HP Reshuffles Printer And Systems Channel, SMB Duties

At the same time, HP Vice President and GM PPS U.S. Enterprise Sales Newt Walpert will, effective May 1, take over all U.S. customer-facing sales teams including SMB.

Mike Parrottino, the vice president and GM of U.S. SMB Sales who had responsibility for channel marketing and SMB teams, is expected to be moved into a new position in the next several weeks, according to an HP spokesperson.

[Related: 15 Things You Need To Know About HP's PartnerOne Overhaul ]

The reshuffling of duties, aimed at achieving what HP is calling "greater efficiencies" in go-to-market, comes with HP rolling out a new, simplified pay-for-performance PartnerOne program on May 1.

"They are putting all the channel resources under Scott and all the sales resources under Newt," said one top channel executive briefed on the changes. "They know they have to engage and motivate the channel to drive market share and this should help. It creates better alignment with channel. This is a step in the right direction. Anything that HP does to create greater focus and simplify will take friction out of the process and will be good for everybody."

Rick Chernick, the CEO of Camera Corner Connecting Point, a Green Bay, Wis.-based HP partner, said he is glad to hear HP is working to find a new position for Parrottino. He praised the longtime channel veteran as a critical HP asset that would be a great catch for an HP competitor looking to grow its SMB market penetration. "Mike [Parrottino] is loved by resellers," said Chernick. "He gets the channel. I would hate to compete against him. I'm looking forward to continuing to grow my HP business alongside Mike."

John Convery, president of John Convery Consulting, a channel consulting company based in Issaquah, Wash., said he sees the changes as another step in HP's drive to make the company easier to do business with for partners.

"It has been challenging and labor intensive for many partners to deal with HP," he said. "This should help clear up some of the issues. It should smooth the process and time-to-result for HP channel partners."

Convery said Dunsire is one of the top channel executives in the business. "He is channel through and through," he said. "He has the confidence of the channel. He has the channel knowledge, experience and trust to make HP successful."

PUBLISHED APRIL 23, 2013