Giving Asia’s small businesses a boost: new tools for channel partners

With HP’s recent announcement of our HP Business Boost plan, I wanted to provide some context on the business benefits this new tool is already delivering for channel partners and the SMB community alike.

At HP, we know businesses everywhere are seeking to redefine what customer-centricity means in a world forever changed by the pandemic. For companies with many customers that are small or medium-sized businesses (SMBs), that means keeping a real-time pulse on current SMB pain points, then rapidly innovating to deliver the experiences and services that matter.

We also know our channel partners across Asia are already working hard to help SMBs overcome any challenges they may be facing due to forced closures or reduced operating capacity. Those include the urgent need to adapt to new ways of working to ensure business survival and overcome financial pressures.

We in our turn are always looking for new ways to help our partners succeed. Part of that commitment is ensuring you can seize new business opportunities as we work together to meet our joint customers’ needs. And that’s where Business Boost comes in.

Addressing the work-from-home hardware dilemma

New HP research is showing that 54% of SMBs see the crisis as a chance to reformulate their business strategies. SMBs also identified a range of strategies to help them bounce back from the pandemic, including migrating more processes to digital (19 percent), innovating products and services (25 percent), and innovating how they work (27 percent).

All that is especially important right now, with entire companies working from home and uncertain times ahead. SMBs have had to take steps to ensure their remote workers can operate from flexible, secure home office environments, enabled by tools that can allow productivity to flourish.

But what happens when employees are using older devices that aren’t geared towards this approach? Companies might seek to regularly refresh outdated hardware to ensure their business can take advantage of the latest technology solutions as they innovate and grow. Now, though, with two-thirds of Asia Pacific’s business decision-makers trying to cut costs and just over half expecting their technology budgets to contract, it can be difficult for local businesses to justify the capital outlay necessary for new devices.

Compounding the problem is the fact that the devices employees use at home often lack corporate-level security. This year, we’ve seen a 330 percent increase in cybercrime across Asia Pacific, compared to the same period last year. As bad actors look to take advantage of home office set-ups and insecure employee devices, working on devices with out-of-date security is creating a risk that no business can afford to take.

From my own discussions with many small business owners, solving the work-from-home-hardware dilemma is becoming a major concern. They’re saying: “How best can I create the safe, secure ‘mini-enterprise’ environment that my employees need at home? And in our current unpredictable climate, how do I finance such a move in the first place?”

Delivering flexible, cost-efficient services

That’s where HP’s Business Boost plan can help. We’ve designed this platform to give partners a way to reduce the financial risks of customers such as SMBs. It works by giving companies access to the right technology and security for their remote working needs. And they can pay for everything with a monthly fee, rather than having a big up-front expense.

Before COVID-19, many SMBs had already transitioned from on-premises software to Software as a Service (SaaS). In broad terms, the ‘as a service’ approach swaps on-premises products for subscription-based cloud offerings that are flexible, cost-efficient, and accessible anywhere.

Business Boost takes this approach one step further into the realm of hardware, security solutions, supplies, and support services. With a recurring fee model, customers get the flexibility to pause and resume such services, and the ability to mix and match them to meet specific needs. In short, SMBs can give their employees the secure devices they need, when they need them – without any capital expenditure.

It’s not only our joint customers who can benefit from this new solution, of course. Across sectors and geographies, there is growing demand for the subscription model, which is why businesses that deliver it can benefit from significant sales growth.

According to Zuora’s Subscription Economy Index, subscription companies across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific have seen their sales grow by more than 300 percent over the past seven years. That represents an 18 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), which is about 10 times the sales growth of the Australia Securities Exchange index, for example.

Outmaneuvering uncertainty – together

The trends are clear, and accelerating. Fresh thinking and new tools are needed to address customers’ needs today.

With Business Boost, SMBs can access the right devices to improve their employees’ experiences and productivity. Meanwhile, partners get an opportunity to address our joint customers’ pain points to lock in loyalty and build growth. 

Find out more about Business Boost here. 

Our report, The State of SMBs in Asia: A Need to Transform, has more details about the challenges SMBs face and how they can overcome them – including five key steps to success.