How is HP evolving vis-à-vis the Indian consumers?

Nitin Hiranandani
Director, Printing Systems, PPS, HP India

How is HP evolving vis-à-vis the Indian consumers?

If you look from a product perspective, we have two major lines of products -the Inkjet and the Laser printers. With the Ink Advantage line of printers, we have evolved in a major way in terms of addressing what the consumer wants especially in India. One primary requirement the consumers in India have is affordable printing, and through the Ink Advantage portfolio of products which is quality printing at an affordable price, this is addressed. Now, if we look at it from the SMB's perspective, SMB as a segment does not have much IT resources. They are looking at vendors like us to act as consultants and provide them insights into how the business is evolving. There are two key objectives we are looking forward to. The first is to bring up the visibility as to what is happening in the printing environment and the second is to address the challenges that they are facing there.  

How are you empowering the Channel fraternity?

HP has a very exhaustive and comprehensive channel programme where we ensure that we have the right profile of partners. Once we have the right profile of partners, we further ensure that they get enough training and certification to be able to form a technical perspective and are able to rightly take it to the SMB customers. 

There are various parameters of selecting the partner. The first criteria is to select a solution- minded partner. And if the partner has a solution-based mindset, the job is half done, because then it is only a matter of training and certification on these specific solutions which is not really a hurdle. 

How well do you connect with the channel?

I believe I connect pretty fine with the channel. There are a few key rules I follow. Firstly, I spent a lot of time with the partners in the market. This is fundamental for connecting with the channel. Secondly, look at it as true partnership with the channel. I have been in the industry for long; so also there are partners who have been in the industry for long. For me, it is an opportunity to learn from them and at the same time share my thoughts as to how the business is evolving. It is a cross learning that I do with the channel and hopefully they do the same with me. Thirdly, the channel keeps coming back with questions such as how do we grow with HP? This is where a role needs to be played to be able to provide the right level of insight as to where the growth areas are and to make sure our channel takes advantage of the growth areas.