HP VARs welcome ServiceOne launch
Channel partners look forward to selling widened services portfolio
HP's top partners have hailed the significance of the vendor's decision to open up its branded professional services portfolio to the channel.
HP announced last week that the ServiceOne programme will launch on 1 November, giving partners the chance to sell HP-branded professional and consultancy services. As it stands, the vendor's channel services offering consists primarily of its Care Pack extended warranty packages.
Under the new programme, HP will lower the entry barriers for Specialist partners to sell Care Pack offerings. Above them, Expert-certified VARs can push higher-end, branded packages.
Paul Early, channel manager at HP Technology Services UK, said: "We are hoping that more partners will make an investment to become services-specialised."
Martin Hellawell (pictured), managing director of Gold partner Softcat, said the programme might not apply to the biggest systems integrators, but would be good news for much of the channel.
"For a mid-sized, mid-market reseller such as Softcat, it is what we want," he added. "I would like to get my hands on more of its services that we could resell."
Loay Lawrence, commercial director at Gold partner Vohkus, also welcomed the ServiceOne announcement.
"HP has been working on ways to become more channel-friendly [in the services space] and ServiceOne will make it easier for the channel to do business with the company," he added.
Chris Brooks, managing director of services-only HP distributor Technical Services Distribution, said: "ServiceOne can enable a relatively small reseller to meet pretty much every need their customer could have."
But Andrew Henderson, commercial director at Gold partner Lanway, said his firm is unlikely to sell high-end, HP-branded services.
"We use HP's warranty and break-fix services, but are a solutions and professional services firm and do not want to resell services," he said.