Wednesday, February 22, 2012

HP unveils new managed print services

Hewlett-Packard is planning to expand its managed print services solutions to partners with new offerings slated for later in 2012.ByManda BandaPublished February 16, 2012

The vendor has also updated its workstation line with the introduction of the HP Z1 Workstation, an all-in-one model that fits in a 27-inch LCD panel but allows easy replacement and upgrading of the internal components.

The new offerings were presented to partners in back-to-back keynote sessions at the HP Global Partner Conference, currently underway in Las Vegas.

Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of HP's Imaging and Printing Group, told partners that the amount of digital data being created, both in corporate offices and in the cloud, is growing very quickly, and that 50% of an average worker's time is spent on managing data.

About 6% of the average enterprise's budget is spent on imaging and printing, and of that amount, about 10% goes to hardware and supplies, 15% to services and 75% to solutions, Joshi said.

Consequently, HP is introducing new technology to help push solution providers up the stack of value-added business, he said.

"If you are only in hardware, we want you to move to supplies," he said. "If you are only in hardware and supplies, we want you to move to services. If you are in hardware, supplies and services, we want you to move to solutions."

HP already has some managed print solutions that solution providers can use to improve their business, Joshi said. For instance, he cited ePrint, a relatively new mobile print solution from HP that allows anyone with an Internet-enabled device to send print jobs from their iOS or Android devices to a cloud-enabled print centre for later pickup or delivery.

Joshi also introduced the HP Smart Marketing Suite, a new solution that optimises and automates enterprise marketing content workflows. HP Smart Marketing Suite, which is expected to be available to partners sometime in 2013, includes consulting services to assess client marketing process inefficiencies and implement new modular marketing software applications based on HP's cloud-based storage and computing platform. Joshi also unveiled the HP Smart Production Suite, a new managed offering that automatically looks at print job requirements and available managed printing services to configure the content and make it ready to be printed in the most optimised way. HP Smart Production Suite is slated to be released later this year.

Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG), also addressed partners.

Bradley opened his presentation by thanking partners who stood by HP during the uncertainty that surrounded that company's decision last August to explore spinning off its PSG before committing to keep it as part of HP.

"It's fair to say you've stuck with us, and grown with us, in what has been an extremely challenging year," Bradley said.

Despite the challenges, HP still remains the world's largest PC maker, and is focused heavily on both new technology and advanced industrial design in its mobile PCs, Bradley said. "Just wait 'till you see what we do with Windows 7 and with ARM," he said.

Bradley shared the stage for a good part of his keynote to Jim Zafarana, vice president and general manager of HP's Commercial Solutions Business Unit, who used the time to introduce the HP Z1 Workstation.

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