Hewlett-Packard is reshuffling its management and corporate structure to better compete against archrival IBM in services.
HP is combining its services and hardware organizations into a single Technology Solutions Group run by Ann Livermore, formerly executive VP of HP Services, an HP spokeswoman says. Peter Blackmore, who had been heading the Enterprise Systems Group, will manage sales for the new group.
Seeing that IBM"s strongest growth in recent years has come in its Global Services unit, HP wants to boost its own services revenue. In fact, HP says it signed $1 billion in new outsourcing contracts globally during the first six months of fiscal 2003, which closed Oct. 31. HP CEO Carly Fiorina, for one, appears optimistic. Tuesday, she told security analysts that she would deliver 20% profit growth "next year and beyond."
The new service contracts, highlighted Tuesday, are with companies from a variety of industries and locations. North American companies include Land O"Lakes, Novell, and the U.S. Postal Service. The post office, for example, bought an eight-year, $50 million contract for technical, help-desk, and on-site support and remote server monitoring and management for its messaging infrastructure.
The Romanian National Health Insurance House signed a 15-year, $135 million international-services contract to develop and operate a system to allow the organization to more quickly redeem health-insurance contributions. Australia"s Amcor bought a $115 million outsourcing contract, and the Bank of Ireland signed an outsourcing deal valued at $600 million.