HP hits out at suicidal deals

Sanity must prevail, says vendor's UK chief

HP has claimed it has walked away from several large deals recently because of unreasonable pricing demands from customers.

Speaking at a press briefing last week in London, Steve Gill, UK managing director of HP, said the vendor had turned its back on what he called ‘suicidal deals’ because it made no business sense to follow them through.

“Some of our competitors have signed up for suicidal deals, but sanity has to prevail in a well-run business,” he said. “We have walked out on some pretty big deals.”

Abdul Terry, business development director at HP Gold partner Quadnet, said the vendor was to blame. “This is just a vicious circle because vendors go in at such a low price in the first place,” he said. “When the customer comes back and wants even better pricing, they cannot go any further. It is their own strategy come back to bite them.”

However, Gill was keen to reaffirm the vendor’s commitment to
the channel.

“We have simplified channel compensation over the past couple of months and have set very different targets,” he said. “We have tried to make it easier for channel partners to work with us and we have had some good feedback already.”