HP is shifting from a predominantly hardware-focused business towards solutions and customer experience, as it seeks to regain ground on larger technology rivals, according to its chief technology officer for the Nordics and Benelux.
Rajendra Sitompoel said the company was managing the change while helping customers adopt artificial intelligence safely and securely. HP ranked 11th among the largest US companies by revenue in 2006, but stood at 84th this year, behind companies including Apple, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft.
“We’re going through a transition,” Sitompoel said. “From more of a hardware focus to a solution and experience focus.”
That approach involves gaining a clearer understanding of the problems facing clients before identifying the technology and services that could address them. Sitompoel’s responsibilities expanded to include the Nordic region around six months ago, alongside his existing role in the Benelux.
HP’s focus on safe AI adoption
He said one of his main priorities was balancing the internal demands of the expanded role with time spent speaking to clients, chief information officers and fellow technology chiefs about artificial intelligence, security and related challenges.
Rapid advances in AI have made safe adoption a central concern, Sitompoel said. Customers and employees need to feel comfortable using the technology in their everyday work while understanding the importance of security and resilience.
“We can’t control everything, and neither can our clients, so we need to be able to respond accordingly,” he said, adding that companies needed to discuss security and AI adoption with customers.
Resilience, he said, also meant limiting the damage caused by events outside a company’s control and responding appropriately when they occurred.
For his technology teams, Sitompoel said motivation depended partly on giving staff room to work and test the security of their systems without crossing clear boundaries. He said he had rarely needed to intervene because his teams understood what they could and could not do.
He also urged them to focus on how HP’s products were used rather than becoming preoccupied with technical specifications. Devices such as laptops, monitors and mice only mattered, he said, if they improved people’s working lives and delivered value to the organisations buying them.
HP has postponed some IT investments and changes to its team structure while it manages the current period of upheaval. Sitompoel said making too many changes simultaneously could undermine the wider transition.
One measure he will use to judge whether he is succeeding is the balance between meetings with clients and internal meetings. If too much of his time is spent internally, he said, “that means that I’m not doing what I’m supposed to do.”
