Hewlett-Packard’s announcement last week to either spin off its PC business or even look for a sale has made partners and customers in India sit-up and watch.
Following the announcement last week, Rajiv Srivastava, vice president and general manager Personal Systems Group (PSG), HP India sales, hit the road to have series of discussions with partners and customers across the country.
“I have spoken to all the partners, employees and customers and addressed their concerns. The partners, who should have been really concerned are those with HP World, as they have exclusive partnership with us. But we have been able to step up our activity there too and address all the concerns.”
Srivastava said even if HP did decide to sell the unit to a third party, this will have little impact on the product and technology road-map. “Whatever decision is taken we seem to be in a great position as you will see an acceleration of product launches and market engagement. Nobody has talked about doing away with the brand. If you see the mergers and acquisition that have happened in this segment, the brand and products have continued to thrive. Whether it was IBM’s Think Pad that was acquired by Lenovo, or Compaq acquired by HP.”
PSG is one of the largest unit for HP in India. Globally, the PSG unit contributes to one-third of HP’s revenues. PSG is about a $40 billion business operating in more than 170 countries around the world. HP’s decision to relook at its PC business is part of its road-map to increase the business in the services segment.
In his email response, Todd Bradley, executive vice president, PSG, HP, said: “HP sees an opportunity to further improve the flexibility, innovation and responsiveness of the products and services you rely on from the Personal Systems Group, which is why our board has authorised an investigation into strategic alternatives for this business.”
