Canadian businesses planning workplace computer purchases face 30-day price-validity windows at HP and memory costs expected to remain elevated, ChannelBuzz.ca reported. The company is advising its technology sales partners to shorten purchasing timelines and look to distributors for available inventory.
Michelle Biase, HP Canada’s president and managing director, discussed those pressures in an interview with Robert Dutt on ChannelBuzz.ca’s In The Channel. Her guidance to partners includes reducing the time between demonstrating a product and completing a sale.
She also advised avoiding lengthy configure-to-order purchases, which can leave buyers exposed to price changes while equipment is being built. The emphasis is on finding available equipment rather than relying on extended custom-order timelines.
Matching computers to the work
Alongside the pricing advice, Biase said sellers should help customers assess which employees need new equipment and which can continue using their existing devices. She described an approach based on employees’ roles, workflows and the demands of their jobs.
HP’s Workforce Experience Platform is one tool the company offers for that assessment. Biase said the IT management platform can help organizations identify who needs a replacement computer, who needs a different type of device and who does not yet need an upgrade.
She urged partners to move beyond individual hardware transactions and discuss broader workplace technology needs with customers. That includes planning how equipment will be deployed and managed while taking costs into account.
Biase also pointed to the Elite Board, a computer integrated into a keyboard without a built-in monitor. She presented it as a cost-conscious option for workers who keep their laptops docked and do not use the laptop screen.
According to Biase, roughly 30 per cent of laptop users fall into that category. She also described security as part of the case for that type of device.
A larger Canadian sales team
The purchasing guidance comes as HP Canada changes how it sells its products. During Biase’s first 18 months leading the Canadian business, its sales team grew by 50 per cent, according to ChannelBuzz.ca.
Biase returned to HP in December 2024. The company has since brought previously separate computer, printing and Poly sales operations into a unified approach called One HP.
She described closer connections across those product groups as a priority. HP IQ, which entered early access this spring, is part of that effort, although Biase said it remains available only on some computers rather than across the company’s full product range.
