UPDATED 14:00 EDT / DECEMBER 01 2016

WOMEN IN TECH

HPE targets Europe for digital transformation services expansion | #WomenInTech

During the HPE Discover EU event this week in London, a struggling Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. announced spin-mergers, which had the company selling its non-core software business along with its OpenStack and Cloud Foundry assets. The company is now betting heavily on its digital transformation consulting business and partnerships to make up for its losses.

HPE CEO Meg Whitman spoke at the event and explained the decision. “Earlier this year we made the decision to spin off and merge our non-core software assets with Micro Focus. We are not getting out of the software business. In fact, we are doubling down on software and infrastructure that is critical for businesses systems,” she explained.

With IDC reports indicating strong cloud IT infrastructure growth in the EMEA region with estimated market growth to reach $10.5 billion by 2020, HPE now offers European companies the services of its EMEA hybrid cloud consulting business. This arm of the company is providing roadmaps and strategies to organizations trying to transform in an ever-changing marketplace.

Wadad Kafka is the senior director for HPE’s EMEA hybrid cloud consulting business, and while attending HPE Discover EU in London, she sat down with theCUBE for an interview. She spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Paul Gillin (@pgillin), co-hosts of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, abpit her role at HPE and the trends she sees working side-by-side with the decision makers and implementers of change.

This week, theCUBE highlights Wadad Kafka in our Women in Tech feature.

Simplifying hybrid

For the HPE consultants, the mission is clear: Simplify hybrid deployments. Kafka advises and consults with companies making the transition. There is one trend she believes most businesses cannot ignore any longer: Companies making the transformation must focus on technology, cultural shifts and the end-user experience.

Kafka serves many different countries and cultures with varying challenges. Her primary goal is to introduce, explain and make people understand the digital transformation. “It’s different from company to company. It’s even different within one company. The CIO understands it differently from the CTO and the CEO,” revealed Kafka.

However, in the end, the expectations are the same: innovation, speed and differentiation. The question she faces is how to interpret the digital transformation individually.

The subject may be digital transformation, but Kafka pointed out that hybrid IT, hybrid cloud or other subjects — like mobility, DevOps and IoT — are the enablers. With growing interest in IoT, the company is repositioning its solutions and products to accommodate the increase in devices and data.

Part of Kafka’s role as a consultant is to align the goals across the C-level, the business units and IT. “Once we understand the priorities of the business, then we decide different work streams,” she stated. The next step is to build a roadmap to achieve the business results expected.

There must also be alignment and commitment from all involved. External and internal influences play a role making the process is fluid, she explained. Company priorities change, as well as market trends and indicators.

Eastern European companies in particular lag in the digital transformation, according to Kafka. For the most part, it is purely economic. Companies like HPE are trying to make it more affordable for companies to transition with plug-and-play solutions that allow reallocation of funds.

“Emerging companies are ramping up; they have extremely good technical people. They have the capability, they have the capacity, but they do not have the financial power to ramp up quickly like West Europeans,” Kafka commented.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of HPE Discover EU. (*Disclosure: HPE and other companies sponsor some HPE Discover EU segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither HPE nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo by SiliconANGLE

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