HPE CEO Neri on the three factors he uses to assess his performance
Chief exec reviews the first year of his tenure
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) CEO Antonio Neri has revealed the three factors he uses to assess the vendor's performance under his leadership.
Speaking to partners at HPE's Global Partner Summit in Las Vegas, Neri (pictured) gave an overview of how the vendor has progressed since he replaced Meg Whitman last year.
He said that when he took the job he highlighted three areas of HPE's business that would act as barometers for the first year of his tenure: partners and customers; innovation; and culture.
"We've made progress in each of them," he said.
"The company has done very well and I want to thank you [partners] from the bottom of my heart.
"To see the result as 13 per cent growth [in HPE's business through partners last year] is remarkable, but as a company we saw growth of six per cent. That was a very strong performance. Secondly we see the pivot in our portfolio, with profitability increasing 26 per cent last year."
Neri also talked up HPE's product innovation, labelling its current portfolio the best in its 80-year history.
HPE has made a number of high-profile acquisitions to bolster its offering over recent years, including Aruba, SimpliVity and Nimble Storage.
It has also placed a greater emphasis on building out flexible buying solutions for customers, particularly with its GreenLake consumption models.
"I hope you will see over the next couple of days [at HPE Discover] the sheer innovation we are bringing to market to accelerate the customer journeys that we are seeing every day, to help them deliver much faster. I'm really proud and optimistic about the future innovation," he added.
Neri said that HPE views edge computing as "the next big frontier" because of the amount of data that connected devices will continue to generate.
Lastly, the chief exec highlighted the development of HPE's internal culture as a key indicator of the progress it has made under his stewardship.
Neri's predecessor Whitman led the original Hewlett Packard through a radical transition, splitting it in two and offloading multiple divisions, as well as trimming down the workforce.
HPE has since sold its Palo Alto base and moved its headquarters to its Aruba site in Santa Clara.
"I have been an HP person for a long time," Neri said. "I am entering the 25th anniversary with the company, and I'm proud of two things: the perception of the company, and the commitments we give to our employees to serve you - our partners - and our customers in many ways.
"I'm really proud of the progress we have made. We have better morale, we have better engagement scores with our employees and [we have given them] new benefits. We are giving them an experience that we are trying to replicate across the globe.
"Overall I would say it's a good start. We have more work to do, but we are on the right path."