HP PSG: We are a safe bet for the channel
UK and Ireland channel director stresses the importance of its partners, and HP's commitment to the PC market
HP is very much in the driving seat when it comes to the PC market, and intends to stay that way, a senior channel executive has stressed.
The vendor has come under a fair amount of flack from industry onlookers for its lack of communication when last month it announced its intention to either spin-off or sell its PSG division, and canned future production of its TouchPad tablet with WebOS.
In a straight-talking interview with CRN, Trevor Evans (pictured), channel sales director PSG UK and Ireland, said the vendor is keen to stress business as usual and is very much focused on being the number one supplier in the PC market.
“There have been a number of misleading articles in the press, but we went into communication mode fairly quickly to show that our plans are as robust and ambitious as ever,” he said.
"There were some observations about the way we communicated the news initially," he admitted. "But locally we rushed to correct that and have carried out numerous calls and face-to-face meetings with our partners to reassure them that it is business as usual."
Evans said that a spin-off is looking like the preferred option for the vendor, but a decision on PSG’s direction will be made by the end of the year. “At the moment we are concentrating on our product roadmap and stretching our leadership position in the rankings.”
He added that the vendor is concentrating the business on three main strands – Premium Consumer, Mainstream Volume and Commercial.
“We have an exciting roadmap to build on, with plans to organise the roadmap around key customer segments. Despite all the scary headlines about HP exiting the PC space, it is not true,” he said.
Evans also stressed that the HP channel model is a safe one for partners to back.
“One thing we want to say categorically is that we stand by our partners and intend to continue with the support of our partners and customers. From consumers to the top end corporate businesses, they can continue to buy with confidence from HP, knowing we will be here for a long time to come.
“We have a hard fought lead in the market to defend and I can say with a large degree of confidence that the HP business model is safe. Despite the hectic past few weeks we are rolling up our sleeves and getting on with it.”
The vendor is holding its annual Gold Partner get-together in Cheltenham next week, which will give the 300-plus partners attending a chance to put questions to HP executives, Evans added.