>>from around the globe. It's the Cube covering HP. Discover Virtual experience Brought to you by HP. >>Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Cube's coverage we're covering HP Discover Virtual experience. 2020. I'm John Furrier, host of the Cube. Great online experience. Check it out. A lot of content go poke around a lot of Cube interviews. A lot of content from HP. It's their virtual conference. HP Discover virtual experience. We have Cube alumni Justin Hotard, who's now s VP and general manager of HP Japan. Justin, great to see you virtually here for the virtual experience. How you doing >>Doing well, John. Great to see you again. A swell and really glad to be here. >>You know, just reminiscing about our previous interview a couple times. You know Jeff Frick is interviewed. I've interviewed HP Discover a couple years ago. Um, service provider Edge now is booming. Everyone's working at home. Everyone is seeing the global pandemic play out on a global stage and impacting our lives. But anyone in the in the I T. Business or technology business is seeing the massive gaps and the areas that need to be worked on. This is something that we're gonna dig into it, I think is really interesting conversation as someone who's in Japan. Honestly, Big telco presence, but also part of the global stage. So I want to get into that. But before we do, tell us about your new role at HP. What are you working on and what are you doing? >>Yes. So, John, currently, I'm the president of HP Japan. I'm responsible is the managing director of Japan and also the managing managing director. Our business in China as well. So keeping myself busy these days. >>A pack your own a lot of zoom calls, conference calls, could imagine the work. You're doing pretty big disruptions. I want to get your thoughts as an industry participant and who's seen these ways before. What is some of the disruptions that you're seeing right now? I see there will document in terms of VM or video, um, VPNs under proficient. Where are you seeing the big disruption? Because those are the obvious low hanging fruit. But it's certainly being an impact. The disruptions or creating opportunities, but major challenges right now. What's your thoughts? >>You >>know, I think I think specific and, uh John and we're seeing in Japan, and a big pillar is, you know, this is really a big inflection point in terms of how people work, and as you as you know, you think about Japan. The culture and the economy has been very reliant on face to face in relation, relationship driven. It's also there's been some traditional paper based activity in that space, as well as things like the Hong Kong stamp away. You sign documents to get you're not just for government approval, but even in private transactions. So all of that is actually under a great way to change. And so the obvious part is, we talk about virtualization and VD I It's really forcing people to rethink, um, you know, work flows and it's not, you know, it's not just one thing. Generally, it's across many, many parts. Education, manufacturing, obviously, obviously traditional enterprise. You touched on Zoom and other virtualization and beady eye, but it's it's I think it's coming across all industries right now. Based on this change, >>what's going on in Japan? Specifically, I know that some GDP numbers were coming in pre covert. I'll see when Covic it's given some of the things you were just talking about how they do business. The culture there must be impacted by the covert 19. What do you what you're seeing there, and how do they move forward? What is some of the changes that need to happen? What do you see? >>Yeah, I mean, I think you touched on. I think the economy that was already under pressure. Um, then you have Cove. It hit. Um, you know, Japan has a huge has had a huge tourism business booming based on the growth in Asia and obviously particularly in China, all of that gets hit. And, uh huh. And then, obviously, you know, the traditional way of doing business has been challenged over the past few months, but it's actually creating quite a bit of opportunity. And some of it is some of it is similar to what you see in other parts of the world. But, you know, we've seen many of the Japanese companies and medical devices and pharmaceuticals jump into innovation and everything from masks toe, um, you know, investment in, you know, in virology and other and, you know, in other areas and testing and all the things that you see, but beyond that we're also seeing is a lot, a lot more discussion around innovation. One place that we're seeing it immediately is education. There's a huge initiative around connecting uh, schools, primary schools, great schools and bringing technology into those schools is a way to accelerate the learning experience. I think obviously in this in this new world in the short term help manage on and ensure continuity of learning through through social distancing and some of the challenges that and everybody has, you know, in in primary education. >>It's interesting, you know, those traditional things like you mentioned just signatures converting at the digitally signatures of the stamping thing you mentioned. Also, the face to face with education, every vertical up is going to be disrupted and an opportunity. So that's what you guys see. That transformation is part of that. What are some of the patterns you see emerging so that your customers and prospects can capture it? What is some of the highlights? What's the big picture? >>Yeah, I think I think at a high level we talk a lot about digital transformation and remote work. These, by the way, were discussed before Covic hit, so I think it's It's just an acceleration. The other one is really around edge, and I ot, um Japan. Obviously great tradition of manufacturing this actually is gonna probably create new investment around manufacturing. Is Japan looks to build its manufacturing base is part of what we expect from the government stimulus programs out there. Um, but they're investing in. And I don't think the factory that will be built tomorrow is gonna is going to start off with a traditional labour view. In fact, it's going to start very, very organized against robotics AI using using i O. T. Using sensors to drive greater levels of automation. A lot of that exists today, but I think this this event just creates more opportunities for acceleration, particularly Greenfield. So we're having conversations with customers around all those areas right now. >>You know, one of the biggest observations I would say in the past 10 years, looking at the wave we've been on and looking at the massive wave coming in now is culture is always a part of the blocker of adoption, and you're kind of getting at some of this with the world you're in now, >>where >>the culture has to shift pretty radically fast. Whether it's the remote workforce, the remote workplace, workloads with robotics and AI everything work related workplace workloads, workflow was with the work. We're forced. I mean, always changing, right? So this is a critical cultural thing. Your thoughts on this because this has to move faster. What are you seeing as catalysts? Any kind of technology? Enablement. What's the What's the What's the data tell you? >>Yeah, yeah, I think I think a couple of things were, you know, we're seeing I think, one that we're seeing that given that we've obviously seen in the rest of the world for a number of years now is a is a shift, that consumption. And we've seen that grow from customers, right? So they're looking at How do we accelerate this experience, how they stand it up? How did they get it? Running and consumption as a service, you know, as a service, models are becoming even more attractive, and so we're seeing new interest in that as a way to build things, to scale things, to create flexibility for future growth. And it's not, you know, it's not just public cloud, it's it's public cloud and on premise applications. It's integration into the virtualization stack, obviously, with, um, you know, with players like VM Ware and Nutanix and Red Hat, it's ah, you know, with open shift containers. It's bringing all of that, you know, bringing all of that scale and flexibility and the other good place. Honestly, we're still seeing it is even in some of our traditional businesses, and we had a very large consumption model in a traditional transaction processing business and for that customer was about creating the flexibility for growth. Um, and so I think we're you know, I think we really are on the brink of a very different I t model in, you know, certainly in Japan to enable a lot of this innovation and to provide more more flexibility and more automation for, you know, for companies there in the businesses. >>And I just want to just validate that by seeing the day that we're looking at in the interviews we've had and even our internal conversation with our editorial Cuban research teams is, is it's happening now in the change you can't ignore it. You could ignore in the past were not ready for it. People process technology. Three pillars of transformation with Cove ID and we've seven, which is having this debate with our team this past month where it's not so much an acceleration in the future. The future got pulled to today, and people are now seeing it and saying, Wow, I need to move because the consequences of not changing are obvious. It's not like a hypothetical. You're starting to see specific use cases where the folks that under invested or didn't make the right bets might be on the wrong side of history coming out of covitz. So to your point about growth is a really key point. This >>is what >>everyone is thinking about right now. So I got to ask you, what solutions do you guys have ready to help customers? Because right now, solutions Walk are really all that matters. It walks that fine line between making it and not making it's having the right solutions is key. >>Yeah, and actually, you know, I think one of things you mentioned a great example of what you're talking about in transformation right in the airline industry. You know, we're seeing that we're going to see this in in Japan, right? This is a place where based if a service was considered a premium experience where you go to kiosks and automation. But now I think we're going to see now we're seeing already interested complete and an automation right bag check bag drop. And that stuff's been talked about for many years. But now it's an acceleration of the experience, and the difference is going to be no longer is it going to be a premium to talk to someone? It's actually about speed. So that's a place where, you know, obviously that's a heavily impacted industry. But as we see it come back in Japan and probably throughout Asia, I think we're gonna see a very different model. And to your question on, uh, you know, to your question on technologies, when I see us doing is really kind of three pieces I think you've got You've got solutions like VD. I were literally out of the box and we built a partners so that customers that are small, medium or large that wants something standard that they could just take into it quickly. We have a platform for also things like SD wan to our business, and we're seeing significant growth there, obviously, you know, mobile access, wireless access, Another place where we're seeing demand, just building on our core business and really seeing healthy growth. I mentioned education is one vertical, but we're seeing it in, obviously in places like manufacturing and on. I'm expecting this even more broken enterprise there as this customer, Aziz, many of our customers come back to the office and bring employees back in. And you can't. You can't have a traditional, you know, just density of desks, right? You've really got to think about how people have mobility and have flexibility to make being distancing and and even even kind of the in and out of office, right? How do I mean by that? That work experience in the productivity, whether I'm in the office for a couple days and how so? I think those are places where we see the technology. Then we talk about consumption service. So the flexibility consume it as a service which in all of those solutions we have offers around and then ultimately even a pop it out or hp fs our financial services, giving customers flexibility and payment options, which for many people that are cash strapped solves a real challenge, right? We talk a lot about the technology but fundamental business challenge of saying yes, I want to invest today. I need to get my work, my workforce up in productive with beady eye. But so they can start generating revenue and cash flow, but one of the cash flow to invest in that productivity. And so this becomes a place where, you know, we're just seeing a lot of traction with our customers. We can help them actually get that up and running, not not created huge cash flow outlay upfront and making get productive and get back on their feet. And definitely in the mid market and the smaller businesses, we're seeing a lot of a lot of activity there. >>That's a huge point, because right now, more than ever, that need is there because of the financial hardships that we're seeing that's evident and well reported. Having that financial flexibilities primary, that's a key thing. So that's great. So good to hear that. The second thing I want to ask you on the business side that's important is not just a financing because you want to have that consumption buy as you go from a cloud technology like standpoint as a service. But now you've got the financial support check. Next step is ecosystem. What are you guys doing on the ecosystem side? If I'm trying to rebuild my business or have a growth strategy check technology check. I'm gonna get some business help on the finance side. Third is partners. What's the status there? >>Yeah, yeah, I think there's I think there's a couple things. One is there's obviously the global relationships we have, you know, close relationship with VM Ware. You know that Nutanix relationship red hat, others that were standing up solutions that some of things I mentioned like me. I literally packaged out of the box experience with a complete turnkey solution, right? So so our partners don't even have to. You don't have to optimize that they can. They can just deploy and enable their their customers. I think the other place in Japan, it's you know what? We didn't touch on it earlier, but one of the really important things and is most of our customers depend on their vendors, depend on their partners, actually do a lot of their I t work. It's a little bit unique in Japan versus the rest of the world. And so this is a place to We're spending a lot of time with our partners with our entire partner ecosystem to make sure they're ready. And I was just actually in a conversation yesterday with a partner talking about the investments they're bringing their they're putting in to really bring that that core innovation around, um around beady eye and around around SD win for as an example and working with them to make sure that they've got all the tools they need from us so that what they can deliver into their into their ecosystem is very turnkey and easy. And I think I think that's really, really, really important. So it's not just the, you know, the global technology relationships that we talked about certainly in Japan, it's also about it's about stitching together. That entire ecosystem that, you know that allows the the end customer toe have ah have a turnkey experience and everybody that's involved in that delivery, you know, to have to have a seamless experience to get these customers up and running. >>And it's great to you guys had that foundational services, but also now with some great acquisitions. You got the cloud native experience across environments and then the reality of the edge Actually, work force in workplaces are changing. VD I etcetera. But you've got edge exploding. You guys also made a great has been years of investments and edge. So with telco and WiFi, all kind of coming together kind of sets up for a nice kind of front end piece with the APP development piece going on. You're seeing that in Japan as well. >>Yeah, I think all of our major telcos there have you have announced five G projects projects and launch is we've got a new you know, we've got a new entrant in the telco space Pakatan launched just a couple months ago. Therefore G solution. But I think all of that is very favorable to driving greater levels of connectivity. And I think you know, it's a lot of times we talk about five G. We talk about kind of the next mobile hands when we think about the next mobile device or handset. But it's also a lot of the private lt and connectivity, and I think we'll see that actually, the intersection of five G and WiFi. In some cases, we're having conversations about, you know, are there opportunities in five G and as the back whole and actually using WiFi in a smaller medium sized office home? And so there's a number of things like that that I think will be compelling and great opportunities for growth, because Japan's an incredibly A. So you know, John is incredibly well connected society and a lot of connectivity, but but I think this is also creating new demand. I mean, people weren't working at home all the time and way. Obviously, you see that in other countries where maybe media streaming and video conferencing we're working on the plans where people got their original Internet service. I think in Japan that's even more so because this tradition, if I go to the office at work and I know when I'm home, I'm relaxing. I mean, this is fundamentally under a huge shift right now, and so I think it's gonna be a you know, a really significant wave of growth and five g n and wife by as this this new. Imagine this new, this new remote work experience this new mobile work experience happens a >>lot of architecture to really work a little bit. Not radical, but certainly transforming. And its benefits. Exciting time, tough environment. Right now, let people working hard have to come out of it. But it's super exciting from a tech perspective. What it can enable. Really appreciate. Of course, we're here in the HP Discover virtual experience bringing you the best content. So I have to ask you, what sessions? Um, do you think people should turn into for the virtual experience? >>Well, you know, it's of course, the one that I think everyone has to make. And I never liked the missus is the keynote is that obviously Antonio always gives us not only, you know, some of the great technologies and launches, but but also really a vision of where we see the industry going to. I think Tom ones foundational. But we've got some great sessions on consumption and as a service that are actually set up for some of our customers and partners in Japan and across Asia. And I think those will be really good discussions, you know, with, uh, you know, with folks like our CTO commercial coffee and our our global general manager for green like white. So I'd encourage folks to turn into, you know, to really learn about as a service because I think a lot of times we talk about the cloud and we think about public Cloud only. Um and I think for certainly for many of my customers and partners in Japan, um, I think with everything we just talked about, the cloud is gonna be an inevitable reality. But the cloud is an architecture, and that's where some of these new technologies and services that we're bringing out will be will be really, really valuable, whether it's in storage or it's in compute virtualization, enabling collaboration or some things that we're doing right now, John. But be a video video conference, but but also also even just in automating the data center and bringing, you know, being a new levels of productivity back into some of the traditional data center. A swee as we need to do that in order to enable the new edge and some of these new applications around AI and machine learning that are necessary, Teoh to support the growth of the economy. But you know net net. I think this is going to be. These are all things they're going to support growth and recovery. So I think it's a great opportunity and discover for our customers and partners to learn what they could do to help accelerate that and and and accelerate the recovery. >>Certainly, Cloud has shown the way it's operating model. It's not just public, it's on premise. It's an edge is so it's not just multi cloud either. It's multi environment. This is where the market's going. So you guys are on the right track. Justin really appreciate the time. But I want to ask the final question. I want you to complete this sentence for me as we end this out on our virtual experience, Our competitive advantage HP HP is competitive advantage to our clients is that we are blank. >>Our competitive advantage is that we are the best partner, deeply understanding their needs and bringing them the right innovation and value that they need to deliver their business outcomes and in this case, obviously recover and get back to growth. >>There's a whole chart. Managing director of President of HP Japan great to see you. Congratulations on your new role over there on Asia Pacific. Um, and thanks for checking in on the virtual experience. Thanks for coming in. And good to see you again. >>Great. Great to see you, John. Thanks again for having time for me. And best of luck for a successful discover virtual experience. >>Awesome. Okay, I'm John Furry here in the Cube studios, getting the remote injuries for this virtual experience for HP Discover. Thanks for watching. >>Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.