HP reveals new EMEA VP (UPDATED)

Antoine Barre takes reins from Jos Brenkel who is heading up another geographical region within HP

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has appointed a new EMEA channel head.

Antoine Barre has taken on the role of EMEA vice president for its Solution Partners Organisation (SPO). He fills a vacancy left by Jos Brenkel who has taken on a new role of vice president and general manager Personal Systems Group (PSG) Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa (MEMA).

Before this role Barre headed up the PSG in the region, reporting to PSG senior vice president Eric Cador.

“Antoine is a seasoned HP executive and has a proven managerial and leadership track record. His in-depth understanding of HP across the board, and the channel’s great importance to us, makes him the right person for the job," said Cador.

UPDATE: 23 March 2007

Speaking to CRN later that week Barre said he would not be implementing sweeping changes to HP's channel structure.

"The foundations of SPO put in place by Jos are really sound," he said. "My intention is to build on it. I am not intending to revolutionise the strategy but it does need to evolve and be built upon. PartnerOne and Preferred Partner Programme is really bringing some good results across the business."

He said his aim is to further improve efficiency

"We have built a great engine over the last three or four years, but I want to be putting more fuel in the engine to make it work better and race the car even faster.
In particular I believe we have a lot of great tools at HP and I want to improve some of those tools. "

Barre said he plans to maximise the opportunities around Smart Portal.

"Smart Portal has around 130 countries and more than 60,000 resellers connected to it. We are going to be leveraging that as much as possible."

However he said a priority was to maintain communication with channel partners.

"I am planning a tour to meet with all our resellers and get their feedback. I think it is important to get direct feedback from everbody and I want to spend time with our partners. Communication is very important to me. I think it is very much a two way road between us and the channel, and that’s the way I want to keep it."

"However one of the key challenges for me is how to keep HP on the path to profitable growth. Over the past couple of years HP has been on the right track. one area that we are going to be putting a lot more focus on is the area of attach. I believe attach, be it software/storage, PCs and accessories or hardware and carepacks are the way forward. We have a broad range of products and services at HP and we need to make the most of them," he added.