As customers today are very conscious and look for IT infrastructure that contributes towards data security and lowertotal cost of ownership, Hewlett-Packard?s (HP) workstations and servers are tuning in. Dennis Mark, who heads the commercial systems unit at HP Personal Systems group (PSG) is banking on products that promise return on investments as early as three months. In an interaction with Pragati Verma, he elaborates on HP?s plans and the environment. Excerpts:
As customers squeeze tech spending, how do you compel them to buy new computer systems?
Yes this environment is tough. In this environment, a customer will ask for the best return for each dollar spent. Having said that, the good news is that we are seeing an economic momentum. In countries like China and Vietnam, there are a lot of opportunities and we are seeing a positive sentiment. The key thing for companies is to invest in technology that will help them to be more productive and more competitive in their respective industries.
Our new workstation series called Z have been designed keeping performance in mind. This is especially true for SMBs, where the work done in five days can be brought down to 2.5 to 2.7 days due to the high performance of the workstations. From their perspective, there is a productivity improvement of almost 85%. For the same amount, architectures using these systems can double their work and this generates a lot of saving and ability to do more projects in the same amount of time. As a result there is huge saving for them.
How different is the product profile today?
Customers are more demanding in this environment. For example, an architect can complete his work using the new Z series workstations in 27 days or 1 month, while otherwise he would take 2-3 months. So in a very short period of time, he can realise the practical benefit of the investment.
Time to realise the return on investments (ROI) have come down by three to four monts time. So the design of the workstation was able to enhance the performance.
We spoke to our customers on how they used our workstations and gathered their feedback. We came together with BMW DesignWorks to design the internal chassis and the internal air flow. This partnership enables us to integrate the handle on the top of the machine so that it may be moved around easily. At the bottom, we added a layer of a material that enables users to shift the machine easily. These minute details come together to enhance the computing experience for the customers and offering better productivity.
Is the positive momentum restricted to China?
It is a general representation of sentiments. When I go to malls and shops in these countries, there are places where people are still buying. So I got a sense of the positive sentiment from the consumer behaviour. Also, if you see the air traffic, things look like they will pick up. Things are better than they were in last quarter; the sentiment is definitely more optimistic.
Yes customers are a bit cautious about the investments they are making and often ask more questions on how they will take advantage of the innovations and how will it translate into benefits for them. Customers want themselves to be more productive and get more for their business. Earlier, there were only purchase discussions with customers. Now we have become their advisors to provide solutions to their problems. And the problem is to make the dollar work harder. We are beginning to see signs of growth and customers are willing to look into investment areas.
Certain markets?Japan, South Pacific and Australia?have been a bit harder hit. But there is good news in Asia. Growing and emerging economies are fueling the demand in the domestic market. Hence the best continent to be in right now, looking at the current economic environment is Asia. Also, the sentiment around is positive.
What is the sense you are getting from the Indian market?
The sense that I am getting from India is the same as in China and Vietnam. They are more cautious, asking more questions and want to know how it will lead to better ROI. Customers are prudent in investments both in good times and bad times, but they notice every dollar spent more closely now in a difficult time. Before we go to the customers, we ask the question to ourselves that the customers are expected to ask on performance and ROI and hence ready our answers. In 1997 in Asia, there was an economic crisis and we have our learnings from there. We plan to be here for the long haul. We are not here for transactional business, but to establish a relationship with our customers (whether small or large) and be with them during such difficult times. They have a trust in the brand.
Do you expect customers to buy more HP products like after the 1997 crisis?
Our market share has been steadily increasing. Hence during these difficult times too, we continued to invest in meaningful innovations. An economic slowdown doesn?t mean we stop?we continue to invest in the market and technology. In such a tough scenario, we aim to understand our customers? needs better and fine-tune innovations to suit them. We want to continue to help them in their business to become more competitive. The crucial thing is to be with the customer and retain their loyalty. Like I said, it will be about keeping the relationship going and not merely buy and sell. The strategy is ?we grow as they grow?.
How responsive are the customers to the environment today? Are they willing to pay more upfront for greener products?
I think more and more customers are getting conscious about the environment. We are encouraging them more to conserve the environment. In some areas, we bundle such features together to make it easier for customers to pay. HP focuses a lot on power efficiency for its products. We have customers who come back to us for recycling of products after the end of life; they are willing to play a part in the environment.
Customers are concerned about carbon footprint; some companies pay extra to get carbon credits. In the future, ?how to reduce carbon footprints? will be big. This trend is increasing and there is increasing awareness and demand is rising in Asia. Each economy is at a different stage?some are more advanced in their adoption, like the more mature economies that had rapid growth and are more informed and active about this.