HP looks for channel to make a positive difference

HP is kicking off its first virtual Reinvent conference with several announcements coming over the next few hours that should tweak partners’ interest.

Some fresh products and solutions are in the pipeline, including laptops and printers, and for partners the event is also an opportunity to get more detail about the Amplify programme, which was announced just a couple of months ago.

The latest incarnation of the channel programme is being rolled out on 1 November and the expectation is that a lot of questions about it will be answered for partners this week.

HP is also using Reinvent to introduce a programme that will be an extension to Amplify to encourage partners to increase diversity and inclusion to make a positive difference, and it is urging partners to get involved.

“The partners are the lifeline of HP and are part of the family and represent globally close to 88% of the revenue,” said Christoph Schell, chief commercial officer at HP.

“How can we help them drive sustainability and corporate impact in everything they do as well?”

Schell then talked about the Amplify Impact programme, which focuses on the planet, people and community. “We are launching, as an extension of the Amplify programme, the Impact programme,” he said. “It is the first industry programme that helps partners to assess and train them in a meaningful way around how they can have an impact on diversifying the channel ecosystem.

“We believe it is a very bold change for our industry and a change that is overdue.”

HP is setting an ambitious target to get 50% or more of the global partner community signed up to Amplify Impact by 2025.

“We strongly believe that companies who continue to invest and focus on sustainability, diversity and inclusion will be better positioned for growth and renewal in the years to come,” said Schell.

He added that it was important for partners to get behind the programme because it dealt with issues that mattered to customers and the vendor took these matters very seriously.

“We want to make sure this gets amplified with our partners and is not just something that we want the employees of HP to do,” he said. “We want our partner ecosystem to participate, to contribute and to help us amplify it.”

Much of the focus of Reinvent is on launching products and services that give resellers the opportunity to pitch solutions that will improve the lives of people in the current situation with remote working, offering an extension of instant ink to cover toners and business support for home workers.

But Schell also saw the current situation, which may permanently change the way of working for most people, as an opportunity for the vendor and its partners to make a positive difference.

“The changes we have been seeing in the last five or six months have been the changes that we thought would happen in five or six years,” he said. “So a lot of the moves and the trends that we have been predicting have been accelerated through Covid-19. It’s an exciting time for HP and for our channel network.”