Hewlett Packard Americas Channel Chief Adrian Jones' tight relationship with HP CEO Mark Hurd made him an outstanding advocate for solution provider partners.
It also meant he was under constant scrutiny being pushed and prodded by Hurd every step of the way to make sure the channel was delivering.
ChannelWeb reported Monday that HP has promoted Jones to a new post running HP's Enterprise Storage and Servers (ESS) business in Asia-Pacific and Japan effective Nov. 1.
That close working relationship between Hurd and Jones paved the way for a dramatic increase in the number of joint sales calls that Hurd and other HP executives made with HP partners. That's where the rubber meets the road. It's all about closing deals hand in hand with partners. No other executive team in this business makes as many joint sales calls as Hurd and his team.
Through the first six months of 2009, Hurd and other top-level HP executives met with more than 300 customers and 100 solution providers, according to HP's Jones.
My ChannelWeb Challenge to any and all vendors is come clean and answer this simple question: How many joint sales calls have your CEO and top executives made with channel partners this year? My bet is that challenge is met by nothing but the sound of crickets.
The fact is Hurd is the most channel-engaged CEO in this business. There are few executives that have his unique mix of sales and operations experience. That sales/operations savvy has transformed HP into the No. 1 IT company in the world. No other company has as big and as broad a technology portfolio and channel to go with it. And no other IT company has as bright a future for sales growth.
That's because no other company has invested as much in driving channel growth. At a time when competitors are cutting channel spend, Hurd is spending more than ever. That's because he wants MORE sales coverage, not less. He is the only top executive among the major computer makers that talks about his company not having enough sales coverage.
Hurd understands channel economics and is drilling down into every nook and cranny of every bit of channel spend. He wants to make sure he is getting the maximum return on every sales touch. That's why he is pushing channel leadership directly into the business units. For example, HP announced earlier this year that Frank Rauch, vice president of HP's Enterprise Solutions Partners Organization, would report directly to ESS bosses rather than to Jones.
Having a tight relationship with Hurd is no picnic. Hurd was constantly pushing Jones on increasing channel sales, cutting costs and getting partners to sell the FULL HP product portfolio. Of all the channel chiefs in this business, my bet is no one was more aggressively challenged by his CEO than Jones. That led to channel gains for HP partners and more than a few sleepless nights for Jones.
The channel is the better for it. Under Hurd's hard driving leadership, Jones drove the HP channel to new heights. There's a lot to be learned from the relationship between Hurd and Jones. It's the kind of one-two punch that is rare in the channel these days.
Most CEO's of large companies are not as well versed in channel economics as Hurd. They just don't dig that deep into channel spend and payback. They don't get involved. It's a big MISTAKE. Nothing is more important than making sure your sales force is firing on all cylinders.
HP's biggest challenge in pushing channel responsibility directly into the business units is that the channel chiefs in those units don't have that tight working relationship with Hurd. That ability to stay deeply connected to the channel is something Hurd should be careful he does not lose as HP gives its business units more channel autonomy.
No channel chief can be successful without the strong support of the CEO. Jones had that tight relationship with Hurd. Will the top executives in each of the HP business units be able to maintain that kind of hand in hand relationship with Hurd? HP's channel future depends on it.
