HP aims to double UK software business

Vendor aims to pass over an extra ten per cent of its direct business to resellers

HP is looking to double its software business in the UK as it aims to open up an extra ten per cent of its direct business to the channel.

Speaking at an HP Software event in London today, Paul Toffis, HP Software's channel and alliances director for the UK and Ireland, said he wants to grow the business aggressively in the coming months with the help of its channel.

At a global partner event in February, HP announced it was turning its software business to the channel, but today unveiled its UK-specific plans.

Toffis said that across EMEA, central European and Middle Eastern regions between 80 and 90 per cent of business is transacted through the channel, but in the UK, France and Germany, it operates nearly entirely through its direct sales force - but added that 55 per cent of the UK's sales have a partner involved in some way, be it in services, support or resale.

The HP division aims to double in size by growing both its direct and channel arms, but Toffis insisted that the channel business is eating into the direct sales force considerably, although he could not give details on the exact ratio.

"We're seeing the needle shift in the indirect ratio quite a bit," he explained.

"Worldwide HP's software business currently is 60 per cent indirect and we want to shift that to 70 per cent indirect - so we want to move the needle by 10 per cent worldwide - and that is the goal I have in the UK."

VAR sales will be boosted through a series of enablement plans, financial investments and demand generation programmes driven by strong channel focus from the company's leadership.

"We see partners as a key enabler to driving that growth. We're making investments in our partner organisation to drive that growth," he said.

"We want to grow aggressively; we know we can't do that without partners. It's not just us saying us that - Meg Whitman is saying that. We need partners to help support us in the growth and we're investing to be able to do that."

Last November, HP Software was rolled into its Partner One programme, which saw the division's partners require more certifications and skills. Toffis said that despite having more to do, partners were rewarded with enhanced skills and investment from the vendor.

Paul Muller, HP's vice president of worldwide evangelism in HP Software's marketing division, said that a big challenge for the division is educating partners around its software offering.

"I still get ‘I didn't know HP did that', especially in the software space. We need to do help educate partners in the breadth of what we do and why [we do it]," he said.