Gurpreet Brar
Director, Commercial Sales, PPS HP India
As a market leader in Managed Print Services, HP gains easy access to its SMB customers. But the route they follow is the Channel. Gurpreet Brar, Director, Commercial Sales, PPS HP India, speaks to VARINDIA on the various new initiatives for its Channel that HP has at present and how it leverages these programs to get the best out the partners serving its customers
HP is committed to its channel partners and it is this commitment that gets manifested in the channel enablement programs it implements that continuously focusses on opening new opportunities for growth and increase partner’s profitability. “As a market leader in Managed Print Services (MPS), HP has strengthened its ability to deliver services and solutions through its channel partners directly to SMB customers. With Partner MPS, HP is not only delivering excellent print management to SMBs, but also strengthening the relationships it has with its channel partners – a major driver of success in our business,” says Gurpreet Brar, Director, Commercial Sales, PPS HP India.
Customers want services, solutions and support to help them manage their print environment. More importantly, customers want long-term, strategic partnerships with a vendor that can provide a comprehensive solution. HP Partner MPS enables its channel partners to sell to customers in new markets, helping optimize, manage and improve existing print environments for a new set of customers.
Continues Gurpreet, “In my role overseeing the commercial channel for HP PPS India, I am responsible for working closely with our commercial channel partners to develop strategies and plan for their mutual growth. I am also responsible for planning and expanding the SMB business in the country, which again helps HP grow together with our commercial channel. My team and I have the onus of driving channel expansion and marketing programs to increase the market reach. We liaise and work closely with the partners, VARs and ISVs and their product and sales teams for various business growth needs. Our key mandate is to ensure that all our partners have a profitable and consistent business growth with us.”
HP takes pride in its extensive channel network to provide reliable, high-quality products and solutions. HP India’s strong geographic model ensures that customers from every part of the country can have access to the company’s products and services. The company believes if the channel is happy and profitable, the brand will always have potential in the market. “From a product standpoint, we have best-in-class products and new product lines to meet the market needs. While the youth segment continues to drive demand for new consumer notebook PCs and tablets, SMBs and enterprises look for a trusted partner to provide productive, reliable and secure solutions,” remarks Brar.
An innovative Channel engagement strategy
HP’s channel engagement focusses on three pillars – simplicity, profitability and innovation. This also encompasses “ease of doing business for partners”, with HP introducing programs which enable partners to enhance their profitability. In order to maintain cordial relations with partners, HP is running the “Pay for Result” program, through which HP promotes partners to conduct linear business in a quarter by paying additional incentives under the “Linearity” program. Its deal registration system is also an existing process, but HP is now making it more powerful and transparent for its channel partners. “As part of ROE 1.0 (Rules of Engagement), we map the names of partners from erstwhile printing and personal system sectors against each account to ensure smooth transition by eliminating the scope for overlap. Therefore, if there is a new partner working on a particular account, our account managers will already know who the channel partners working on it are,” sums up Gurpreet.
HP has driven many partner incentive initiatives along with training programs for channel partners in the past too. With its conscious efforts to help partners grow, its partners can expect some more exciting, beneficial programs from HP in the near future as well. In order to keep affinity with its partners, HP makes sure that they are being constantly valued and introduce a "go-to-market" strategy with a certain amount of consistency and methodology.
samrita@varindia.com
