Christoph Schell (HP)
HP is placing data at the heart of channel growth plans through the launch of a new intelligence platform designed to convert partner information into strategic customer insights, leveraging more than one billion data points provided by the ecosystem on a weekly basis.
Under the banner of HP Amplify Data Insights, the new offering is designed to combine third-party intelligence and partner data into one “intuitive dashboard”, allowing technology providers to benchmark performance, enhance customer experience levels and strengthen long-term strategic priorities.
Available via the vendor’s partner portal, the platform complements the launch of HP Amplify in 2020 -- a new program rolled out to overhaul traditional channel practices in response to increased levels of digitalisation -- with 98 per cent of eligible partners opting-in to report data. Collectively this amounts to more than one billion data points being uploaded to the platform on a weekly basis by the ecosystem.
“The events of the past 18 months have dramatically altered how customers engage with brands and ultimately make technology buying decisions -- data plays a critical role in our ability to both monitor and respond quickly to these evolving customer needs,” said Christoph Schell, chief commercial officer of HP.
“With HP Amplify Data Insights, HP is delivering on our collaboration promise by turning partner data into deeper insights, designed to deliver more positive customer outcomes and enable long-term partner growth and recurring revenue.”
In combining protected partner data with third-party market intelligence and internal information generated by HP, the platform focus on three core segments -- Descriptive Insights, Predictive Insights and Prescriptive Insights.
Descriptive Insights help partners benchmark performance relative to country or market, referencing sales growth, product performance and inventory levels.
Key areas of focus include revenue and unit sales, rankings and ratios to hardware by market and company size, in addition to assessing inventory levels by HP product group, category and product lines, alongside sales mix by customer industry as well as compensation and rebate history.
Meanwhile, Predictive Insights is designed to “anticipate customer interest and purchase decisions” based on HP proprietary algorithms spanning end-user refresh cycle data, warranty expiration heat-maps and product lifecycle intelligence.
Delving deeper, key features include product warranty and renewal heat maps, customer buying intent predictions and engagement topic insights, supported by engagement evolution by end-user, engagement propensity and intent plus interested purchasing topics based on the past six months.
Rounding off the updates, Prescriptive Insights aims to help partners “up-sell, cross-sell and optimise marketing campaigns” with recommendations on specific sales and marketing actions for individual company and customer groups. This spans end-user installed base recommendations alongside product recommendations for fast-track and long-tail campaigns.
“At a time where channel partners across Asia need more support than ever, HP is stepping up to upgrade partner capabilities for the digital age and drive business outcomes through HP Amplify,” added David Tan, head of Channels and Supplies across Asia at HP.
“HP Amplify Data Insights takes that to the next level with more than one billion data points updated in the platform weekly, ensuring real-time access to multiple data sets with unique insights to unlock growth and shape new strategies.”
According to Forrester findings, partners that prioritise data during the strategic planning phase are 58 per cent more likely to surpass revenue goals compared to non-data driven competitors.
Heightened focus on hybrid workplace
With the data platform unveiled during HP Reinvent -- the vendor’s global partner conference -- other key announcements include the launch of new products, services and solutions to help partners capitalise on the increased potential of the hybrid workplace.
From a PC perspective, Adaptive Endpoint Management operates as a fully managed service capable of helping IT managers leverage automation to send PCs directly to employees with “zero-touch deployment”.
Meanwhile, Connect for Microsoft Endpoint Manager targets end-users seeking to manage BIOS (basic input output system) via the cloud, allowing businesses to remotely “configure, secure and update” commercial PCs alongside creating policies for groups of devices customising over 100 different HP BIOS settings.
Also available is Cloud Endpoint Manager, a cloud-ready solution allowing IT departments to enhance deployment and management of “thousands” of HP Thin Clients via a digital interface which is accessible from a web browser.
On the flip side, the vendor also rolled out an enhanced printing solution with automatic supplies delivery, next business day service and embedded security and productivity solutions.
Managed Print Flex -- which has yet to outline a launch timeframe -- operates as a cloud-first managed print service (MPS) subscription plan allowing partners opportunity to build “predictable” print revenue and profit without relying on the upfront revenues of hardware, resell and commission options.
“We see tremendous opportunity to lead with our partners across stickier, more personalised and outcome based customer engagements,” Schell added.
