Our new solutions aim to bridge the gap for over 8 million SMEs

With The SMB market continuing to be an important segment for HP, it remains
as one of the fastest growing sectors. In fact, the market has witnessed a
continuous growth for over 20 years and small business has evolved as one of
HP's largest segments, representing one-third of the company's global revenue

What would your focus area be in the near future?

The SMB market continues to be an important segment for HP and it will
always remain as one of the fastest growing sectors for us. In fact, this market
has witnessed continuous growth for over 20 years and small business is one of
HP's largest segments, representing one-third of the company's global revenue.
Our new product and solutions portfolio aims to bridge the gap for over 8
million SMEs in India for whom technology is the key enabler for achieving
global competitiveness. This sector contributes to 30 percent of the total IT
spend in India and we are sure that it will continue to grow further. This year,
we have launched technology solutions, specific to vertical segments like
business, education and retail. By partnering with some SPs, HP wants to do
meaningful product innovations and understand its customers deeply. We are ready
to make a real measurable impact to the businesses across India in various
segments through different solutions.

In the business segment HP's new range of business notebooks, PCs and
workstations make the most innovative remote computing, virtualization, digital
signage and client manageability solutions work for any business. In the
education segment we make low-cost expansion of computer seats in classrooms
through shared resource computing with solutions like Multi-Seat Computing,
Teach Now, Microsoft Multipoint Server and Digital Signage. Lastly in the retail
sector, HP solutions available are POS Solution and Digital Signage which will
transform retail operations to efficiently attract, serve and maintain customers
and improve business efficiency

Do you have a manufacturing set up in India?

Yes, HP has a manufacturing unit at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand which has
acquired a prominent position in India's IT roadmap, through a mixture of
innovation and application of cutting edge manufacturing process. The
state-of-the-art set up in the Pantnagar factory is designed for excellence and
optimizing use of technology as a differentiator at each step of the
manufacturing process. It was set up with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore,
the plant commenced operations in March 2007, and has an installed capacity of
5.7 million units per year for manufacturing desktops, workstations and
notebooks. In 2009 it rolled out the one millionth unit from its manufacturing
facility.

It has been noticed that the retail segment is witnessing a growth. Do you
want to concentrate on this sector?

The retail segment is witnessing growth because of expansion, consolidation,
acquisition and also the entry of international chains are giving further fillip
to the overall growth of organized retail.

According to Technopak Analysis and Estimates, consumption is likely to
double in India in the next five years. In the next five-ten years, the scale of
business opportunity and pace of changes would be fundamentally different. This
will require almost every company to go back to the strategy drawing board.
Dramatic changes are taking place in India's consumption basket of 'Roti, Kapda,
aur Makaan', leading to the emergence of new categories and inter-category
competition.

Aligned to this, HP announced solutions that will help retailers to transform
their traditional retail environments into enriched retail environments through
game changing solutions that would enhance customer experience, optimize
business efficiencies and improve sales. HP has outlined how an enriched retail
environment is closely mapped to a customer journey starting from the
point-of-attraction, moving on to the point-of-entry, various
points-of-consideration and finally the point-of-purchase. In-store technology
solutions have the potential to transform the retail sector in 2010. HP's broad
portfolio of flexible end-to-end retail solutions will now include digital
signage solutions, touch-enabled PCs and retail point-of-sale (RPOS) systems so
that retailers of all shapes and sizes can use one trusted vendor for simple,
easy installation and maximum impact.

HP's overall plans for the year 2010? What do you plan to launch next?

The global and regional economies are emerging from the slowdown blues. 2009
was a period where many businesses and governments slowed down their acquisition
of IT. 2010 has presented HP PSG with an opportunity to catch up with businesses
and the public sector to renew their investment in the ICT space, as well as to
start fresh withon their IT infrastructure spending.

Now there is an opportunity for HP PSG to demonstrate the total envelopment
in the commercial systems and solutions space with its ability to deliver value
to businesses and the public sectors, based on the understanding of the needs
and demands, through innovative solutions and disruptive technologies.

In India the spirit with which business and entrepreneurs cities are
unleashing new possibilities and setting up an example for their counterparts
across. This is the new age India, and it is changing the process business was
done before to reach the big league. Hence the stage is set and we at HP believe
that technology can boost business to the next level in the long run. HP's
strategic framework is built on HP, continuing to invent and develop technology
solutions for the customers we serve, capitalizing on industry trends. It is
becoming best-in-class in the industry. Made up of three major components, the
operating framework represents the interconnected levers. The things we must
focus on are, cost efficiency, targeted growth and capital strategy because it
would act as a catalyst for HP to perform to its full potential.

HP's operating framework requires us to work on three interconnected levers
at the same time. These levers are growth, cost efficiency, and our capital
strategy. We also need to be as efficient as we possibly can. We will work on
lowering our expenses to improve not only our financial performance but to also
improve our capital position.

We want to be in markets that can scale and grow since we are now so large
that we can't invent our growth. We have elected to follow a strategy that
capitalizes on our existing strength. In this way we can feed the $90 billion
revenue stream that we have to sustain and grow.

Besides this, we need to align our resources with the capability we want to
build and the best opportunities that we see in the market that will allow us to
scale the company. In some cases, we will spend money to save money and will
spend money to grow. An example is reducing our 85 internal datacenters to six
new ones with greater efficiency in everything from data-warehousing to power
and cooling costs

Bharat Sharma

bharatb@cybermedia.co.in