Key takeaways from HP Reinvent
We round up the news from the PC and print vendor's annual conference
HP CEO Enrique Lores kicked off the vendor's virtual partner conference yesterday after the physical event, which was due to take place in California earlier this year, was cancelled.
We've rounded up the big news from Lores' keynote, along with the announcement made at the event.
CEO rallies partners
Lores opened proceedings by praising partners for their response throughout the COVID pandemic, and challenged them to place themselves at the forefront of digital transformation - particularly as remote working becomes more prevalent.
"Your determination and will to win is driving our success and together we're showing incredible strength and agility," he said.
"This is a defining moment for each of us, our companies and our industries.
"We are witnessing the dawn of a new age where our cyber and physical worlds merge."
The CEO also credited partners with helping HP ship 65 million devices this year.
"That's more than three units every second," he said. "That number would be even higher without industry wide supply chain constraints."
Sustainability can make partners money
Sustainability has been, and continues to be, a key focus for HP, with Lores opening up on the vendor's new partner-driven initiative.
He stressed that partners should be viewing sustainability as a legitmate business opportunity.
"I believe every company is a platform and we must use it to stand for more than the products we sell," he said.
"We do that by standing up for human rights, by cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion, and by protecting our planet for future generations."
He added that last year HP's sustainability work drove $1.6bn in new revenue.
"It isn't just the right thing to do; it's good business," he added. "This is a true win-win."
Focus on remote working
As expected, remote working was a theme that ran throughout the presentations from Lores and the rest of HP's exec team.
In summing up the vendor's strategy, Lores said the firm is uniquely positioned to address the remote working environment because of its strength across both the consumer and business spaces.
"Our strength across home and office is a big competitive advantage," he said.
"What excites me the most is the power of print to create entirely news experiences. Imagine a world where you can print from anywhere with a cloud-based ecosystem of subscriptions, services and solutions to making printing simpler and more sustainable."
Upgraded services and solutions
HP also announced updates to its device-as-a-service (DaaS) programme, which it says has been "simplified".
Customers now have a consistent service globally, the vendor said, and can now customise the programme with additional services from both HP and the channel.
"For partners, the updated HP DaaS programme serves as a foundation to build tailored solutions for their customers, and HP Integrated Financial Solutions provides flexible payment solutions to help secure new customers and optimize refresh opportunities in the future," HP said.
The vendor also revealed HP Business Boost, which bundles PCs, Printers and peripherals with services into a subscription model.
Business Boost will be available in "select countries" from the autumn, HP said, targeting the SMB market.
Raft of new products
In conjunction with the remote working agenda, HP announced a range of new products across its print and PC divisions.
A host of new laptops and desktops will help businesses adapt to hybrid workplaces, the vendor said.
Andy Rhodes, global head of commercial person systems at HP, added: "With workspaces at home becoming the status quo and businesses supporting their workforce both remotely and back in the office, the PC is essential in these hybrid working environments.
"We're making our most premium experiences more accessible with new laptops that offer greater mobility to work from anywhere, desktops that bring powerhouse performance to small workspaces, monitors that enable collaboration and support wellbeing, and services that offer comprehensive and flexible solutions - all to support the business transformation happening today."
In print, the focus was on smaller devices, with the launch of a new LaserJet series which will be available globally in December.
Xavier Garcia, general manager for print hardware solutions at HP, said: "We believe this new small and mighty printer has met its moment: offering everything one would expect in an enterprise-class printer that fits where and how people work now and, in the future, - whether remote or in the office."