HP boosts salesforce to chase more EMEA leads. Check it out:
(Microscope Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
Hewlett-Packard will increase its internal sales team in EMEA by 200 heads to generate corporate leads and integrate more closely with partners amid concerns from senior management that resellers are not chasing enough new business.
?One of my fears is that the channel is not bringing in enough new business,? Jos Brenkel, vice-president of the solutions partner organisation at HP EMEA told 650 partners from the region at its Preferred Partner Conference.
So far HP has recruited 160 staff to augment and extend its reach into the corporate and larger mid-market accounts but they will not purely sell direct, HP insisted, they will work closely with partners.
?We will be more focused on hunting,? said Olaf Swantee, senior vice-president of value sales for the technology solutions group HP EMEA.
?We found there were areas that we did not cover well so?we are in the process of hiring over 200 people. What does that mean for partners? It will create more opportunities,? he said.
The areas include the financial services and energy sectors and Swantee called on resellers to develop ?key? vertical applications.
As well as creating specific solutions, he advised resellers to focus on software to manage IT estates ? the largest IT cost to businesses ? and use HP?s programmes that attacked rivals.
Dealers involved in the ?Refuse to Lose? scheme had shown win rates of up to 85 per cent said Swantee, and one area he highlighted for specific attention was the platform to migrate users from Sun Microsystems.
Last year, HP developed a range of tools to help users move from Sun servers to its Integrity and Proliant products (see MicroScope, 12 September).
Rob Campbell, managing director at HP enterprise partner Kavanagh, said winning new business was its ?meat and drink? and resellers with a high level of pre-sales, technical sales and analytical sales need not be fearful of the vendor?s strategy.
One reseller source said HP wanted partners to integrate with its direct salesforce and dedicate more resources to the vendor. ?If you have IBM and Sun teams, HP is concerned of the ability to switch sell?but the channel?s selling point is its ability to appear independent.?
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information - UK. All Rights Reserved.
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