Thank You Channels!

It is perhaps the most closelyguarded secret in the IT industry, joked Nora

Denzel, senior VP at HP’s Worldwide Software Global Business Unit. She was

referring to the fact that HP’s software business grosses $5 billion, which

would place it as the fifth largest software provider in the world. Denzel was

addressing HP’s channel partners at Cheju Island in South Korea. While the

Americas contribute almost 40% of the overall revenue, around 10% comes from

Asia Pacific and another 10% from Japan.

Some more interesting and rather unknown facts about HP’s software business–HP

OpenView is the 15th largest software provider in the world; it is the # 1

vendor in management software and voice middleware; all the top 10 ISPs in the

US are managed by OpenView; over 60% of service providers in Asia/Pacific have

deployed OpenView to manage their network environment; 70% of all Internet

devices are managed by OpenView; and over 1.35 lakh OpenView installations exist

worldwide, including 100% of Fortune 50 and at least half of BusinessWeek

International’s 100 corporations.

A quick trip down Channel HP… Nearly half of HP’s software revenue comes from its 1000 channel partners worldwide   Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market for HP. Last year, the region grew between 40% to 50% While globally, channel partners contribute almost 50% of HP’s software revenue, in Asia Pacific, this proportion is set to go up to 60% India, Australia, China, Japan and Korea are amongst the top five countries in Asia Pacific contributing to HP’s software business  HP’s partners in India include Wipro Infotech, TCS, Network Solutions and Bangalore Labs

All this has been possible due to a crucial role played by HP’s channel

partners globally. Nearly half of the company’s software revenue comes from

its 1000 channel partners worldwide. In addition, there are more than 2,000

certified consultants and 300 ISVs (independent service vendors).

In a move to accelerate its channel strategy and strengthen its commitment to

channel partners, HP last month honored the winners of its second Asia Pacific

Software Olympics event at the picturesque Cheju Island in South Korea.

Presented annually to HP’s top channel partners in the Asia Pacific region,

the Software Olympics awards recognize channel partners for their sales,

marketing and technical performance.

"In this challenging business climate where it is imperative to offer

value-added solutions at competitive price points, our channel partners, with

their domain expertise are crucial to our software strategy," said Steve

Au-Yeung, GM (Software Global Business Unit, Enterprise Systems Group) – Asia

Pacific, HP.

"Apart from increasing our investments in partner training and

marketing, we will adopt a solutions-centric approach with the long term aim of

bringing profitability to our partners and value to our customers," says Au

Yeung.

Among the winners were Wipro Infotech-India, EMS-Australia, Digital China

from China, JOS Distribution from Hong Kong, Space ITS from South Korea, HPD

Systems from Malaysia, and Tech D&I Co from South East Asia (excluding

Malaysia and Singapore). Said Vijaysunder Rajamani, Product Manager (Enterprise

Management), Wipro Infotech, "This recognition is a natural outcome of the

deep practice built by Wipro in its enterprise management offering, which

reflects the commitment to the technologies from HP. This recognition will

enhance the value we bring to the customer’s table."

Added Au-Yeung, "In Asia Pacific, we see strong growth opportunities in

service management, telecom solutions and Windows management. We will leverage

the expertise of our system integrators to strengthen the technical knowledge of

our channel partners to help them deepen inroads in these growth sectors."

There are two kinds of channel partners of HP software–Business Partners

and Premier Business Partners. While Business Partners are required to have at

least one sales professional and one technical consultant, Premier Business

Partners are required to have at least two sales professionals and two technical

consultants.

To become a Business Partner, potential partners are required to work on a

business plan to demonstrate their capabilities and competency in the focus

segments, in which targeted solutions, sales forecast, marketing plans and

dedicated resources are committed. The partner needs to maintain or have access

to a multiple-node, networked environment for live demonstration of the

solutions. Partners are also expected to offer first-level pre-sales support to

customers.

Part of the partner’s business needs to be focussed on providing solutions

to manage customer IT infrastructure, i.e. IT service management, NT-centric

management, management of Sun environments, integrated network and systems

management, storage management, e-business/e-commerce/e-services management,

application management (Sap/Baan/Peoplesoft), and XSP.

Interestingly, Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market for HP. Last year,

the region grew between 40% to 50%. While globally, channel partners contribute

almost 50% of HP’s software revenue, in Asia Pacific, this proportion is set

to go up to 60%.

However, this increase will not be due to the addition of more partners. As

Au-Yeung pointed out, "We are not interested in the number, but the quality

of partners."

"At the same time, due to its focus on telcos, HP is certainly

interested in adding more partners who are telco focussed," says Peter van

der Fluit, VP (Worldwide Software Global Business Unit), HP. While the telco

market declined worldwide, in Asia Pacific, it actually showed positive growth

last year. India is amongst the top five countries in Asia Pacific as far as HP’s

software business is concerned. The other important countries include Australia,

China, Japan and Korea. Its partners in India include Wipro Infotech, TCS,

Network Solutions and Bangalore Labs.

Asim Raina/CNS in Cheju Island/South

Korea