Hewlett-Packard plans to increase investment in RI

Hewlett-Packard plans to increase investment in RI

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

American information technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HP),
which hit headlines globally in the middle of this year with its
megamerger with Compaq, is planning to increase its investment in
Indonesia, saying the market is still growing here.

"We have several plans to increase our investment in the
future, among others things is increasing the number of employees
and infrastructure in Indonesia," Elisa Lumbantoruan, the new
president director of HP Indonesia told The Jakarta Post on
Wednesday.

"Indonesia is among the few countries who granted permission
to increase human resources after the merger," he said, declining
to reveal the investment value in Indonesia.

At present, HP employs 267 people in Indonesia.

The merger has placed HP as the largest international brand
computer vendor in Indonesia.

Elisa said HP's business strategy in Indonesia would be
increasing accessibility for both HP and Compaq consumers to the
company's new products and services as well as increasing
spending on educating and developing the market.

Hewlett Packard and Compaq clinched a mega-merger deal worth
US$25.2 billion in May after an almost year-long battle with HP
shareholders.

While, initially, there were fears that consumers might be
confused about products released by HP and were thus reluctant to
buy them, Elisa said that such problems did not occur in
Indonesia.

"We help customers in their transition to products from the
New HP, especially for sunset products from HP," he said, adding
that the process had been completed in first quarter period after
the merger.

Meanwhile, BT Lim, the outgoing HP president director who was
in charge of the merger process in Indonesia, said the process
had run relatively smoothly.

According to BT Lim, in the first quarter period after the
merger, HP Indonesia managed to excel from its counterparts in
Asia-Pacific in terms of revenue. He did not provide any figures.

It brushed aside concerns from analysts in the IT industry
that a merger would not work out.

"This has proven that a merger will not always bring failure,"
he said.