HP to launch ‘virtual training classroom’ for the channels

With saturation point reaching in the A cities, vendors are
majorly tapping the potential of the upcountry. To extend its reach to the
upcountry resellers, HP India is all set to introduce a virtual training
classroom. Informing this Shuchi Sarkar, Head of Marketing, PSG, HP India said,
"It’s not possible to cover each and every city, which is very time
consuming. But through virtual classroom trainings, which is especially
targeting the upcountry, we will be able to cover and include more
participants."

Though these virtual training classrooms will be conducted
for the metros too but the major focus will be the upcountry. Apart from the
four major metros, HP has zeroed down certain B class cities in the upcountry
where these virtual training sessions will be conducted. For north it’s
Chandigarh, Dehradun and Lucknow; West–Ahmedabad; south–Kochi, Chennai,
Bangalore and Hyderabad; in the east it’s Guwahati and Patna and in central
India it’s Indore, Raipur and Gwalior.

HP is tying up with certain vendors through which it will
provide the training and the dates of the commencement of the program will be
announced soon. Keeping with its strings of channel initiatives, HP has launched
yet another initiative for its channel community called the Connexion program.
The program has been created by HP exclusively for its partn-ers to meet once a
quarter–resellers get an opportunity to present a holistic picture of the
company’s performance, strategy and business developments across different
product lines.

Towards this end, specific training sessions are held at
these quarterly partner meets, wherein channel participants from all business
units receive training at a single venue–the morning session at the Channel
Connexion meets. The meet comprises of two sessions, one each in the morning and
evening. The objective of the morning session is to build the knowledge base of
the SRs, thereby equipping them with the tools needed to make an informed,
convincing and credible sales pitch to the final customer.

Sarkar said, "To begin this session, a training program
is scheduled for the Sales Representatives (SRs) of HP’s Channel Partners. HP
training specialists provide detailed explanation on features and
specifications, as also the positioning of different product lines. Apart from
classroom training to make the session more interesting and interactive, Q&A
sessions are encouraged along with demonstrations on machines at the venue
itself." The session covers the entire portfolio of HP products–ranging
from servers, commercial desktops, notebooks, workstations, storage, printers
and scanners. Apart from the product briefings, brief presentations on HP
E-points program are also made.

The evening session is aimed at the owners of HP’s channel
partners and not at the SRs. In this session, senior HP management
representatives provide updates on each of the HP SBUs–PSG, ESG, IPG and HPS.
Furthermore, marketing segments like the SMB are elaborated on. The evening
session culminates with an awards ceremony, which rewards and recognizes
excellent performance by channel partners.

Karma Negi

New Delhi