HP Channel Execs: We'll Fund Small Solution Providers Too

Wow, I guess whining doesn't happen exclusively in the printer channel...

Looks like HP is opening the "wallet" for some HP partners as it has at CDW.

From an article at CRN - "Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) channel executives said Monday that they are willing to fund SMB initiatives for small solution providers, including co-funding employee salaries, in an effort to capture more market share..."

This announced after a little ruckus occurred following HP's announcement to work with CDW.

But as Adrian Jones, HP's vice president and general manager, Americas Solution Partners Organization said, "...give us your ideas. Give us your proposals about how we can work together to co-fund and co-invest in that [SMB] segment and we will gladly listen and gladly work with you. ... we've invested in large partners. We've invested in small partners. And we are going to continue to invest in the SMB market. If we've got partners that feel that they can help us reach the SMB space, please give us a call."

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I know this to be true. I know partners who work with HP in this capacity.

Is HP Doing What IKON Does?

HP Broadens Portfolio of Imaging and Printing Solutions for Enterprise Customers


HP today announced five new printing solutions – ranging from check printing security to document capture – to address the security and manageability needs of its enterprise customers.

Troy, Captaris, Standard Register, SafeCom, Kofax, OmTool and ReadSoft are a few of the existing HP partners.


With all this - perhaps HP CAN compete with IKON. The next move could be HP picking up some Ricohs MP9000's or iMageRunner 7105s' to fill the gaps in the product line, eh?

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?