Hewlett-Packard Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina last week addressed HP's Americas partners, underscoring their $50 billion contribution to HP's $73 billion in annual revenue last year as well as their critical role in the success of its Adaptive Enterprise strategy. Afterward, Fiorina fielded questions in an exclusive interview with CMP Media Channel Group President Robert Faletra, VARBusiness Editorial Director Robert C. DeMarzo and CRN Editor Heather Clancy.
Q: What do you need to do and what do partners need to do to be successful in HP's Adaptive Enterprise strategy, specifically as it compares to IBM?
Fiorina: You're right, the main battleground is IBM because Dell is not a technology company, they're a distribution company. There are really only two technology companies of any magnitude. So fundamentally, the Adaptive Enterprise is about more than a single contract or a single buzzword around technology. It is about HP and our partners working with our customers to enable them to think differently about technology, use technology differently--not just for the short term, but for the long term. And I point that out because I think it's really important for our partners to understand this is about the creation of a long-term relationship. The Adaptive Enterprise is a journey that our customers take and that we and our partners can take together with them. We will not be successful in the Adaptive Enterprise without our partners, and I mean partners broadly there. Because the Adaptive Enterprise looks at an entire business' organization. This is about process, application and infrastructure.
On demand, as IBM describes it, is a technology sale. It's one solution to a particular problem. Our competitive solution to on demand is utility computing. Utility computing is a solution that we sell with our partners; it is one piece of the Adaptive Enterprise.
Q: You mentioned that companies are in different stages when it comes to becoming an 'adaptive enterprise.' Is there a commonality about where most of them are starting?
