Hewlett-Packard apparently has made a major channel hire that could have clear implications for the hardware giant’s managed services strategy. The news potentially involves Stephen DiFranco leaping from Lenovo to HP as the company’s new channel chief. If true, there are some undeniable implications for MSPs. Here’s why.
DiFranco has left Lenovo for HP, according to a ChannelWeb report earlier today. A channel source close to DiFranco confirmed the news to MSPmentor. More than a traditional channel executive, DiFranco was the key executive who launched Lenovo’s journey to work more closely with MSPs, two sources close to the executive say.
Lenovo spent most of 2009 researching the MSP market, trying to understand how the server, desktop and mobile PC supplier can work more closely in the managed services sectory. By January 2010, Lenovo began to pull the curtain back on a preliminary managed services strategy — announcing a partnership with Kaseya, launching an MSP-centric portal, and even promoting MSPs such as Alpheon in recent product launches.
Now, it’s a safe bet DiFranco will try to repeat and improve upon some of that MSP messaging as he heads to HP. How soon? I’m not suggesting HP will flip the switch and suddenly become MSP-centric. But I do suspect DiFranco will make sure themes like recurring revenue are central to the upcoming HP Americas Partner Conference, scheduled for April 26-28 in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, what are the implications for Lenovo? Will the company’s recent managed services progress stall now that DiFranco apparently is heading to HP?
Frankly, I think Lenovo’s MSP strategy remains intact. The Kaseya relationship was the first of many forthcoming deals that Lenovo seems to have in the pipeline. And MSP advocates like SMB Director Jay McBain, among others, remain with Lenovo.
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Posted In: Managed Services
Tags: Alpheon | ChannelWeb | Director of SMB Jay McBain | HP Americas Partner Conference | HP Stephen DiFranco | Lenovo Channel Chief | Lenovo Jay McBain | Lenovo Kaseya | Lenovo Managed Services | Lenovo Stephen DiFranco
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Seems like I hear this about once a year every year for the past four years…
There is some cunfusion/contradiction around HP’s channel strategy even in the hardware centric model. Something more complex such as services has been a daunting task, one that if they are serious about accomplishing they had to hire someone like DiFranco.
They have respectable Channel presence, and I think partners would be willing to listen, IF they can remain consistent and have a clear objective with a plan in place.
Erik: I concede… HP has failed to deliver year after year in terms of developing an MSP strategy for its PC channel. But sometimes it takes an outside to get the inside moving… We’ll see if DiFranco can be that agent of change.
-jp