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Hewlett-Packard completed its split into two companies earlier this month: the PC- and printer-centric HP Inc. and the business computing-focused Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). A cozy relationship between HP Inc. and Microsoft is a given, but what about Microsoft and HPE?
Susan Hauser, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Enterprise and Partner Group, recently lent some clarity to how the newly formed HPE and the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker plan to collaborate going forward. “Starting today, HPE will begin to offer our shared enterprise customers a wide range of Cloud and Productivity and Mobility (CPM) Solutions, designed to help customers realize even greater value from Windows 10,” she said in a Nov. 19 announcement.
The joint initiative encompasses consulting services for cloud, mobility and industry-specific vertical applications, according to the companies. Naturally, Windows 10 deployment and migration programs will also factor heavily.
“The HPE consulting service team will help transform their clients’ business processes via digital process design, application development and prototyping,” wrote Hauser. “The consulting services will pair HPE’s services with Microsoft platforms, including Enterprise Mobility Suite, Dynamics Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Office 365, Skype for Business and Windows 10 for the Enterprise.”
Since the launch of Windows 10 this summer, Microsoft has been making a big push to attract business users. Early indications are that those efforts are paying off.
At last count, there were 8 million business PCs running the new OS, said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, during an earnings conference call last month. On Nov. 10, Microsoft began rolling out many of the business features intended to help IT personnel better manage Windows 10 devices.
The companies also see an opportunity to expand into new verticals. “HPE and Microsoft are currently working on building rich application solutions for the health care, automotive and financial industries. This agreement will accelerate the expansion of Windows 10-based enterprise solutions to include retail, energy and transportation industry applications,” added Hauser.
One example is the HPE Automotive Aftersales CX Management Solution, which is based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and is designed to help automakers expand into the after-sale market. The offering “provides a 360-degree view of the end customer by extracting data from the connected vehicle to address the full customer-vehicle lifecycle and deliver personalized offers, such as infotainment, concierge, application downloads, re-charging and fuel services,” stated HPE in a separate announcement.
Nissan Infiniti China has been using the software, and during the past six months, it has enabled the fast-growing car brand to reduce lead follow-up times from five days to 1.5 days. Lead conversion rates have increased by 300 percent, reported the company.
“Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Microsoft share a common vision for how cloud, mobility and industry solutions can be applied to deliver breakthroughs for our clients,” Mike Nefkens, HPE executive vice president, said in a statement. “Our combined set of technology assets, expertise and global scalability are unmatched in the industry and give us significant advantage over the competition.”