Keeping it simple across the customer enterprise … and ours

Customers, globally, are clamoring for one thing:

Simplicity.

At HPE, we are striving to reduce the complexity that is too-often present when cloud and on-premises IT are combined. Our goal is to enable customers to have a cloud-like experience across their infrastructure by blending a mix of applications, services and platforms, to optimize productivity and accelerate business outcomes. Or in simple terms: to make Hybrid IT simple.

In my role as Chief Sales Officer at HPE, I’ve heard frequently from customers who indeed crave simpler solutions — whether from us or another provider. Too often, they are paralyzed by an overwhelming number of options — sometimes offered within the same organization — that add to their confusion.

The question is this: How can a provider make hybrid IT simple if its own organization — its people, products and processes — is difficult to navigate and understand?

I’m not pointing fingers here. HPE was as guilty of that as anyone … but the key word in that phrase is “was.”

Now, it’s simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. That’s our mantra. And as the President of Hybrid IT, I’m delighted that we’re delivering on that promise, thanks to an outside-in approach that puts customer requirements and preferences at the center of all we do.

Here are a few of the ways we’re making that happen:

So long, silos.

Like most global, multifaceted organizations that have grown dramatically, both organically and by acquisition, HPE had silos aplenty. Earlier this year, we created our new Hybrid IT business group that brought together all of our infrastructure, software, and services capabilities into a single organization. This new organization was conceived to break down silos and better address the hybrid technology needs of our customers. Our Hybrid IT business is focused on the services-led and software-enabled solutions we need  to deliver on our promise to make Hybrid IT simple. We know that only by working as ONE integrated team we can help our customers achieve the simplicity they need to innovate and reduce their own complexity.

With the Hybrid IT Business Group, we’re painstakingly, yet purposefully, breaking through those barriers, creating smarter processes that encourage innovation through collaboration across all groups. In doing so, we’re also finding operational efficiencies that bolster the bottom line.

This is an ongoing endeavor, but the strides we’re making have already borne fruit. Much more to come …

Solutions that matter.

Trying to simplify hybrid IT for the customer also means simplifying how we deliver on and package those solutions. Were always mindful that our solutions must be in addition to simple edge-centric, cloud-enabled and data-driven. And thanks to our products and services among them HPE GreenLake, Nimble, SimpliVity, Synergy, OneView and OneSphere our customers should fear no cloud.

For example, at Discover Madrid we announced some exciting innovations to accelerate the transformation of your apps and data for a hybrid cloud world.

Taming the turmoil.

We believe that cloud is not a destination, but rather, an experience. The competitive landscape is chaotic, with many public cloud offerings AWS in particular finding success in bringing customers to the table with simple signup. But as Im hearing repeatedly, their customers are quickly growing dissatisfied with added costs seemingly for everything once theyre locked in.

That has brought many back to our doorstep, drawn by our robust offerings, reasonable pricing and outstanding post-sale service. When presented with an opportunity to distinguish ourselves from the competition, we must — and will — deliver. How? With the expertise to transform your people, process and culture – and reskilling the team to thrive in a hybrid cloud world.

Having some fun.

In recent years, as weve acquired companies and right-sized our own business, work has been quite difficult at times. Although HPE has delivered four consecutive quarters on our financial commitments, we havent always seen that success translated to our workplace culture.

Thats changing, too. One of my messages to the Hybrid IT team is that its OK to have some fun, to enjoy what were doing. Was that the primary reason I dressed as the IT Monster on Halloween, disrupting meetings and startling folks across our Palo Alto campus? Partly. It was also a ruse to grab candy from the desks of unsuspecting employees.

Thanks to HPE, hybrid IT is the new normal — but it need not be complicated. And we’re working every day to ensure that we’re bringing real value  and simplicity across the enterprise — yours and ours.