Global Times’ interview with DBPSG Director of HP China

Global Times (GT) interviewed the director of Desktop Business Personal System Group (DBPSG) of HP China, Tony Chou (Chou), on HP’s Total Care plan to help SMEs in China and HP’s future strategy in China.


GT:We know that HP has a Total Care plan that aims to provide services to small and medium enterprises. Could you tell us more about the plan?


Chou:We start to carry out the Total Care plan in China in 2007. We hope to be more focused in our services in the beginning, and we hope to make it easier to comprehend for our users. Thus, we start executing the plan from our products, or say, the starting point of the so-called life cycle of the IT system. Actually, a SME will go through four phases when they are buying a product. First, they have to choose the product. Second, they will use the product. In using the product, they will know if they have picked the right product, and how to make the most out of the product they purchased to boost market growth. Third, they need to protect the data stored in the product. This phase is very important. Information leakage can be fatal for a small enterprise that is striving for survival. And the last phase, the maintenance. HP will not only focus on our own services, but will guide our dealers and agents to focus on their services. They are encouraged to be not only hardware sellers, but also product and service consultants that sell solutions and value-added services. We hope our users could have a better experience maintaining their IT system.GT:Does the plan also include client education?


Chou:Yes. We conduct our client education both to the client and to the dealers and agents. We have an online “Total Care Campus”. Registered users of the campus can attend studying sessions organized by HP. We will normally invite experienced SME IT users to talk about how they make use of our IT system to expand their business. They are the best speakers on this topic because they are talking about their own experience. Dealers and agents will also be the guest speakers of the campus, too. They can share their experience in transforming from selling product to selling solutions and services.


Now, imagine we have used a PC for three years, and we want to replace it with a better PC with latest operations system, latest CPU technology and latest solutions. We have some solutions for SME during the phase-in and phase-out.


For medium enterprises with good foundations, we provide leasing services from HP Leasing. The service is aimed to help the SMEs that have difficulties in financing. For example, if a client wants to buy 1000 new PCs, he/she will need to prepare a big amount of money. But if they are using our service, they only have to pay a small amount of money every month. This will take a lot of pressure off their shoulders.


Also, we provide our services by verticals. The services in each vertical are provided in a pyramid structure. The base will be the basic services every client needs; the middle will be services needed by the specific vertical; and the top will be some customized services.


GT:What is HP PSG’s future strategy in China? In what areas will HP PSG achieve its growth?


Chou:We have been emphasizing on the sales in the third to forth level cities in China since 2006. This year, our sales have covered more than 100 cities, 2000 counties, and 10,000 towns in China. Small cities might be more price-sensitive, so we would offer products with a relatively fair price. Also, we would focus on up-sale.


Technically, we have launched a development and research center in China in 2004. The World Wide Web is merging with the mobile internet and broadcasting internet and the band speed is constantly increasing. We need to develop products and services that suit the changes.


Also, there are some changes in our marketing channel. Previously, we divided our team into business-use and family-use. Now, we have merged the two teams, and taken a team out to develop new channels in e-commerce, IPTV, and banks. Our products will also enter the electronic appliance malls. We have seen PC entering electronic appliance malls in the US and Europe, and we know this is the trend.


GT: Will Palm be sold in China?


Chou:Yes, it will. Actually China will be the first country in the Asia Pacific region where Palm is sold. The Chinese market is too big to be ignored.

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