HP to go all out on education front

NEW DELHI: The little-known education initiative of Hewlett-Packard, HP Education, is gearing up to make a major dent in the training and education market. Training majors can however relax and need not get worried since HP’s target segment is essentially the corporate sector. Its aggressive thrust in this sector is going to see the division that had started operations less than a year ago bring in revenue of $1 million by the end of this year. First on the agenda is to increase its presence from Bangalore to Mumbai and Delhi. Currently, HP has only one education center in Bangalore. This will be increased to a total of four centers within two months with one each in Delhi and Mumbai and two in Bangalore. Within a year’s time, the division would increase its presence to six locations with a total of 10 centers.

Simultaneously, the division would also expand its product offering. Currently, the offering includes courses in Unix, OpenView, WAP, e-speak, Linux, BroadVision, e-commerce and security. Out of these, the most popular course is BroadVision, a technology that provides end-to-end solutions for dotcoms. HP hopes to add courses dealing with cutting edge technology in its product portfolio. This could be in mobile technology or blue-tooth. According to HP education specialist Sunil Mehta, "We are the exclusive training partners of BroadVision which is the most popular product offering now. However, we expect the demand to wane in about two years’ time. Our endeavor is therefore to ensure that we constantly offer products that are at the cutting edge of technology."

HP Education Services is planning to move from a model of delivery partner to franchisee model. Apart from its Delhi center, all its other centers across the country would be run by franchisees. HP Education has also initiated its online education program that will enable its clients to complete a part of the course online. This online initiative is expected to greatly facilitate its offline activities since HP’s target audience is essentially the corporate segment.