Being at the top of the pyramid, a great CEO must be able to clearly communicate the vision of the company in order to inspire staff, investors and customers. As the Hewlett-Packard (HP) flag-bearer, Meg Whitman surely knows the tricks and tools of the computer industry. She joined the $127.2 billion, Palo Alto, California-based tech company last September during a troubled time, following an announcement by the former CEO, Leo Apotheker last year to sell off the PC business. ?We started to look at every business process and said how do we make this simpler? How do we make it easier to go to market? How do we make it easier to make decisions at HP,? the 57-year-old president & CEO told a select group of media persons and analysts in Shanghai earlier this month.

In a swift move, Whitman dismissed Apotheker?s move towards software provision at the expense of hardware manufacturing. ?PCs are an essential part of HP,? she explicitly stated justifying her decision not to exit the lucrative PC business. ?HP is a hardware company, 70% of our sales revenue comes from hardware and we are proud of it. We will not transform HP into a software company. HP?s software supports the hardware business, while its services division?built from the acquisition of EDS in 2008?will be used to support HP products,? she said.

Here?s a quick recap. HP considered for months last year a proposal to sell or spin off its PC arm, known as the Personal Systems Group. That followed an announcement that it would get out of the business of making tablets with the failure of its TouchPad. But after Whitman?s predecessor, Apotheker, was ousted in September, the company abandoned the idea and deemed personal computers to be central to its overall strategy.

It?s been more than seven months since Whitman took over as HP CEO, and she has put the iconic Silicon Valley company into a major reshaping mode. When all eyes turn to the CEO for direction and example, she is taking giant steps in an effort to rekindle growth. She has initiated the merger of the company?s printer and PC businesses, combining two of its largest divisions as she tries to jumpstart growth at the technology company. The combined unit, with $65 billion in annual sales, will account for about half the company?s revenue and be headed by PC chief Todd Bradley. HP is focusing its corporate efforts on streamlining business processes in ways that will make the company easier to do business with for both customers and partners. Analysts too back her decision saying that HP?s move will facilitate decision-making and improve productivity.

HP, which is the biggest technology supplier in the globe, has centralised marketing and sales operations, while also concentrating decision making in the hands of less people, resulting in fewer people that can ?say no? and more people that are actually empowered to make decisions, Whitman said. The HP supremo is betting the company?s future on the convergence of enterprise and consumer technologies. ?Future of Hewlett-Packard will be shaped by consumerisation of IT phenomenon that simultaneously plays to the company?s strengths both in the enterprise and consumer technology markets,? she said. In concrete terms, HP plans to focus its efforts on bringing new products to market that appeal to consumers. And the HP difference will be making all those pieces fit together.

Fact is, HP is re-entering the hard-to-resist, fast-growing consumer tablet market with a Windows 8 slate. And an interesting view came from Bradley when he hinted at some kind of cloud-based technology for HP?s Windows 8 tablets, and said that this technology would enable users to share and store content across a plethora of devices.

Gateway to Asia

As China has become the largest PC market in the world, it was obvious that Whitman would choose Shanghai to confirm that the company will ?invest heavily? in the market to increase its market share and build more computers and printers in the country. Shanghai was the venue for the introduction of more than 80 PC and printer products.

In the meantime, HP will keep investing in emerging markets like India, Russia and Brazil. Top HP personnel that FE spoke to, reiterated that India is a very important market for the company, both in terms of business opportunity as well as the talent pool available for development of products.

According to Rajiv Srivastava, vice-president and general manager, Printers and Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard India, over 54% of the country?s population is under the age of 24 and the heaviest internet users in India are between the age group of 15-24 years, driving the highest internet consumption in the country. The youth look for convenience and portability along with high performance computing and entertainment capabilities. ?We see this as a huge opportunity for our portability business, where the ?thin and light? segment will offer significant growth opportunities over the next several years, with the ultrabooks being the game changer.?

Hewlett-Packard India has tapped into this segment with its HP Envy Spectre and HP Folio13. The HP Folio13 features a thin and light design, with upto 9.5 hours of battery life, strong security options and a responsive solid state hard drive for the ultimate mobile experience. The HP ENVY Spectre on the other hand is a premium consumer ultrabook that commands attention with its superior design with Gorilla glass as well as stunning performance. ?Our latest ultrabook, the SpectreXT will add to our existing portfolio and would help us complete our range in terms of the offerings for different target groups across price points. The underlying principle would remain offering products that best suit the computing needs and aspirational desires of the consumers,? he said.

Ultrabooks are targeted at the consumers who are looking for full day computing experience and desire a notebook with long battery life, instant start from standby and thin and light computing options. ?We believe ultrabooks will be embraced by both professionals working in an enterprise or SMB and prosumers who want the power of mobility with the advantage of low weight and long working hours,? Srivastava said, adding, ?We are looking forward to bring these products to India, a market that is unique in substance yet large in form and therefore a priority for HP.?

There is no doubt that the consumerisation of IT requires expertise in both consumer and enterprise technologies. With an incredible collection of assets, HP has enough critical mass to bridge the gap between consumer and enterprise technologies. Its CEO is tasked with turning around the company and has demonstrated that she is committed to bring agility and to improve efficiency after years of executive management turmoil. In sum total, she is in an overdrive to maintain the company?s growth momentum.

Innovation alive and kicking

Encouraging innovation while ensuring stable growth is a corporate priority, Meg Whitman said. She said the company would not relent in its actions to increase the growth and market share of its products in the emerging markets across the globe.

On her part, she is committing HP to three years of research and development to re-establish it as a technology-focused hardware company. HP increased R&D spending in 2012, she said, adding ?We will do so again in 2013 and 2014. We are creating the commitment and financial capability to invest in R&D. We are doubling our innovation efforts in storage and networking for better performance and easier to manage converged infrastructures.?

John Apostolopoulos, director, Mobile & Immersive Experience Lab, HP Labs, particularly mentioned HP Labs India in Bangalore, where researchers have radically transformed the PC into a superb social tool and an entertainment device. HP Labs India is one of seven HP Labs worldwide. Here, the research explores ways in which IT adoption and internet connectivity can be accelerated through simplified and intuitive computing and natural metaphors of human-device interaction.

HP is preparing to produce new tablets made of flexible but virtually unbreakable plastic, with almost unlimited low-powered storage unlike anything used in current computers. The revolutionary technology could also be used to create wearable, powered screens as thin as the average person?s head of hair that could be worn like a bracelet.

John, a recipient of 55 US patents, detailed a new memristor component, which is a resistor with memory that will help lower the power consumptions on future devices even further, resulting in smaller batteries and lighter facades. Also, their soon-to-come flexible displays, enabled by Self-Aligning Imprint Lithography (SAIL), will allow for even thinner and lighter products, economical displays and even futuristic wearable displays.

HP?s commitment to the PC and printer segment is enduring and so is their commitment to R&D.