HP Funds New CDW Effort To Target SMB Accounts

Looks like HP is still trying to get a "big Channel" - Yet, is it in printing...

According to a memo "leaked" or obtained by Everything Channel, HP is co-funding "...110 new HP-only CDW sales people selling HP products into accounts with 499 or fewer employees..."

The list will be created by comparing D&B's customer list against existing HP Direct, HP channel partners and CDW customers resulting in more than "500,000 net new customers for CDW to target..."

According to a memo from CDW Executive Vice President Jim Shanks the alliance is set move forward next month and running full-out by year's end.

"We are taking our HP partnership to the next level with a new CDW-HP Alliance team. CDW plans to add 110 salespeople who will specialize in selling HP servers, storage, notebooks, desktops, printing and imaging."- Jim Shanks, Executive Vice President, CDW.

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I don't know how or even if this will influence the Managed Print Service(IPG) side.

It looks interesting - HP has been denied a larger channel(IKON, Global, and Danka) so they may "partner" up with a big Box-Mover in Distribution - Squeezing the smaller printing VAR.

I imagine that the better VAR's would not see this as a real threat - HP can fund and train "500" sales reps, it won't make a difference.

How can you sell Value (the "V" in "VAR") on your butt, over the phone?

Things are changing.

What next? An across the board, 5% price increase in supplies?

Selling and U of M Football

107,501 people - Human Thunder

Managed Print Services and The Corporate Culture

2008

"No Way are you taking MY LaserJet...no way"

Change - "They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." - Andy Worhol

Over the past few weeks I have visited many differentbusinesses looking at all sorts of different copier fleets and business situations.

Some common threads with all of the studies are:

1. The requirements of the users are far under the capacity of the machines they are using.

2. Facilities and I.T. are working together, opposed to shifting to one unique department.

3. Corporate culture: End User response is very favorable to "new" ideas and specifically, new equipment - yet they still attached to their "personal" output devices.

Point one is a no-brainer; except for true, high volume applications, general business departments, are using "more machine then needed".

Point two is a more of a revelation. I expect most print/MFP fleet decisions to be made uniquely by the I.T. department. In some cases this is true. But I have been surprised to see Both Facilities(or purchasing) and I.T. working together on the Pre-Implementation. This is not a bad thing.

This has been quite refreshing, and at the same time, very dynamic. When I see this, it tells me that the client has thought through the basic issues surrounding print management and somehow recognizes the importance of have both influences at the table.

Point three is an "oldie but a goody" - if end users have a printer in their office or cube, they do not want to see it go away. This is a challenging aspect for employers and is dealt with in a variety of ways, depending on the culture of the company.

Just a little information from the field, HMHO...

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