HP’s second annual Software Olympics at Cheju Island in South Korea had it all–talks on improving business, a peek into HP’s achievements, awards for partners and fun galore. With a strategic focus on telecoms, the company revealed its interest in adding more partners who are telco focussed.
HP organized its second APac Software Olympics at the Cheju Island in South
Korea in a move to accelerate its channel strategy and strengthen its commitment
to channel partners.
"In this challenging business climate where it is imperative to offer
value-added solutions at competitive price points, our channel partners with
their domain expertise are crucial to our software strategy," says Steve
Au-Yeung, GM (Software Global Business Unit, Enterprise Systems Group)–APac,
HP. "In addition to increasing our investments in partner training and
marketing, we will adopt a solutions-centric approach with the long-term aim of
bringing profitability to our partners and value to our customers."
BIGGER AND BETTER
"It is perhaps the most closely-guarded secret in the IT
industry," joked Nora Denzel, Senior VP (Worldwide Software Global Business
Unit), HP. She was referring to the fact that HP´s software business grosses $
5 billion, which would place it as the fifth largest software provider in the
world, while addressing assembled partners.
While America contributes almost 40 percent to this revenue, around 10
percent comes from APac and another 10 percent from Japan.
Peter van der Fluit reveals |
All this has been possible due to a very important role played by HP´s
worldwide channel network. Nearly half of the software revenue comes from
partners, who number nearly 1,000 worldwide. In addition, there are more than
2,000 certified consultants and 300 ISVs.
PARTNERS THROUGH THICK AND THIN
HP Software has two kinds of partners–business partners and premier
business partners. While the former are required to have at least one sales
professional and one technical consultant, premier partners should have two of
each.
Nora Denzel informs that HP´s |
To become a business partner, potential candidates need to work out a
business plan to demonstrate their capabilities in certain focus segments,
targeted solutions, sales forecast, marketing plan and dedicated resources which
will be committed.
The partner needs to maintain or have access to multiple-node, networked
environment for live demonstration of solutions. In addition, he should offer
first-level pre-sales support to customers.
Part of the partner´s business needs to be focussed on providing solutions
to manage customer IT infrastructure, like IT service management, NT-centric
management, management of Sun environments, integrated network and systems
management, storage management, e-business/e-commerce/e-services management,
application management (Sap/Baan/Peoplesoft), and XSP.
APAC IS THE PLACE TO BE
Interestingly, APac is the fastest growing market for HP. Last year, the
region grew between 40 to 50 percent. While globally channel partners contribute
almost 50 percent of HP´s software revenue, in APac, this proportion is set to
go up to 60 percent.
However, this increase will not be as a result of adding more partners.
Pointed out Au-Yeung, "We are not interested in the number of partners. We
are interested in the quality of partners."
Steve Au-Yeung stresses that partners with domain expertise are crucial to HP’s software strategy |
On the other hand, due to a strategic focus on telcos, HP is certainly
interested in adding more partners who are telco focussed, according to Peter
van der Fluit, VP (Worldwide Software Global Business Unit), HP. While worldwide
the telco market declined last year, in APac, it actually showed a positive
growth.
India is amongst the top five countries in the region, while Australia,
China, Japan and Korea comprising the rest. HP’s partners in India include
Wipro Infotech, TCS, Network Solutions and Bangalore Labs.
OPENING SECRETS ABOUT OPENVIEW
Some more interesting and rather unknown facts about HP´s software business
came to light. HP OpenView is the 15th largest software provider. It is the
number one vendor in management software and voice middleware.
All the top 10 ISPs in the US are managed by OpenView and 70 percent of all
Internet devices are managed by it. Over 60 percent of service providers in
Asia/Pacific have deployed the software to manage their network environment.
Over 1.35 lakh OpenView installations exist worldwide, including 100 percent
of Fortune 50 and at least half of BusinessWeek International´s 100
corporations.
|
HERE COME THE WINNERS
With partners contributing majorly to its revenues in the region, HP used
the occasion to applaud the efforts of those who had performed best. Partners
who were awarded included Wipro Infotech from India, EMS from Australia, Digital
China from China, JOS Distribution from Hong Kong, Space ITS from South Korea,
HPD Systems from Malaysia, and Tech D&I Co from South East Asia (excluding
Malaysia and Singapore).
Says Vijaysunder Rajamani, Product Manager (Enterprise Management), Wipro
Infotech, "This recognition is a natural outcome of the deep practice built
by Wipro in its enterprise management offering, which reflects the commitment to
the technologies from HP. This recognition will enhance the value we bring to
the customer´s table."
Adds Au-Yeung, "In APac, we see strong growth opportunities in service
management, telecom solutions and Windows management."
HP plans to leverage the expertise of its system integrators to strengthen
the technical knowledge of its channel partners, in a bid to help them deepen
inroads in these growth sectors.
ASIM RAINA in Cheju Island/South Korea