|
By Craig Zarley, ChannelWeb
CRN
August 21, 2008
Hewlett-Packard is offering its partners the prospect of a date with Mark Hurd.
The company is now formalizing a process to set up face-to-face meetings between solution providers, their customers and top HP executives, including chairman and CEO Hurd.
The strategy underscores Hurd's push to use the channel to extend HP's reach into the midmarket using the channel as an extension of HP's sales force. What's more, Hurd seems bent on using himself and his top lieutenants to help the channel win more business for HP.
Called ExecConnect, the plan allows solution providers to log onto HP's Website and submit a request to meet with Hurd or members of his executive team, said Tom LaRocca, HP's vice president of partner development and programs. "We are giving a structure and a formalization to our executive engagement program," said LaRocca. "In the last 12 months Mark [Hurd] has met face to face with over 100 partners."
Simon Palmer, president of STA, a Tustin, Calif. HP solution provider noted that Hurd will attend a meeting with CIOs and CEOs of about 20 of STA's customers next month at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
"The attendees will be a mixture of our good, loyal HP customers and customers that we both, HP and STA, want to break into," Palmer said. "For me, in regard to breaking into new accounts, I can use this as a weapon to say to my prospects, 'Is IBM or Dell bringing in their CEO to meet with you?' This is a really powerful message."
Palmer said that his customers consist of companies with annual revenues between $150 million and $700 million and sending Hurd to a private customer meeting represents HP's commitment to go after the midmarket with partners.
LaRocca noted that HP now has a person dedicated to setting up the logistics of meetings between Hurd or his executive staff, including heads of the companies three business units: Ann Livermore at Technology Solutions Group, Vyomesh Joshi at Imaging and Printing Group, and Todd Bradley at Personal Systems Group.
"We want to continue to put partners in front of our executives and we want to give them a way to come into this program," he said.
LaRocca said partners can log onto the HP partner portal and submit requests or get more information on setting up meetings with HP executives.
|
