HP Cloud: Maintaining Focus Amid HP Layoffs?
If the pundits are correct, Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman will announce plans for 25,000 to 30,000 HP layoffs during an earnings call today (May 23). As HP (NYSE: HPQ) apparently prepares to cut about 8 percent of its staff, can the HP cloud strategy weather the storm?
For HP, 2012 was supposed to be the year of stabilization. Gone are the horrors of 2011, when HP struggled to stay out of its own way — killing WebOS hardware; mulling and then abandoning potential plans for a PC spin-off; and ultimately pushing former CEO Leo Apotheker out the door.
Fast forward to the present, and HP continues to face challenges in the hardware, software and IT services markets. HP apparently hired a consulting firm to help plan the alleged layoffs.
Still, I’m betting most of HP’s core cloud computing teams will survive the job cuts.
To draw your own conclusions, keep a close eye on Zorawar ‘Biri’ Singh, senior VP and GM of HP Cloud Services. If Singh remains in place and on message in the days and weeks ahead, partners should breathe a collective sigh of relief.
The broader HP sometimes fails to understand recurring revenue opportunities for VARs and MSPs. But Singh has worked in and around the channel for decades, and he understands the various roles ahead for VARs, MSPs and cloud services providers.
Assuming HP layoffs have truly arrived, it’s time once again for HP to over-communicate channel partners — including partners in the cloud ecosystem. That’s why Singh will be worth watching in the days and weeks ahead.
