Hoonhout, who will continue to head TSG, says his double hat role will be one of fostering collaboration through the company. “There are internal as well as external perspectives involved in finding the common factors across the three groups, especially when it comes to tackling the needs of the enterprise sector,” he says.
This approach is being adopted to achieve three key objectives for the technology major. “Segmenting the market is one, building and maintaining personal relationships with customers is another and finding opportunities where HP can offer its entire portfolio is the third,” he adds.
This initiative is also expected to cascade down to its partner network. “You will see us enhancing the network of partners who are capable of handling the whole portfolio of the company. Our strategy will be to differentiate partners depending on their skill sets, breadth of expertise and the products they carry,” Hoonhout notes.
It’s all about service
As the lead for TSG, Hoonhout expects to step on the gas for the services line of business. “This part of our business continues to grow rapidly and about two to three times greater than the market. We want to maximise on the ‘service attached’ business. It’s an important part of our strategy over the next year,” he adds.
As the market matures, Hoonhout, an experienced hand at heading services and consulting, says he sees a shift in the IT spends on products versus services, in favour of the latter.
“In this region spends are currently dominated by technology products and there is less focus on services. Other mature markets however see more balance. However, we expect to capitalise on the growing sophistication levels of organisations here by offering comprehensive solutions,” he says.
HP will leverage both its off-shore and near-shore model for services in line with its Global Services Delivery approach and offer a hybrid solution. “We continue to expand on our on-site and centralised services capabilities and HP is in a position to dip into our development resources located across Austria, Spain, Hungary, Tunisia, India and China to service requirements,” he adds.
Contributing to build the technical skill pool in the region is also high on the agenda. “We also spend heavily for internal staff development and HP as also instituted a recruitment plan to attract both skilled and fresh work force,” he says.
Following his appointment at the helm of HP’s regional operations, Hoonhout will report to Ken Willett, VP and MD HP Middle East, Mediterranean, Africa (MEMA) and succeeds Joseph Hanania, who had decided to leave the company earlier this year.
John Hoonhout has been acting TSG since February 2007 and was previously the Director of Services for HP Middle East and instrumental in accelerating the company’s profitable growth in the services business.