions we bring to customers and we can really differentiate ourselves,” he said. 

“Australia is a very developed and mature market that you see through partners’ great capabilities,” he added. “The revenue we drive is a testament to the great work the partners do here. The speed we can take our products to market is much more seamless than it is in other markets.” 

At this year’s Amplify Conference, HP’s key message centred around bringing HP’s portfolio together following its partner program consolidation last year and AI. 

“Partners are now providing better experiences through a broader portfolio. We try to give increased benefits through the ‘More for More’ program,” Hewlett said. “Having everything under one banner helps to simplify our program, and our partners are embracing that. 

“From a hardware perspective, we have a list of customers putting their hands up for [AI proof of concepts]. Some are obviously using [AI] today through different software vendors and putting it into the PC space.” 

HP University is now offers AI Masterclasses on AI for sales, technical and data science, which is being run by NVIDIA. 

“The AI Masterclass is a huge commitment to our partners,” Hewlett said. “We want to help enable them and their sales teams in the use cases of AI. 

“I’ve done some AI training myself – AI Fundamentals. All of the sales team has and I think most of the company are. It’s a huge focus for us.”

Eleanor Dickinson travelled as a guest of HP to Las Vegas for HP’s Amplify Partner Conference.