Vendor Awards: Hardware - HP

The ARN Awards Hardware Vendor of the Year gong has been won for the fourth straight year by HP. The company's ability to maintain a stable hold as the premiere hardware vendor is a spectacular result.

The vendor’s director ESSN, South Pacific, Kevin Rooney, said nothing spectacular needed to be done to win over the hearts of the channel, but a deep and consistent commitment to furthering the channel is what’s important.

“Any strategic planning that we undertake always involves channel, and we look at the channel not as just a simple go-to-market strategy, it’s much more than that. We see it as an extension of our sales force and presales community,” Rooney said.

“I think, ultimately, we need to continue to be consistent in our approach to the channel. Help to give them visibility into where we’re going in the markets that we’re pursuing and the areas of growth that we’re pursuing so again they can continue to align their goals and strategies with ours.”

HP runs regular technical solution workshops, partner principle conferences and ‘boot camps’ around the converged infrastructure message that it is especially keen to push into corporate and partner marketing.

It holds marketing councils every six months to make sure there’s an absolute alignment with everything that is going to be coming out of HP’s marketing machine to make sure the partners are properly aligned with the vendor.

So, in short, it’s about treating partners as extensions to the presales and sales arms of the giant. But as Rooney said, it’s not all work – HP prides itself on rewarding partners for their commitment to the cause.

“We’re also looking at ways to continue to reward our partners for their loyalty and support,” he said.

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