__p I was recently reading an article in which the newly appointed Jack Novia, senior vice president and managing director of Americas region for Hewlett-Packards’ Customer Solutions Group, spoke about how he plans to win
back the confidence of HP’s channel partners in America. There were two learning that I came away with from that article which I would like to share.
p____p First was the honesty in admitting the problem and second the commitment to implementing the solution. To give a backgrounder, the HP enterprise business in the US has taken a slight beating and the company is now looking at
recapturing the lost business by strengthening its channel base in that segment.
p____p Contrast this interview with my conversations with the big names in the channel business. The meetings went really well till I brought up old pending channel issues or recent mistakes. Nearly everybody I have spoken to till date has been really forthright and honest about their mistake and their learning from it but this honesty has been
off-the-record.
p____p In print, in public there are very few who have admitted to their mistake. And those who have were mercilessly taunted and today do not even speak to the Press. Even now there are only a handful of partners who would divulge
the companys turnover.
p____p If you are wondering why I am bringing up this issue, heres the answer. We talk about maturity, about bringing transparency to the trade. Of implementing honest business practices. But so far it is only talk.
p____p The channel community is so scared to admit to a mistake. If a distributor over projects demand, he hides the fact lest the word gets out and he has to sell at discounted prices. If a reseller overestimates customer demand, he
dumps his product on unsuspecting buyers. If a manufacturer finds a product not working in a particular region, he ships it to the other side of the world and floods the market with incentives that are hard to resist. Each
member in this crucial chain is trying to swindle the buyer at the next level.
p____p The inherent paranoia that we all live with in the channel has to go. Competition is healthy, but paranoia is destructive and seldom leads to anything constructive. For the channel to mature, its members have to mature first. And the first step toward maturity is being able to discuss and debate a problem in a free environment.p__