Channel calls HP to account
Resentment over the vendor's recent policies came to the boil at a meeting last week
Resellers called a meeting with Hewlett-Packard (HP) last week to voice their growing dissatisfaction with the vendor.
HP's policies have been causing dismay across the channel. Distributors have been toiling over their books to find ways to avoid raising their prices by passing HP rebate cuts on to resellers. VARs, meanwhile, have been bracing themselves for price rises that they believe are inevitable.
Ian Brookes, managing director of HP reseller IBDD, said he and executives from seven other former HP Centres of Excellence, whose accreditation programme was axed by the vendor last year, met Dave Poskett, HP's new channel manager, last Thursday.
"We were seeing a more direct model, and apparently less channel engagement. We wanted clarity," said Brookes.
HP told resellers at the meeting that it was planning an announcement before Christmas that should appease them.
According to one reseller, HP also stressed that it had already taken steps to reward VARs that were loyal, and that rebate cuts were meant to make the channel more efficient and more able to compete with Dell.
Phil Reakes, managing director of Selway Moore, said he will take a hit on his bottom line if distributors raise prices as they are saying they might have to.
"We were hit very hard last year," he said, referring to previous cuts in HP channel funding.
"Our hardware margins were reduced by four to five per cent. We live or die by HP. We only do HP. This year we've died by HP. It would be nice to see some loyalty in return."
The rebate cuts have hit everyone hard. Earlier this month, Computacenter prepared the City for a £9m drop in its profits caused by the new HP rebate system.
Distributors were reluctant to comment on a "complex" and "sensitive" issue.
One distribution director said: "All distributors are finding it extremely difficult to analyse the 'before' and 'after' impact because there are so many variables. "It's very difficult to find out what the overall numbers spit out at, but it's unlikely to be positive."
HP was unavailable for comment.