HP is sharpening its focus on Cloud. They now have a
dedicated HP Cloud business unit, a core cloud R&D and product team, a
centralized solutions sales organization, alignment of partner programs, and
aligned marketing. For their Cloud
business unit, they’ve brought in personnel from outside HP (for example,
Microsoft) as well as from other parts of HP. Also of note, HP has made a “significant
increase” in investment across all functions. (Note that Meg Whitman mentioned HP’s
need for investment about a year ago.)
HP also discussed its approach for this year’s HP Discover.
One aspect of its approach is speaking to customers in terms of their
challenges and solution needs, instead of how HP is organized internally. In
the past, HP typically spoke about products, features and functions. (As vendors,
they were not alone in this practice.) If they are successful in communicating
with customers in a customer-centric way, it represents a welcome change for
HP.
In its overall approach, HP is aligning its cloud solutions
around key customer workloads. These workloads are: Dev/Test and Run, Cloud
application delivery and hosting, business analytics, business continuity and
compliance, technical computing, and IT infrastructure. Coalescing around
typical customer workloads will make their solutions more relevant and
actionable for customers running those workloads.
In addition, their Cloud messaging this year is tighter,
with a single cloud theme and sub-themes. In contrast to their Cloud briefings
in the past, which sometimes seemed like a litany of product announcements
cobbled together into a presentation, with a high level marketecture to tie
them together. In the past, there was a missing layer in the middle that could
have connected the high level messages and the product details into a coherent
message that addressed customer needs. It seems that HP has now found that
missing intermediary layer. Perhaps I’m reading too much in-between the lines. But,
the improved alignment in messaging likely results from HP’s more centered
focus on Cloud and its Cloud-focused business unit, in contrast to its previous
loosely connected cross-company initiative.
In general, HP’s approach, which includes its
cloud messaging and focus on the customer, is not necessarily new in the
industry. But, what is significant is that it is new for HP -- shifting focus
from speaking about technology to focusing on customer needs. The focus on the
customer and what the customer wants is a welcome and much needed change for HP.
However, making this change is easier said than done. It requires a change in
perspective as well as approach. Only time will tell if HP will be successful in
making this transition, not just at the top of their organization and messages,
but it must be deeply absorbed by all sales teams and partners. If they are
successful, the payoff will be significant not just for HP, but their customers
and potential customers as well.
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