HP's Hurd Has The Right Message--Now How Is He Going To Pull It Off

More significantly, Hurd, who has yet to sit down and detail his channel philosophy to someone who can actually ask a follow-up question (like us), has consistently said he wants partners to sell more complete HP solutions.

You can&'t blame him for wanting the channel to sell solutions that are made up of more HP products rather than those of his competitors.

The question is, what&'s in it for the channel?

Hurd has on several occasions said HP wants to invest more in those partners that sell more. Trouble is, it&'s hard to decipher what he really envisions here, because the only real glimpse we get of him is through quarterly earnings calls and a rare, scripted public appearance.

It&'s hard to argue with his invest-in-the-best-partners philosophy, but the devil is in the details.

Hurd is nearly a year into his game, and while the channel seems to be important to him, there is still little clarity to his philosophy.

I want to know if he believes HP can afford to do what he says he wants to do. Investing more in partners that sell solutions that include a larger percentage of HP product will be costly. While HP is a huge company whose financials are improving, it has limited resources, just like every one of its competitors. The channel is an efficient way to spend resources and it offers great scalability, but if HP is going to invest more in partners that are heavily invested in HP, it is going to have to find the cash to do so.

Or maybe when Hurd talks about investing in HP partners, he means something other than making it more profitable for partners to sell HP.

As one of the three most important companies to the channel, HP has a great opportunity with partners on a worldwide basis. There are few, if any, competitors that offer such a wide product set. While you might argue that its software product set is not as rich as its competitors&', its hardware lineup is very powerful.

So, I want to know where this investment is going to come from. I can&'t believe it is going to come from the bottom line. That means it&'s going to have to come out of someone&'s budget somewhere in the organization.

HP is one of the few companies that can actually pull off a solution that is largely made up of its own branded products.

If it can really offer its partners more profit by driving the attach rate of HP product higher, then it very well might gain market share quickly.

But first Hurd has to do more than just say this is what he wants. He has to step out and say how the company is going to invest in partners. HP then has to be realistic about its product lineup and acknowledge where there are holes or where its offerings are inadequate, especially on the software side of the equation.

Despite the challenges, there is a real opportunity here for HP.

The company has a solid worldwide channel and strong channel management. And it has done a good job communicating its message in most areas.

It also now has a CEO who is showing real consistency. This invest-in-the-best-partners theme is something Hurd has stated a number of times.

While Hurd has only been in place for about a year—not a long time for a company HP&'s size—it&'s time to step up with some details on how he is going to make his desire to see HP&'s attach rates climb be a win for the channel as well.

make something happen, I can be reached at (781) 839-1202 or via e-mail at rfaletra@cmp.com.