HP Innovation Journal Issue #7 Partner Corner | HP® Official Site

The more real commercial 3D printing gets, the more ways we can see it transforming the business landscape. 3D printing doesn’t just change the way you do things in enterprise business; it changes the whole way you look at things. It challenges assumptions about how things are prototyped, manufactured, sourced, distributed, warehoused....pretty much everything.

Why should the channel be any different? The opportunity and complexity of delivering transformational technology to customers in different industries poses unique challenges. It has required a fundamentally new approach to the channel relationship for HP and partners alike.

There’s a lot of interest and excitement around HP’s technology in this space. We have partners reaching out, interested in being part of the 3D initiatives. Unlike other technology solutions, 3D initiatives are not sold through the IT department but instead through manufacturing and engineering decision makers. We believe 3D printing will be the catalyst for a fourth industrial revolution.

Because of the application for 3D printing in manufacturing, the buyer on the customer side is different. It’s a highly technical product and solution that can have a crucial impact on the success or failure of a company’s product and supply chain. Instead of working with procurement, and IT departments, the purchase will likely run through manufacturing, operations and engineering departments—operational, versus capital expenses—a very different environment where decisions around materials and supply chain can be mission critical.

Technology makers and their channel partners have had an ongoing conversation for years about solutions selling versus “moving boxes.” As technology is more and more commoditized, the value concentrates in how a combination of hardware, software and services can be custom-fit to a particular business or industry. It requires a more consultative sale and deeper customer relationships. HP and partners will need to develop greater visibility into R&D, prototyping, understanding customer ecosystems, understanding how to support and drive 3D printing technology as a competitive advantage for customers.

3D printing truly is a brave new world for HP channel partners—with partners at the front end of the business, working more directly and strategically with customers than ever before. It’s a shift from selling IT solutions to business transformation. We are setting up our early channel partners to execute with strength in highly specialized markets like manufacturing.

Recently, HP kicked the 3D printing effort into high gear with the formal launch of a 3D Multi Jet Fusion channel program. Thirteen carefully selected North American partners with deep expertise in 3D will be able both to sell the new printers and to earn commission on material sales and service, which are mapped to whoever sold the printer. This is a significant opportunity for partners and a critical differentiator for HP.

Selected partners have previous 3-D printing experience with applications engineers focusing on applications and how to optimize design of the parts. They are not traditional IT resellers—though as we scale the business and our product portfolio, we’ll have a role for the traditional IT channel. For now, it’s a highly consultative sales.

The 13 pioneering partners for North America are Solid Fabrications, EMS, MasterGraphics, Impac Systems Engineering, NovaCopy, NovaStor Solutions, SaraTech, Symmetry Solutions, TPM, Weatherford, DesignFusion, DMark and Hawk Ridge Systems. Outside North America, HP certified another 17 partners, bringing the total to 30 channel partners bringing Multi Jet fusion to market around the world.

None of these are traditional IT resellers. Eighty percent of the partners for this phase are new channel partners for HP. Eventually as HP scales the business and portfolio there will be a role for a wide array of channel partners including IT, manufacturing and more. But right now, given the customers we are targeting, it is a highly consultative sale.

We are on a mission, with 3D printing, to change the world. To challenge assumptions, equip our channel partners for the journey, and find the right go-to-market strategy across every customer segment, over time—creating opportunity across the global channel.

This innovation in our 3D channel strategy is a great example of the new HP in action—after the separation from HP enterprise. Bringing together the heart and energy of a startup with the maturity and brain of a fortune 100. The flexibility and energy of a startup, but leveraging a strong foundation of experience and competence.