For Neil MacDonald, HP’s channel director for the UK and Ireland, this is an exciting time for the industry, with plenty of opportunities for sales for the channel thanks to several factors and he believes that HP has a range of products to suit all needs.
Neil MacDonald, HP’s channel director for the UK and Ireland, is in a confident mood. Fresh from the HP Amplify Partner Conference 2024 in March in Las Vegas [see News in the Channel issue 16 for more], which saw a raft of new HP products launched with cutting edge technology, as well as improvements to its partner services, he is confident about the prospects for the company in the UK, but also for the wider channel.
“It is an exciting time in the industry for various reasons such as the development of AI and the Windows 11 upgrade that’s coming next year,” says Neil. “I am tremendously optimistic about the environment that we’re operating in at the moment in terms of the market potential. From HP’s standpoint, we’re really well positioned to take advantage of these opportunities that are coming up.
“For instance, HP has got the broadest portfolio of products, including many that are AI-enabled. We have a completely new range of commercial print hardware as well to complement our portfolio.”
Indeed, at the Amplify Conference, HP announced the launch of a range of AI-enabled PCs, including a new generation of AI HP Elite and Pro PCs, featuring Copilot in Windows7 and Windows 11 Pro8, and Z by HP mobile workstations. The solutions are equipped with AI capabilities powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra 5 and 7 processors or next-generation AMD Ryzen™ PRO processors with dedicated NPUs for tackling AI tasks with more personalised performance. HP Smart Sense is designed to automatically anticipate and adjust to individual PC usage behaviour, ensuring the best balance of performance and power.
Channel engagement
But as well as HP’s range of products, Neil adds that the company is well engaged with the channel. “We have some fantastic relationships with our channel partners,” he says. “We have great processes to work with them to optimise our performance as a business and theirs.”
Neil adds that HP has been established in the UK for 50 years and has always been centred around building up the channel and developing close and long-term relationships with partner businesses.
“We remain as focused on the channel now as we did then,” he says. “We are a leading vendor in terms of working with the channel, which is where more than 90% of our business is transacted. I’m very optimistic about what opportunities the market presents for us in the next couple of years. You couldn’t wish to be in a better industry right now.”
Neil’s optimism is reflected in the wider channel, where positivity about the market is at levels not seen since before COVID. “Everybody knows how people had to procure products through COVID, but now we’re coming to a point where those products need to be refreshed and updated or needs to have more collaborative usability or better security,” Neil says.
“HP, along with Poly, are ideally positioned to help partners and end users with a wide range of products.”
Windows and AI opportunities
As Neil mentioned, one of the biggest changes coming in the market is Microsoft’s refresh of Windows 11. Neil says there about 22.5 million Windows 10 commercial-grade devices in the field currently – and millions more consumer devices. Support for those devices ends in October 2025.
“That’s a massive opportunity for our industry,” says Neil. “We work extremely closely with Microsoft, and we build compelling programmes and marketing engagements with our channel partners to optimise the acquisition and the refresh of those Windows 10 customers into Windows 11 grade devices.
“We need to capitalise on these opportunities today, because if we leave it until September next year, I have no doubt that that will represent challenges in terms of trying to get all of that product through the factories, so we need to work on that now.”
Then there is AI – and this presents even more opportunities for HP and the channel. “AI is a phenomenon of the industry; it’ll be an evolution of computing in the same way that personal computers were 30 years ago,” he says.
“This is going to be a massive opportunity and HP is at the forefront of this technology. For example, we’ve got future-proof devices – new products are coming through with a Copilot button on them, meaning that AI is inbuilt into their capability. We have the broadest portfolio to enable us to do that.”
There are also plenty of opportunities in the print channel too. HP has recently launched a new range, which seeks to capitalise on the ongoing return to office for many employees – be that on a full-time or hybrid basis.
“We have a great printer lineup at the moment with more A4 devices coming into the market now,” says Neil. “It’s a great time for us at HP as we have the most modern product portfolio at a time when the market is poised for phenomenal growth.
“There’s certainly a return to office, which is becoming more prevalent in people’s considerations, and it has become a more noticeable trend in the past couple of months with our channel partners and customers alike. We are also starting to see more interest in the print part of our business; not just with an increase in print volumes, but more around the refresh of existing fleets in the field today; customers want to optimise their print operations from a productivity, document management and security standpoint. We’re definitely seeing that starting to trend in our business.
With printers, it isn’t just about refreshing the fleet, but upgrading it too. “Customers need more energy-efficient and secure devices in their offices,” says Neil. “As they come to market, we’ve got a very compelling proposition that we can capitalise on with our long-standing relationships with our channel partners.”
Sustainability
As Neil mentions, energy efficiency is becoming more of a priority for customers in the print channel, but that – along with a wider emphasis on sustainability – is becoming crucial for customers regardless of the sector they are in. But sustainability is something that has been a priority for HP for many years too.
“Sustainability is a responsibility for everybody in every walk of life,” says Neil. “HP is focused on being the most sustainable technology company and the company has made huge advances in the sustainability of our products, and we see that across our entire portfolio, not just in one halo product, but all products.
“All our PC and display products are made with recycled material within them. Even the packaging that we ship the products is being much more sustainably sourced going forward. It’s a key driver for HP and something that we will look to differentiate ourselves more for in the future.
“It’s about taking sustainability into the breadth of the portfolio. It’s about looking at issues in the environment and addressing those. Things like fishing nets, for example, we have a technology that we’ve developed where we can harvest used and disposed of fishing nets in the oceans and regenerate those into the plastics that we can make our keyboards with for our devices.
“It’s the same for cooking oils; we can rejuvenate cooking oil and the bezels of our PCs will be made from that going forward. There are some tremendously exciting developments in terms of how we are working with issues in the environment, such as disposed fishing nets or cooking oil and the challenges that that represents in the market and using that to enhance our sustainability impacts in the world by developing technology to regenerate those disposed waste product into polymer to make our devices.”
Amplifying sustainability
It is not just within HP’s product portfolio that sustainability is bring enhanced, the company is also helping its partners to reduce their environmental impact through its Amplify Partner Programme.
“For instance, with Amplify Impact, which is a track within our Amplify partner programme, we work with our partners with training and participating in sustainable efforts,” says Neil. “Things like coastline cleanups, tree planting and such like can qualify for grades in Amplify sustainability impact. That is a great accolade or accreditation for them to take to their customers and say that they’re recognised as a three-star or a five-star HP Amplify impact partner. We help them with that and put a lot of training and resource behind that, as well as marketing.
“The great thing is we’re seeing that having an impact now. We’re writing business because of that now. So, together with our partners, are having an impact in the world. It’s important today and it’s more important tomorrow; It’s a key initiative that we’re driving with our channel partners.”
Constant development
Amplify Impact, as mentioned, is part of the Amplify Partner Programme, which is also constantly evolving to cater for the needs of HP’s partner companies.
“Amplify develops based on feedback from those that use it, so it will never stay still,” says Neil. “We are bringing a global elite partner programme within Amplify as well for our largest partners that have a global footprint to make sure that we work with them in the best way possible to suit their business needs. Of course, we’re bringing Poly into Amplify as well now as well as a distribution partner to Amplify.
“Amplify will develop as the partner business develops and its needs change over time.”
Of course, HP is always looking to bring new companies into the programme, Neil adds. “The membership architecture of Amplify is designed to give our customers and partners the unique support of HP, and it’s consistent globally as well,” he says. “It’s a key programme for us to engage with our partners.”
Exciting time
With so much emerging technology, it is an exciting time for the industry and Neil is optimistic about what the future holds for HP, its partners, and the wider sector.
“It’s a compelling time in the industry,” he says. “We’re very optimistic about the velocity that there is in the market today, but also the ingredients of Windows 11, AI and return to office with print, what that will deliver for us as an opportunity in the market. We believe that we are very well positioned to optimise that with our Amplify partners.
“After going through the COVID years when there was a lot of uncertainty in the market, it’s nice to be more positive.
“As with most industries, we’ve had a couple of tough, volatile years in the market. But we’re extremely optimistic about the future.”
Message to channel partners
With such optimism, Neil wants as many businesses as possible in the channel to work with HP and take advantage of all the opportunities that are available.
“My message to our channel partners is to work with us and collaborate with us as much as possible,” he says. “We will work with you and invest in you as you are immensely important to HP. As I said at the beginning, more than 90% of our business is operated through the channel community, so they’re the most important partnerships that we have.
“At HP we want to work very closely in collaboration with our partners, making sure that we put the right marketing investments behind the right initiatives with them. HP can help with what we offer with our Amplify Partner Programme, there is an immense amount of data that we can pull from Amplify that can be used, and we can help with acceleration around Windows 11 customer acquisition and migration, and, as I said right at the beginning, the broadest product portfolio in the market. So it’s a very exciting time.”
