Mark Hurd is chief executive officer and president of HP and also a member of the company's board of directors.
"I want HP to be known as the company customers can trust to deliver — that once we make a commitment, they can bank on us to live up to it. If we do that, HP will be successful, but most important, our customers will be successful," says Mark Hurd, chief executive officer and president, Hewlett-Packard
In a recent conversation with hp.com, Mark Hurd, the new CEO and President of HP, discussed HP, R&D, and you, our customers. We learned that in Mark's view, the secret to business success isn't really so secret. At every stop — and there have been a lot of them during his first two months on the job — he urges employees to focus on the customer.
The way he sees it, this isn't just a business philosophy; it's an operating principle that drives every decision we make — from HP investments in research and development, to how we align our businesses and partner with customers, to the quality of the service and support we provide to you.
"Customers are the most important asset that HP has," he said. "We're very focused on helping customers solve problems and improve their business. And we're determined to earn the trust, loyalty and confidence of our customers every day. That takes focus and commitment from every one of us at HP."
One of Mark's priorities since he became CEO has been to spend as much time as possible listening to you and understanding your needs and expectations. What he's heard, time and again, is that you look to HP to apply technology in innovative ways.
"We are one of only a handful of systems companies left on the planet that invests in significant R&D," he said. "My goal is for HP to be the R&D leader in the areas strategic to HP and our customers. I want them to think of HP as a company that's driving useful innovation and bringing it to market in the most efficient way possible to help them solve problems or improve their lives."
Overall, HP spends $3.5 billion on R&D – from the world-renowned research of HP Labs to the leading-edge innovation of HP's businesses. We are investing in emerging technologies such as nano-electronics, in breakthroughs in imaging and printing, and in products and services that enable enterprise customers to automate more IT functions for greater efficiency, flexibility and a better return on IT investment.
"One thing I've found is that customers know HP is doing a lot of innovative things, but not all of them are aware of exactly what we're doing. We want to create more visibility and awareness — to give customers better access to some of the things we're working on in HP Labs and the businesses," Mark said.
"CEOs are becoming more technology literate. They're willing to spend more time on technology. They want to come and kick the tires. They want to see what we're working on — not specific projects necessarily but technology issues and ideas we're exploring and how they could be applied to their business a few years out. HP's technology people and senior executives are all willing to spend time on those kinds of subjects."
Everything HP is doing in R&D is focused on simplifying technology, and creating products and services that give you greater value and a competitive advantage. "R&D done right can make significant changes in the way you think about your business, simplify your processes, reduce your cost structure or improve your ability to deal with customers," he said. "By teaming with our customers, we can apply that technology and look for specific ways that we can use it to help their business be more successful."
Building partnerships with customers is central to Mark's expectations for HP and the value we deliver. It's something he's been doing as a sales executive and business leader for more than two decades. His approach is built on two fundamental principles: openness and accountability.
"When we deal with customers, we want to have a clear discussion on expectations. We want to clearly understand our customers' opportunities as well as their issues and problems. We want to have a frank discussion about the products and services we can deliver to address those issues and opportunities. And we want to set very clear expectations about how we will work together," he said.
Customers also benefit from the breadth and depth of HP's portfolio, he said. "An integrated relationship makes life easier. If you're an enterprise and you're buying servers and storage and services, you'd prefer an integrated solution to meet your needs. We're one of the few companies that can deliver an integrated solution. It fits with what customers want — more accountability on the part of their vendors."
In addition, Mark sees an opportunity for HP to do a better job of leveraging its capabilities across the consumer, SMB and enterprise markets. For example, HP's expertise in the consumer market "plays well for us in terms of look and feel and other capabilities that we bring to the enterprise markets." Likewise, HP's leadership in industry standard computing for the enterprise enables us to develop powerful solutions tailored for the needs of small and mid-size businesses.
The ultimate test of a company's customer focus, of course, is its ability to deliver quality products and services that are well supported. "We're trying to make every HP customer a loyal HP customer for the rest of their lives," Mark said, "and the most important differentiator that brings the customer back is quality service and support."
Mark said he recently received an e-mail from a customer who had called HP to solve a problem with his printer. "It turns out the customer was also having a problem with a competitor's PC. The HP person on the phone helped him with the PC even though it wasn't one of ours. The customer told me that the next time he buys a PC he's going to buy it from HP. That kind of customer-focused support really makes a difference, and we aspire to do that with every customer engagement."
HP's goal, Mark said, is to help you, our customers advance your businesses, improve your productivity and enrich your lives. "We're going to help them get that done faster and do it better than anybody else on the planet," he said. "I want HP to be known as the company customers can trust to deliver — that once we make a commitment, they can bank on us to live up to it. If we do that, HP will be successful, but most important, our customers will be successful."
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