Megatrends impacting SEA shape HP’s product rollout

As HP Inc. announced what it termed as the “strongest product portfolio to date” in Malaysia this week, the ethos driving these innovations were encapsulated nicely by Mr. Koh Kong Meng, MD, SEA and Korea of HP Inc. in a  venue, carefully ‘curated’ to reflect today’s culture of mobility, work everywhere and work anywhere millennials. So it was that the event was held at The Colony, a glass-ensconced co-working space on Jalan Kia Peng.

Koh spoke with insight on the following megatrends impacting Southeast Asia (“SEA”) and the world that have shaped and continue to shape HP Inc’s product line-up.

Rapid Urbanisation

Nine out of ten megacities (defined as one with a population above 10 million) are located in Asia. The lone non-Asian one is New York. More tellingly, six out of these nine are in SEA, other South Asian countries and Korea, making this market particularly important to HP Inc.’s product strategy.

Koh Kong Meng, MD, SEA and Korea, HP Inc. with Kym Lim, MD, Malaysia of HP Inc. showing the company’s latest product additions

Urbanisation in this market continues to grow unabatedly and the internet is likened to the nervous system of today’s world. It is also worthwhile to note that we live in a sharing economy (hence the co-working space as the choice of venue plays in nicely). A world that is now dominated by the car-sharing phenomenon (think Uber, Grab, Lyft, etc.) so much so that even youths today do not feel the need to buy a car. You don’t have to own something in order for you to work.

In the same line of thought, HP Roam application is being developed and will be offered as a business print solution in 2018.

HP Roam will enable mobile professionals to print anytime from any location and any device, and retrieve their prints securely from a growing set of print locations at the office, at home, at public sites…. even at your neighbour’s. Print jobs can be submitted to the cloud as content is being consumed or created and picked up at the location of choice, without any worry about device to printer compatibility or connectivity. In addition, GPS and Bluetooth technologies allow for fast auto-discovery of printers while authentication ensures a protected, secure release of prints.

Changing Demographics

By 2020, Malaysia’s forecast is that 7% of its population will be above 65 years old. At the same time, Malaysia also has a young population. HP Inc. has products to address both sets of demographics, for e.g focusing on the education vertical to target millennials as well as the healthcare vertical to target the aging.

One thing that both set of demographics and all in-between will find extremely useful though, is the introduction of HP’s Sure View.

Security and privacy are as important as ever in 2017 with public awareness of protecting online information making headlines daily. That the personal details of 46 million mobile phone subscribers in Malaysia having been leaked in the largest data breach ever, hits this point home perfectly. Even for the unsophisticated hacker, if the intent is there, even a simple look-over-the-shoulder “visual hacking” can compromise a user’s confidential work or personal content.

As such, HP has come up with a proprietary technology for its EliteBook professional laptop series with a built-in privacy screen. As today’s millennial workforce is increasingly mobile, the addition of HP Sure View addresses the risks associated with visual hacking and gives users the freedom to work more confidently and productively in public spaces with the touch of a button.

Developed with 3M privacy technology, HP Sure View eliminates the need to carry additional tools to guard sensitive information. Users simply press the f2 key to immediately transition the PC to privacy mode, which reduces up to 95 percent of visible light when viewed at an angle, making it difficult for others to view information on the screen.

Accelerated Innovation

One of the focal points in HP Inc’s accelerated innovation pivots around augmented reality (“AR”)/ virtual reality (“VR”)/mixed reality (“MR”) technologies with commercial applications in the company’s target markets, including office, retail, health care, manufacturing and education. Koh was proud to introduce the HP Z VR Backpack, a powerful wearable VR PC which can provide an immersive and untethered virtual reality in one’s workplace. “Imagine the uses and applications in the construction industry and even in the cockpits!” said Koh.

Another innovation announced is HP’s move into 3D metal printers to be introduced in 2018, an industry first, keeping in mind that the first 3D printers announced last year are now shipped this year.

Koh explained, “With 3D printing, mass customisation is enabled and this will certainly disrupt centralised production. There is no need for tail-end production and the necessity to keep stock as a manufacturer can easily print these parts in a 3D print farm. Production of that can be done on demand, lowering the cost of warehousing.”

“Once everything goes digital…. one can potentially customise anything! In fact, one can even imprint an object with your name or a brand on it. One can also gauge the wear and tear of a product when colour is infused in the 3D-printed object, by purposely infusing different colours at different layers. Once you reach that layer, a different colour emerges, signifying certain wear & tear had ensued and therefore, it is time to change or renew that product,” continued Koh.

HP Inc. sure looks set to extend its technology into new domains and to disrupt traditional industries. Its HP Labs is further driving the industry forward through its security and cyber research teams.

A stated aim is to help printers (which can be a backdoor entry into an enterprise’s server…) stay one step ahead of malware attacks with advanced self-healing capabilities. The company’s dedicated R&D security lab had created many “industry firsts” throughout the personal systems and print ecosystem such as HP Connection Inspector and HP Sure Start.

During the portfolio launch, two new business machines also debuted.

Elitebook X360

Engineered for the way people work and live, HP’s new premium commercial notebooks, HP EliteBook x360 1020 G2 and HP EliteBook 1040 G4 enable greater productivity, inspiration and exchange of ideas beyond the traditional four walls of the office. These new devices combine phenomenal performance, enterprise-class security and collaboration features into ultra thin and light form factors.

Needless to say, they are engineered to withstand harsh work environments.

EliteBook 1040