Craig Partridge - HP Discover 2015 - theCUBE - #HPDiscover
Channel: SiliconANGLE theCUBE
Date: 2015-06-03

The journey to solutions, not products | #HPDiscover #HPEDiscover
by Elizabeth Kays | Jun 9, 2015 

HP’s recent reorganization from products to solutions is like “manna from Heaven” for Craig Partridge, director of HP’s Data Center Platforms Consulting, who works exclusively with HP products, he’s thrilled with the changes.

“I mean, this is all we do,” he said in an interview with theCUBE during HP Discover 2015. “We spend all our time out there talking about solutions, talking about the journey, how to transform. And it’s really a business outcome conversation. And now to see us as an HP organization gearing ourselves completely around that; it’s fabulous.”

Changing the though process around IT

This shift reflects major changes in the market and in the ways customers think about their IT.

“There was absolutely a time when customers would look at buying HP products and services and they’d do the speeds-and-feeds match, and they’d compare against the competition,” 

Partridge said. “It was a product-driven conversation. But I think increasingly over the last few years and certainly with the emergence of the digital economy, as many call it, the idea economy, as you get into this kind of bimodal, fast pace of IT, customers, they need to get past that and they need to get to outcomes much quicker.

Partridge also said that he thinks the time’s right for HP to lead with services and solutions. “We’ve got to be that trusted adviser to the customer and take them on that journey.”

Most of these changes have been precipitated by the digital revolution and its impact on traditional business models.

“For most of our customers, the challenge they have is one set around what’s happening to them from a … digital economy point of view,” Partridge said. “They’re absolutely up against it, trying to find those new revenue streams, trying to connect to customers in different ways … and then they’re trying to exploit those revenue streams, which is the business outcome they’re trying to achieve.

Top-line conversation, not cost issue

He went on to say that this is a top-line conversation and not a cost issue, which has typically been the IT conversation — how to take cost down.

“This is now a conversation about how do we bring new revenue streams and new analytics and new insights,” he said. “Those are the kind of business outcomes that are kind of on the table now,” and HP is aiming to secure those outcomes for businesses.

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