HP is of course the tech vendor with the biggest own-brand portfoliospanning systems and storage, handheld devices, imaging and printing, networking, software, and services. But in India, it also built up a strong a back-office operation that evolved into a BPO business, a software services export business, sourcing activities for components, and more.

So successful was India CEO Balu Doraisamy in this crucial territory for HP that he was recently elevated to managing director for Asia Pacific Japan, and senior vice VP for HPs global Technology Solutions Group.

The India CEO position has now been filled by the former HP manager who had gone over to head Microsofts India business in early 2005, Neelam Dhawan. Dhawan had worked with Doraisamy for six years, in Compaq and HP, and was considered a likely candidatebut for the question of whether some of her senior colleagues would happily report in to her. As it happens, HPs structure allows reporting by the division heads directly into the global or region head, with matrix reporting into the country head. And as for Dhawan, she now once again reports in to her former bossbut as India MD, reporting into the region head.

Even if HP is one company, it fits the group description better than most, thanks to its wide range of activities in India. Product sales, of course, remains the most visible, and revenue growth was good, along with bottom line growth, across its three divisions: imaging and printing (IPG), personal systems (PSG) and technology solutions (TSG), making HP the second-fastest growing group group after HCL.

Healthy Sales
While top line is dominated by systems, margins came specifically from laptops, consumables and services. Within PSG, the mobility wave brought home growth and margins. (HP was the largest worldwide vendor of PCs in 2007, surpassing Dell, according to IDC.) Its big campaign the computer is personal again, targeted the consumer and SMB, something spanning multiple HP divisions with celebrity endorsement. And what mobility does for PSGs margins, consumables do for IPG. Printer supplies contributed to a tenth of HP Indias domestic revenues.

HPs IPG also shifted focus from number of printers sold to number of pages printed, shifting focus from boxes to selling printing servicesboth enterprise and reta il. Its Print 2.0the future of printing launch was centered on the Webwith better and easier printing of Web pages. Print 2.0 also focuses on delivering a next-generation digital printing platform that increases print speeds and lowers the cost of printing for high-volume commercial markets, and on extending HPs digital content creation and publishing platforms across customer segments.

Even while consumables and mobility are giving HP India the necessary margins, it cant stop betting on services, an area where it wants to get big. Globally, services have added significantly to HPs growth. Over the last four quarters the global run rate was close to $4 bn per quarter, around 43% of TSG revenue worldwide (HP always separates services revenue from server and storage when announcing its quarterly results). Services grew, to 12% of sales revenuenot quite as much as HP would have liked it to grow to, a benchmark set by IBM in India and worldwide.

Major services deals bagged in FY 08 spanned BFSI, healthcare, and government verticalsAndhra Bank, United Bank of India and United India Insurance, UCO Bank, LIC, Reliance Healthcare, Britannia, Government of Karnatakas e-procurement project, Himachal SWAN, inter al. HP India aims to penetrate deeper into enterprise and commercial customers, with its software and services portfolio.

The Other Pillars
India is one of the largest and most diverse sites for HP, outside of the US. Apart from India sales, there is a whole range of global operations and businesses represented in India. In fact, India accounts for 18% of HPs total workforce.

Headed by P Venkatachalam, GDAS (Global Delivery Application Services) India is the flagship center in HPs global network for application services delivery for customers around the world. The services offered span custom application development and integration, application management, application migration and package application. On the other hand, GCCB (Global Competency Center, Bangalore), led by Paul Van Ingen, provides high-level technical support for products ranging from printers, notebooks and software to networks, servers and storage products.

Headed by V Sriram, BPDO (Business Process Delivery Organization) is the BPO arm of HP India. While GSCB (Global Solution Center, Bangalore), led by Jesudas Andrade, provides technical services like help desk for enterprise customers. ITO GCI (Infrastructure Technology Operations, Global Center India), led by MS Prakash, provides remote infrastructure and service desk services to over 140 customers across the world on a 24x7 service window. STSD (Systems Technology & Software Division), led by Subrahmanyam Vempati, is a wholly owned entity of HP and serves as the Asia Pacific arm for ESS and SGBU.

Top Focus
On the India sales front, as Dhawan takes over the reins at, her road ahead is clear: retain, grow and add the big services customers; drive leadership in green tech, especially in the data center area; drive the service sector through opting for large service opportunities; and drive the software growth through SIs, resellers, partners and customers. She has a tough act to follow, but with her experience and the combined experience of the key division heads, along with the autonomous structure of its divisions, HP India may well inch up the ladder toward its global tech #1 position, in the near future.

Shipra Malhotra
shipram@cybermedia.co.in

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