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How HP’s Workforce Solutions is helping organizations succeed with hybrid work

Dave Shull, president of Workforce Solutions, offers insights on productive hybrid workforces, and why HP is in an advantageous position to help.

By Laura Petrecca — May 16, 2023

Hybrid work is seeing a lot of whiplash in the news these days. For some it’s “the secret sauce for greater worker happiness,” while for others, it heralds an era where young employees are at a disadvantage for lack of “proximity.”

But for most of the business world, the angst around this new (and likely permanent) way of working boils down to having technology that  performs reliably and well, no matter where or what the employee is using to get their job done. Dave Shull, president of HP’s Workforce Services division, developed expertise in workplace communications as the former CEO of Poly — the maker of office technology such as videoconferencing cameras and the triangle-shaped Polycom phone. Now he’s combined that knowledge with new enterprise businesses for subscription services, software, and data insights so that HP can offer the most complete hybrid work solutions on the market.   

 

RELATED: How the new hybrid office will adapt to you

 

After HP acquired Poly in 2022, Shull and his team have focused on helping organizations keep pace with the rapidly evolving professional landscape.   

“In this hybrid world, everything has changed. We’re all working in very different ways,” says Shull, a seasoned executive who previously held top roles at telecom and media giants such as TiVo, The Weather Channel, and DISH Network. “HP formed Workforce Solutions because we felt there was a tremendous opportunity in the hybrid work environment to take a subscription- and solutions-based approach to our customers’ needs.” 

The end goal is to build a lifelong relationship with our customers, he adds. “Their need isn’t just to buy a PC, a printer, or headphones. It’s to solve employee productivity issues.”

The Garage sat down with Shull to learn more about what Workforce Solutions does, the use of advanced technology to solve problems, and how to run hybrid meetings more effectively. 

Dave Shull, president of Workforce Solutions at HP

Dave Shull, president of Workforce Solutions at HP

What are some of your customers’ biggest struggles with the hybrid workplace, and how is HP solving those issues?

Here at HP, we have thousands of customers around the world that have all experimented with different hybrid arrangements. They’re saying, ‘I don’t know how many of my employees are going to be working from home. I don’t know how often they’re going to come into the office. I know I’d like to have them in the office a couple of days a week, but we don’t always have the most compelling experience in the offices.’ 

At the CIO level, the job is becoming increasingly more complex. Employees want a lot more flexibility, and the CIO has to manage that along with compliance issues, security risks, and end-to-end costs. 

 We’re in a good position to provide the best possible advice based on the kind of spaces organizations have and the personas of their employees. We have multiple building blocks and managed solutions flexibility that allows us to talk to our customers in a different way and solve fundamental business needs, as opposed to just providing technology.

Instead of a transactional model, you’re focused on maintaining continuous customer relationships. Can you give an example of how that works?

If a customer has 50,000 employees scattered around the world, we can make custom images for all those PCs and printers and ship them to the right locations. Everything is set up and ready to go. Then we can monitor those devices and proactively fix them before any problems arise. And then, we can take them back at the end of life and either refurbish them or redeploy them as the customer prefers. Throughout it all, we provide the CIO with ongoing support and the best possible insights into every piece of gear an employee needs to stay productive. 

Can you give an example of how your team is deploying advanced technology, such as AI?

We’re using AI in very interesting ways tied to employee engagement and hybrid working. It helps us truly capture what happens in meetings. When you’re in a conference room, there’s communication through body language. For instance, the body language of the boss, which may be good or bad depending on how the meeting is going. Capturing those nuances for remote attendees is critical. That takes a lot of computer power. Think about all the cameras that need to be in a room and then how to process those different camera images to create a seamless Zoom or Teams experience. That’s something that plays to HP's strengths between the video technology we have from Poly and the computing power we have in our advanced workstations.

Hosting hybrid meetings is a regular part of your job. What’s a top tip for success? 

Continually check on those remote participants. In a meeting with 10 people in a room and 10 people remote, it can be hard to make sure everyone has the ability to contribute to the conversation. It’s critical for whoever’s leading the meeting to pause and say, ‘Are there any other comments?’  to ensure everyone has the chance to voice their point-of-view. 

Any additional insights related to hybrid meetings?

It’s important to acknowledge that noise and other happenings will occur in a home environment and just have fun with it. We have two dogs, and they always bark at the wrong time. While there are some things we can do with noise reduction technology, that’s real life.

 

READ MORE: When you do come into the office, learn how to make the most of in-person meetings.
Tags
Work-life / Hybrid Work / Corporate
Posted In
Business

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