CEO Outlook 2019: 5 Questions For HPE CEO Antonio Neri

Neri On 2019

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri certainly is bullish on 2019 and beyond.

“We are living in one of the most exciting times in business history,” he said “Digital transformation is happening everywhere—increasingly at the edge, which we see as one of the biggest market opportunities.”

Neri said HPE’s bet on edge computing is just one of many big investments his company is making in 2019. Among the others: a consumption-based service model with HPE GreenLake, multi-cloud management through HPE OneSphere, and the adoption of composable infrastructure, which includes HPE’s Synergy platform.

Here are Neri's predictions for 2019 for both HPE and its channel partners.

What's the biggest market opportunity you and your channel partners will tackle together in 2019?

We are living in the one of the most exciting times in business history. The market is changing faster than ever before. Digital transformation is happening everywhere, increasingly at the Edge, which we see as one of the biggest market opportunities we can tackle together with our partners. Another major opportunity is in Hybrid Cloud. Cloud to me, is not a destination, it's an experience. And, it's absolutely critical that HPE along with our partners understand our customers cloud strategy and help them on their transformation journey.

What are the biggest technology investments you are making in 2019?

In 2019, we want to accelerate our progress by making strategic product portfolio investments that strengthen our business and pave the way for us to continue to compete and win in the markets in which we participate. We're focusing investments in: An edge-to-cloud data platform Multi-cloud management through HPE OneSphere Consumption-based service model with HPE GreenLake Adoption of composable infrastructure From a go-to-market perspective, we are launching our 2019 go-to-market priorities, which we call the Super 6. The Super 6 are not only for our direct salesforce, but also for our partners. The Super 6 highlight the major trends we see and the market opportunities. Some examples are redefining experiences at the Edge, Unlocking data with AI, and transforming IT with software-defined.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing customers in 2019?

Customers must find ways to capitalize on apps, data, people and capital investment, while leveraging new innovation. They are facing a variety of issues that slow or hinder their success -- they desperately need help exposing the quickest path to value.

What is key to success for your channel partners in 2019?

We need to help our customers find the quickest path to value through technology, people/process, and economic transformation. HPE's portfolio gives our partners a unique, competitive, and compelling proposition that no one else in the industry can offer. For example, we are creating a platform that is unique for HPE and our partners to dominate the hyperconverged market. Everything we do is aimed at making it easier and more lucrative for our partners to do business with us. With our recent enhancements to our Partner Ready Program, partners can earn rewards for their investment in market growth areas with quicker access to higher membership tiers and accompanying benefits. In addition, the program delivers technical enablement, training and excellence in the channel to accelerate partner sales capabilities. I think HPE GreenLake is a competitive advantage that allows partners to position our joint services for potential and existing customers and give them a consumption-based model -- underpinned by financial engineering from HPE Financial Services -- that they are looking for since learning from the public cloud.

Fill in the blank: 2019 Will Be The Year Of...

HPE customers and partners will reap the rewards of data collection and capturing that data they've lost in the past at the Intelligent Edge.