The News: Hewlett-Packard recently completed its acquisition of Poly in August. In a recent LinkedIn post, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Enrique Lores, publicly welcomed the Poly family to Hewlett-Packard. Read the LinkedIn post for more information.
HP Completes the Integration of Poly — a Look at What’s Ahead
Analyst Take: While the HP and Poly deal officially closed in August, the combined companies have been working feverishly at fusing operations. My viewpoint is the combined company will be in an excellent position for growth in the future for myriad reasons.
- Future Ready Transformation. Similar to other vendors in the tech community, HP recently announced it was planning on optimizing its cost structure by reducing its headcount by 4,000 to 6,000 employees over the next three years. While staff reductions are never good news, this announcement was not surprising given the current economic conditions and impact on Big Tech. HP’s plan is expected to result in an annualized gross run rate savings of $1.4 billion or more in the next few years. Given weaker sales and expected unit declines in the personal computer market, the cost optimization strategy should continue to keep the company in an excellent position from a competitive and profitability standpoint in the future.
- Corporate Desktop Ownership. HP is one of the key market share leaders in the personal computer and printer markets that include its portfolio of desktops, notebooks, high-performance workstations, and thin clients along with their line of A4 laser and inkjet desktop printers. In addition, Poly has a robust portfolio of headset devices that match each scenario for each desktop worker type whether they are at home, a call center (e.g., often thin clients) or at their desktop at work. It makes sense that there will be strong bundling capabilities between HP and Poly as they take further share in the desktop market.
- Video Conferencing & Collaboration Ownership. From a video conferencing perspective, Poly has a robust portfolio of devices that meet the needs of users in larger conference rooms, huddle rooms, and the home or desktop environments. In essence, while organizations are balancing hybrid work, key solutions such as the Poly Studio P15 studio that are meant for the desktop worker should continue to gain ground, and I expect excellent up and cross-sell activity of these devices when organizations are trying to make their employees’ lives much more seamless and inclusive in the future.
- Excellent Channels. HP and Poly have excellent channel reach whether they are selling through one-tier resellers or two-tier distributors. Often, these markets are highly fragmented, and HP and Poly’s excellent channel programs should continue to appeal to current and future partners touching myriad vertical, sub-vertical and business sizes.
Wrapping it up, the HP and Poly deal officially closed in August. The combined organizations will have a more unified and formidable product portfolio appealing to organizations wanting a provider with excellent products coupled with 24×7 services to ensure those products are working properly. In addition, the company’s Future Ready Transformation project should help keep the company more competitive and in a profitable position in the future.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.
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HP Acquires Poly for $3.3 Billion
