HP CEO Weisler on how Apogee, and the UK channel in general, is shaping the vendor's print and DaaS strategies

Three HP execs explain how the vendor is building its managed offerings around the UK and European channels

HP Inc CEO Dion Weisler claims that the vendor's acquisition of print titan Apogee has helped it address a fragmented European managed print market.

HP acquired channel partner Apogee last August in a move that surprised many.

Speaking at HP's Reinvent conference in Houston, Weisler (pictured) told CRN that Apogee has helped the vendor shape its evolving managed print strategy in Europe.

"We really honed in on Apogee because Europe is a very fragmented market as a whole," he said. "You have lots of different countries and there is no single large European provider of managed print services.

"We made it clear that we were going to be an extremely serious partner in the A3 copier space. We made a $1bn (£758m) acquisition of Samsung's printer business and we made a very sizable acquisition in Apogee.

"We wanted to learn about how to really drive the services and solutions that matter most for our customers, and we wanted to participate in the profit that is driven from services.

"The acquisition of Apogee is all about achieving both those objectives."

Weisler said it is too soon to offer an in-depth assessment of the progress with Apogee so far, but said the first signs are positive.

He explained that, despite being acquired, Apogee has been allowed to continue with the strategy it put in place before becoming part of HP.

"It's very early days - we're one quarter into the programme right now and we are pleased with the progress we are making," he said.

"We're learning every single day, it's informing our road map, from a product, solutions and software perspective.

"We can amplify that across our entire channel community and we think that is good for us overall. And it helps accelerate our understanding and critical mass in this business.

"Getting a foothold in a very important market like the UK with a highly acquisitive company like Apogee - that is set up to operate like any other channel company - and allowing them to continue their strategy to become a pan-Europe provider of these solutions."

Tuan Tran, who leads the HP business unit that is managing Apogee, said that the plan is to allow the print partner to continue its acquisitive strategy.

"We have kept them at arm's length and we want them to continue to grow," he said.

"Their mission is to acquire partners and we want them to continue to be aggressive, to acquire and to grow through acquisition. Their mission is to build out a European network of channel partners.

"Allowing them to do that gives us access to that channel."

But Tran also said that HP is leveraging the benefits of its acquisition, explaining that the plan is to, in the long term, move all of Apogee's customers to HP. He said this will benefit Apogee as much as it will benefit HP.

"Converting the install base over to HP will be something that gives them a competitive advantage and makes them more profitable," he explained.

"We will enable margins for them, over time, by winning new deals with HP devices. We're learning from them as we go into this space."

Flying the flag

HP's UK and Ireland channel boss Neil Sawyer said that HP's success in the UK pushing not just managed print but also device-as-a-service, extends beyond Apogee - which receives the same treatment as any other partner.

"The enthusiasm continues around device-as-a-service," he said.

"That is a big focus area for HP and we have had some really good successes with a number of partners over the last 12 months.

"Softcat has transitioned a lot of its focus to a service-led economy with PC and laptop sales, and learned the skill from the ground up internally. Total Computers are pushing that message, and SCC are as well.

"One of the opportunities that HP has to add value to the managed print service industry is that they have specialisms in managed services already, selling print devices. There is no reason why they can't talk about selling other technologies."

Sawyer added that UK partners have been out in force in Houston, and even leading sessions in front of other HP providers from around the world.

"If the UK and Ireland's channel could act as consultants for the rest of the world's channels, we would be in a very strong position because they are often the thought leaders and the pioneers across the globe," he said.

"We have various resellers that are representing those subjects from the UK. Softcat are talking about device-as-a-service and Total Computers are standing on the global stage in front of other resellers talking about how they've got into it. For me, from a pure UK and Ireland point of view, that is great for our industry.

"We should be really proud of that. We are here representing the UK and Ireland as much as we are HP."