Move over IBM: HP plans to outsource you!
SINGAPORE (ZDNet Australia)--Despite IBM Global Services being a leader in the outsourcing space, Hewlett Parkard is staking its claim in the Asia Pacific region, saying its open partnership model will prevail.
According to HP Vice president and general manager Cheah Kean-Huat, Australia is its biggest business in terms of outsourcing, with 30 percent market share, closely followed by Japan.
“Australia is the lead in this area of the market in terms of take-up. We see it as an area that we can pick up expertise and talent from to deploy across the rest of Asia Pacific,” he said.
Speaking at HP's regional conference entitled Service-centric solutions for the next generation held in Singapore, Cheah stood firm to HP’s belief that it can catch up to already established competitors in the service market area.
“We can provide a better alternative to IBM, particularly in the outsourcing market,”
“Our open platform and partnering model is a more powerful concept than IBM’s do-it-yourself approach. It is more open to innovation,” Cheah said.
According to HP, the fundamental difference between HP’s outsourcing model is that it concentrates on its core competencies by partnering with other companies, “which is what outsourcing is all about”.
“We’re playing the same market as IBM, but it’s a different approach. IBM’s is a more monolithic approach,” Cheah said.
Although HP claims it will gain market share, Cheah admits HP’s path ahead will be a challenge as it is seen as a late entrant into the outsourcing space within the Asia Pacific region.
“Our proposition is that there is nobody who can do it all for you. We’re defining the space by providing our services along with partnerships. Better value than doing it all ourselves,” he said.
HP's strategy involves partnering different services firms to target specific vertical markets--including manufacturing, retail and governmen--such as its partnership with PWC to target the transportation industry worldwide, which was announced this week.
“I think it would be tough without partnering with market leaders,” Cheah said.
In addition, HP plans to tackle the service market by increasing its total headcount across the Asia Pacific region to 1000 by the end of the year.
“Asia Pacific still has big growth opportunities, it is the only part of the world that is still hiring,” he said.
HP could not ascertain whether these figures would include growth opportunities for Australia.
“To add more employees in Australia, we would need to look at how the business is growing.”
In the next three to five years, HP expects to see Japan take over Australia as market leaders in the outsourcing space.
Megan McAuliffe is attending the conference in Singapore.