HP AMPLIFY EXECUTIVE FORUM ― HP Inc. CEO Enrique Lores is urging partners to stay optimistic, despite the current volatility in the market.

The CEO described the last three years as “difficult” – and that the situation isn’t likely to improve any time soon.

“The world has been a very volatile space during the last few years,” Lores (pictured above) told top U.S. partners at the HP Amplify Executive Forum in Palo Alto, California, on Thursday. “And whether we like it or not, this volatility is going to stay with us for some time. When we look at the economic situation inflation, wars, potential energy prices, the geopolitical situation — clearly things are not stable. And they are not going to be stable for a while.”

However, he said partners should stay optimistic and continue to look for opportunities to grow.

“This is true both in the short term, but also in the long term,” he said. “In the short term, we may hear difficult headlines about what is happening with the world, what is happening with inflation. Headlines are fine, but there are always opportunities underneath. We need to go together after these opportunities. This is how our companies will continue to grow.

“We also need to stay optimistic for the long term,” he added. “Because when you look at the trends that we have been using to drive our companies, the trends that define the opportunities that we see, those trends are changing. They will continue to fuel our growth and to create opportunities for us to grow in the future.”

Betting on the Hybrid Workforce

During the HP Amplify Executive Forum, Lores laid out the company’s priorities. One area on which HP is betting is the hybrid workforce, unveiling a series of new products designed to accommodate the trend at the event.

“Hybrid work is here to stay,” he said. “I don’t know any companies that have convinced employees that they need to be back in the office five days per week, every week of the month. People are going to continue to work from home and from the office. This is a tremendous opportunity for us, for our devices, for new services.

“The fact that we are a strong company on the consumer side and on the commercial side, gives us the opportunity to bridge the worlds as customers will continue to work from home,” he said.

Subscriptions and Services

Lores also noted the industry shift toward subscriptions and services. He described it as “an opportunity for all of us to offer a better value proposition to our customers, to expand the value that we provide.”

“We are fully committed to reward our partners based on the value that we will bring our customers. This is how we have worked in the past,” said Lores. “This is how we will continue to work in the future.”

“We will design services in ways that you can participate in the definition of the services, in the delivery of services. So you can be rewarded for the work that you will be providing for our common customers,” Lores said.

Additionally, he said customers can now expect partners to support their sustainability goals.

“This is another area where we work together; we can create business opportunities going forward,” Lores added.

“When we talk about building a stronger HP, this is exactly what we’re doing. Looking at these trends, and aligning our portfolio, aligning our internal activities to support us, to continue to grow in the future.”

Poly Acquisition a ‘Super Exciting’ Opportunity

Elsewhere, Lores promised HP is modernizing its core product portfolio and identifying key adjacencies for partners.

“This is where we see the acquisition of Poly, that hopefully will close in the coming weeks, is going to help us to accelerate our leadership.”

Lores said the acquisition of Poly creates a “super exciting” opportunity.

“Our estimate is that in the world, there are around 90 million meeting rooms — rooms where people go to get some work done. Only 10% of them today have videoconferencing capabilities. If you think about a hybrid world, there is a very significant need to increase that. Ninety million rooms – I think we can increase it by 20 points. These rooms will be renewed every two or three years. The value of each of these ones could be $2,000, $3,000 – you start getting into millions of dollars in opportunities.”

Another objective for HP, said Lores, is to become a more digital company.

“By being more digital, we will be able to manage our operations better. We need to continue to upgrade our systems, to improve our systems, so we can provide more transparency and visibility. This is an area where we have invested millions of dollars. We are going to continue to invest on that,” he said.