HP, MotherBlue, Just Sneezed...

No, really, potatoes.

September 2011.

Change?

You could say that. Transformation is the new convergence, the new change.

Was the HP decision to let go it's PSG division, one of the Triad, Wall Street driven or some emotional knee-jerk reaction to dismal TouchPad sales?

The answer is 'Yes'.  And HP is genius.  Mother Blue see's a future without desktops.

It's a crazy world, upside down, inside out - we'll make sense of this over the next 18 months - rationalize or remember.

And we'll hear everything from "business is proceeding as usual, you will experience little impact", the typical HP Edgeline, Mopier, 9065 talk track to "see, we told you HP has no loyalty to you, why should you to them?" Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, PC dejour...

We'll read industry pundits explain how 'so and so' will take HP's $42billion company on, re-label and grow.

IPG - Supplies, are big. Sustainable?

Meanwhile, 10,000+ HP employees squirm, VARs scramble, 'loyal' HP Enterprise customers call emergency CIO driven IT meetings, evaluating their 5 year technology refresh plans.

General panic smolders just below the surface and MotherBlue stays the course. She's just too damn big to ignore, she can do absolutely anything she wants...

And this is just the beginning. This is the first in a sequence - tell me, if the largest PC company in the world can get out of PC's, how difficult is it to see the worlds largest printer company, get out of PRINTING?

IPG is 21%(Q1/2011) of HP total revenue - ten years ago, IPG accounted for 43% of revenues.

Guess how much PSG, the division HP is remembering to let go, contributed to total revenues...31%.

Do you see what I see? The biggest question is, who can afford to swallow IPG?  Xerox? Ricoh? Cannon? Lexi?  Nobody.  What about spinning IPG off, all on its lonesome, eh?

Someday...

CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT.


PC's are dying, the focus, the singular focus, is not the machine, it's the stuff going through the machines - bits, data, thoughts, ideas, conversations, expressions, information - CONTENT.

Look to the content, not the machine - maybe, just maybe, HP has this all white boarded out, because they look hellbent on shedding their hardware pedigree and heading to the cloud.

Let's put this in context.  Remember when every employee had a PC at their desk? For every new hire, IT had to set up credentials, order up a PC, secure network drops, and LOAD PRINT DRIVERS.  Because every PC sold had a printer with it.  Free Dells anyone?

Perhaps, quite soon, it won't matter how well the OPS partners are fairing,  if the HP MpS program supports the channel or MES.

Maybe, someday soon, I won't be required to report how many third party toners I sold last year.  Because, as goes the PC, so goes the printer.

Off the Edge, remembered, honored, and let go...

Your World: Do I need to Draw you a Picture?

Tell me again, what do you sell?

My Dad still buys a newspaper.

When HP loses PSG, really, it won't be that bad.

Manged print Services, the Economy and Layoffs.  Do you see it?

Click to email me.

DOTC - How to Manager Your Manager

2011

What is the primary function of a Sales Manager?

Let's say you're selling copiers - no big stretch there.

Your company/dealer/branch conducts Monday morning group meetings followed by individual, one on one, 'Sales funnel' sessions.

Consider the following:

Scenario 1 - New Sales Rep

Your company-owned, CRM has to be updated, all the stages of the cycles illustrated and filled.

Your funnel covers 150% of your quota - all target accounts diagrammed, bases covered, red flags seen.    Number of appointments, number of cold calls, demos, etc. etc., etc.

All normal and ordinary. You're ready and prepared for that meeting with your Sales Manager.

Scenario 2 - Old-Salt

Same company, same meeting.

You've been moving copiers since 1980 and remember selling machines on real cold calls; face to face, demo in the lobby, one appointment close.

All your prospects' and clients' business cards are at your fingertips. You've worked with more sales managers than you can remember.

Your Monday morning routine includes reminding the Sales Manager why you're still there, how much gear you've landed over the past decade and how many more are coming down in the next 30 days.  You present this verbally because you don't get paid to play with spreadsheets and computers.

EMBED-Horrible Bosses: Trailer - Watch more free videos

Unfortunately, this Monday is different.

Today, senior management is in on the meeting to introduce the new manager.  Today, you get to meet the new guy, your new manager.

So you're both in the same spot. Now what?

Listen to the introductions, nod your head, play their game, and become part of their agenda.

Is that really what you want to do? 

Does your manager hold dominion over you? Really?

How about you try to help him define his role in supporting you?

How about you show him he works for you?

What, do you think that can't be done?



Click to email me.

TheDeathOfThe PC: A Call to the Channels Transform Now

My Rover, Grass Valley Fire, 2007

It isn't that we are not familiar with tough business decisions.  We all know somebody who has been a victim of such acts.

HP's announced decision to let die WebOS and TouchPad - a product that lived just 49 days - in and of itself is stupendous.

Spinning off their PCs may seem surprising unless you once sold IBM ThinkPads and remember selling IBM printers.

Go back to IBM, heck go back to the Mopier, the HP9065, and Edgeline; is it really a surprise that after investing a billion, shifting leadership, HP drops and adds?

There is more, much more here, and it is not all Dark.

"...Kindles and Schmindles..." Print...is...Dead...

Buggy whips, that's all I'm sayin...

911 - Never Forget