HP unveils app for time-pressed VAR staff

HP Channel App designed to complement recent introduction of 'floor-walker' saleforce

HP has launched a PC and printer pricing app as part of a wider effort to engage with reseller sales staff outside its top echelon of partners.

Reseller staff can use the new HP Channel App to get real-time pricing information on HP's Top Value and Best Buy products and send datasheets and proposals to customers. Available on a variety of iOS, Android and desktop browsers, it applies to all products within HP's Printing and Personal Systems Group (PPS).

Talking to CRN, Pascal Bourguet, channel sales director of HP PPS for the UK and Ireland, said HP's recent introduction of its "floor walker"' salesforce had enabled the vendor to increase its coverage of the channel, throwing it into contact with a new breed of partner.

The app is designed to keep these partners in the loop when these new territory-based staff are not in town, he said.

Paul Hunter, vice president of PPS for the UK and Ireland, said the app can be used to quickly pull together promotions and pricing that can be emailed to customers with one click.

"One of the challenges big partners have is they are probably dealing with 250 vendors," he said. "When you're a sales guy on the sales floor, it's difficult to find something that is relevant to your customers. This is a way of getting access to that stuff rather than trawling through websites, which is what those guys normally do."

Figures from both IDC and Gartner confirm that HP lost its global PC crown to China-based rival Lenovo in Q2, although its sales fell less sharply than the overall market.

Bourguet maintained that HP had gained market share over the past year, which he attributed partly to its efforts to re-engage with reseller sales staff and to step up joint business planning with top reseller executives.

"[In the past 12 months] as a management team we have made 160 meetings with channel partners," he said.