Michelle Biase on what HP Canada learned from a year of seeding AI PCs to partners

ROBERT DUTT: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last 16 years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca, and your host for the show. On today’s show, we’re catching up with a channel leader who’s now been in the chair long enough to know what’s real and what’s still aspiration. Michelle Biase is president and managing director of HP Canada. She returned to the company in December 2024, just as HP was launching its first wave of AI PCs into partner hands. 18 months later, she’s running a sales team that’s 50% larger, steering a unified One HP go-to-market model, and trying to help Canadian partners navigate memory prices that have made hardware procurement feel like a commodities trading desk. We’re going to talk about what partners actually did with those early AI PCs, how the company’s HP IQ onboard AI assistant is landing in the channel, and the reality of running a hardware business in 2026, and the one part of HP’s portfolio she thinks partners are still sleeping on. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Michelle Biase.

ROBERT DUTT: Michelle, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it.

MICHELLE BIASE: Great to see you again, Robert. Happy to be here.

ROBERT DUTT: When we first gave those AI PCs to partners, that was the early days, right?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah, geez, that seems like a long time ago. So those are really the early days of AI PCs, right? As manufacturers, we were rolling out those AI PCs. And the intent originally was to allow partners to really get those devices in their hands so that they could experience what was possible with those devices and really start to play with them and get comfortable and explore what they might offer their customers. And I would say it was early days, and so people were still sort of figuring out what the use cases were at that time and thinking about what was possible. But we did want them to play with some of the built-in tools that we had offered and we still offer as part of our HP PCs, AI PCs. So we had our Poly Studio tools and at that time we had AI Companion. And so we had some tools built in and we wanted to show the power of those tools with AI PC. We wanted people to experience the battery life and run Copilot and understand how the PC was going to respond and be utilized. And so there was a lot of good conversations around the power of the AI PC at that time and really sparked people to think about, okay, we need to get over the hump of the hardware transition and investment and start thinking about how we’re going to move forward with this. And so we had some good experiences. I would say, to be honest, it was early days, so we didn’t have a ton of use cases per se come out of that. But I think it really did help the partners to realize the value of AI PCs and help them to think about how they’re going to help their customers deploy those devices in their environment. So it was really intended to get people rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands on the product. And I think we did accomplish that.

ROBERT DUTT: A year on from that experiment, now, what do partners who are having success in selling AI PCs have in common? What are some of those common threads that you’re seeing?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah, I mean, we have a lot of partners who are doing well, we’re definitely seeing our AI PC volumes increase pretty significantly. So first of all, I would say that those partners are educating themselves. So they’re completing training like HP AI MasterClass, which is a suite of educational series that we offer to help partners and their sellers in their organizations really understand AI and the value. And they’re also working really closely with us on how to help their customers navigate the current environment and prepare for the future. I think partners who are selling AI PCs are really thinking about equipping their customers to be future ready. You know, we’re still learning all the use cases as an industry right now, and customers are going about different ways of kind of figuring out what those use cases are going to be. But we all know that the adoption of AI is going to happen at a rapid pace, it is happening at a rapid pace. And so having the right hardware strategy in place is really important. And so partners are helping their customers, you know, deploy technology that really sets them up for that future ready conversation. And then I think the other thing they’re doing is really helping their customers and guiding them to think about a persona-based fleet deployment strategy. So as we think about, you know, costs increasing, and the, you know, number of options that are out there in terms of devices, we have tools like WXP, which is our Workforce Experience Platform, which is a single pane of glass IT management tool that when deployed can help customers to see in their environment, who within their organization based on persona and workflows and work streams need what type of devices. So maybe not everyone needs an AI PC today. I think that, you know, this tool then helps them to understand who needs an AI PC right now, who needs a refresh, who doesn’t, you know, and really help them to kind of manage the deployment of those devices, you know, considering cost and AI adoption and all the things that customers are considering. So I think those are some of the things partners are doing is really educating themselves, thinking about being future ready, and then thinking about new ways of fleet deployment and management to help their customers navigate current situation.

ROBERT DUTT: So since that initial test run, we’ve had the rollout of HP IQ in early access since the spring. The idea being more onboard capabilities, basically running a full LLM on the machine. How is that landing with partners and their customers so far? Is it one of those… is it a today conversation? Is it early adopter? Or is it in that kind of future ready mode that you were just touching on?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah, HP IQ is a really exciting advancement for us in terms of our One HP strategy. So I would say it’s early days, we’ve just launched it recently at our event. It’s only available on some PCs, so not available on our full fleet of products at this point. But HP IQ really represents HP’s vision for a true better together connected, intelligent workplace experience. So, you know, when you think about, you know, some of the opportunities it presents, one is around leveraging AI at the edge, right? So, you know, we know that as customers are thinking about deploying AI, and I talked to a lot of customers who are going to a more, what I would say is like a distributed rollout model now where instead of it kind of holding the reins, they’re putting AI tools in the hands of their employees and saying, here’s a tool you figure out, you know, how to make this make sense for you in your day to day job, and then having a reaction to their cloud and token costs as a response to that, they’re quickly sort of thinking, okay, well, how are we going to manage security, cost, latency, all these things. And so having functionality work at the edge on the device is an interesting opportunity and something that we’re talking a lot to customers about. So, you know, that’s one opportunity is around AI at the edge. And then the other is really around what I said around better together. So, HP IQ provides this connected opportunity for all of the HP devices across our entire One HP portfolio. So, print, PC, Poly, etc. So when you think about, you know, imagine an experience where you walk into a meeting room that’s outfitted with HP Poly collaboration technology, and you have an HP laptop, all of a sudden, those devices start speaking to each other. And the room recognizes that I have the meeting room booked for that next hour, that there’s going to be 10 people in the room and five people online, and it starts firing up the right cameras and opens up the screens that are in the room and sets up that meeting for me. So that, you know, we don’t have to lose that sort of 10 minute, we call it the meeting room tax, right at the beginning of every meeting, there’s like 10 minutes consumed trying to figure out how to get the technology to work in the way that works for everybody in a hybrid environment. So, you know, HP IQ is really intended to provide one that better together story across the entire HP ecosystem, and then leveraging AI at the edge to solve challenges around latency, cost, security, environmental impact. And so it’s early days, but it’s a really exciting advancement for us to kind of bring that narrative together around the One HP value proposition.

ROBERT DUTT: Does that better together part of things… is that a big part of sort of how partners can answer that? I have to imagine partners are going to get asked if they present an idea like HP IQ, what are the natural responses for customers is going to be, don’t I kind of already get this with a Copilot license? Obviously, it’s differentiated. But is that that kind of better together? Is that the path to explaining the value difference there?

MICHELLE BIASE: I think there’s a couple things. I think for sure, better together is one big value proposition that we believe. I mean, when you think about HP and our position in market, we are the only OEM that can address the entire employee ecosystem. And so having a single vendor across the edge, and then having that ecosystem be AI powered really can create a lot of different experiences, both from an IT manageability perspective, and then from an employee user perspective. And so, you know, the possibilities once the devices are able to speak to each other, the possibilities are kind of endless in terms of, you know, advanced detection of hardware challenges, better usage of the products that they’re using together, so headsets and PCs and cameras and all of those things and how they connect together. So there definitely is that value proposition around the better together One HP story if you have an entire HP ecosystem. And I think, you know, with so many AI applications out there now Copilot, there’s others people are using, I think it’s really important that partners work together with their customers to understand their specific needs, and how they want to design and deploy AI and the concerns they have around doing so because, as I’ve mentioned a few times, you know, things like latency, things like cost, data residency, sovereignty, security, all of those things are hot topics for sure right now. And each customer has their own unique needs and different applications can solve for that. And, you know, we’ve used the word hybrid in our industry in many over the decades in many different ways. When we went all cloud, we said, Oh, no, it’s probably going to be hybrid. When everybody went home, now we’re saying it’s going to be hybrid. And I think AI deployment and AI solutioning is also going to be hybrid. There will be a home for multiple applications inside of customer ecosystems. There will be, you know, cloud deployments that make sense, edge deployments that make sense. And so I don’t think it’s a HP IQ versus other tools per se, but it’s here’s how you can get the most value out of your HP ecosystem with HP IQ and how we can enable that hardware to be most powerful when you’re using other applications as well.

ROBERT DUTT: You touched on how customers are actively thinking through where their AI investment lives, edge versus cloud. What are you seeing as really shaping that decision? You know, amongst the things that are in the mix, you know, sovereignty, privacy, sustainability, security, pricing, what moves the needle the most right now?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah, it’s a good question. And we are having a ton of those conversations with customers. And so I would first say, you know, in the last maybe three to six months, we have seen a rapid shift in the fact that people are getting over the hump about the hardware investment. So, you know, six months ago, people might have still been questioning like, do I need an AI PC? Or what’s, you know, when do I need the AI PC? We’ve seen our AI PC sales accelerate significantly, we’re at, you know, almost two thirds of our PC sales are now AI enabled PCs. So I think we’re over the hardware hump, we are over the hump of people thinking like, AI, is it really coming when what is it going to do for me now? So from an investment perspective, I think, you know, we’re there. When you think about some of those things, you listed sovereignty, privacy, sustainability, pricing, etc. I think, you know, security, if you’re talking private sector, you know, security and pricing, or cost is probably those are the two biggest things that I’m hearing from people is they know they have to roll it out quickly. So very quickly, customers are moving from IT controlled AI deployment to let’s put it in the hands of our users and see what solutions they can come up with. And by the way, AI is getting better every day. So AI can help them figure out what solutions they can come up with to make their days more productive or, you know, better serve their customers. And but and there is an associated token cost or cloud cost that very quickly they’re realizing comes with that. So those are kind of the two main factors. I think the other thing that I hear customers talk about is, you know, how are they kind of leading their AI strategy? So is it an IT led strategy? Is it a business led strategy? How are those two things coming together? And then finally, how are they measuring ROI? So, you know, we’re going to invest in this, we understand that there’s going to be associated costs. But sometimes a cost is okay, if the ROI is greater, and you’re making an investment to, you know, increase your revenue or improve your profits or serve your customers better or create a competitive advantage. So the possibilities are so endless, I think there’s a lot of conversations, but I think privacy and cost are the ones that kind of float to the top of the conversation these days. And we’re really trying to address that with a secure AI at the edge story. I think that that’s where we’re really trying to help customers is figure out what applications you can run at the edge. And we have some good use cases for that already, examples of things we’ve worked with customers on. And so those are exciting opportunities when you can really figure out how to deploy at the edge makes a big difference.

ROBERT DUTT: So one more around HP IQ specifically, it’s requiring 24 gigs minimum. So a pretty performant machine. It’s bringing together two of the biggest shaping factors, I think, of the IT industry in the first half of this year, one being RAMageddon and the other being tokenomics. How do you want partners walking customers through thinking about cost of acquisition for a more performant machine versus the ongoing cost of tokens if they’re living their AI in the cloud?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah, it’s definitely a tricky time. There’s a lot of factors right now that are at play in terms of decision making around investment. So I think while prices have gone up, and as I mentioned earlier, I mean, customers are still making those investments where they need to future proof their business. And so they’re figuring out how to do that within their broader IT budgets. I think things like persona-based fleet management, like we discussed is helping to manage costs. We’re actually bringing some interesting technology you may have heard through our CES announcements with devices like the Elite Board, which is basically a keyboard that has the full power of an EliteBook built into the keyboard. And it has no monitor on it. And so it’s not a full laptop, people might say, why would I need that? Why would you create a keyboard that doesn’t have a monitor? And we actually have data that suggests that over 30% of people who have a laptop actually never use the screen on their laptop, they just use it to dock. And so, you know, we are bringing innovative technology like the Elite Board to market. So if you think of a use case where you have a person who’s not a mobile worker, but maybe they work at home two days a week, and they work in the office three days a week, and they’re in a cube environment or an inside sales rep, and they’re just carrying that device back and forth from one office desk to another and plugging it in, and then using a big monitor, this can now be used as the keyboard. So it reduces the cost of having to add another keyboard to the desk. The Elite Board provides options around security. So you think about someone, unless they’re carrying a portable monitor, they can’t go to your local coffee shop and start working on their work there. So it addresses a security concern, and it’s priced more competitively than a laptop. So we’re giving people options when they think about their full fleet to say, you know, do you have personas where an Elite Board might make sense that frees up some dollars for you to then go invest in areas where people need full powered AI PCs or workstations. So token costs are really a reality, and many customers are realizing that. And so as I said, like the real opportunity, I think, is AI at the edge and getting creative around how they’re rolling out their fleet. And then I think many of our partners are also adding AI development and consulting services to their offerings so that they can help customers to really focus on where the greatest ROI is and help them to develop solutions to roll out AI as well. So a lot of factors, but we’re bringing a lot of flexibility to market in terms of some of those answers and opportunities to help customers.

ROBERT DUTT: HP’s CFO said a couple of months ago that memory prices will stay elevated for many quarters, I think was the line used. I’ve seen reports or suggestions, everything from things are stabilizing this month to things are still going to surge, acknowledging that there’s no single crystal ball or source of the truth. You know, what’s your current read for partners who are trying to plan what things are going to look like on the costing issue going into the second half of the year?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah, if I had a crystal ball, then I may be doing a different job. So, I’m hearing the same things you’re hearing. There’s varied feedback depending on which chip manufacturer you’re talking to or kind of which industry trends you’re following. So I’m not going to try to predict what’s happening. I do think that partners need to, again, be working with their customers on future ready strategies. And so when we think about what tools we’re providing partners and what flexibility we’re giving them in terms of the value of their partnership with HP and what they can take to customers, we have several things that we’re bringing to market to help. First of all, again, WXP, which I mentioned, which is our Workforce Experience Platform, is a fairly economical software solution that partners can deploy within their customers’ organizations. And it really is designed to help them assess and gather information that they need to make intelligent and proactive fleet management decisions. So deploying that tool gives partners an opportunity to introduce a new solution and service to their customers and helps them to use that data to then provide proactive and intelligent decision making and support to their customers. So WXP is one. Introducing new products like the Elite Board, which I mentioned, is another that gives flexibility. Also, the value of selling across our ecosystem is another way that partners can help to manage their overall profitability in their business these days. So if you think about selling only PCs, there might put some profit pressure for partners as they’re heading into the next couple of quarters and halves. But if they’re selling across the entire ecosystem, adding on accessories and attach and Poly and print and all the things, then we have extra value and benefits in our programs for partners to help make that more beneficial for them. So we are trying to bring programs and initiatives and technology to market to help provide our partner ecosystem with new tools that they can use to manage their business going forward from a profit perspective a little bit better and also provide data and intelligence to help their customers to navigate. One thing we are saying is, we’re not advising a wait and see strategy. We do know that in the near… I shouldn’t say we know, but we suspect that in the coming quarters, prices will continue to rise. And so we’re not really advising a wait and see, because the price you have today is likely better than the price 30 days from now or 60 days from now, depending on when the next price increases occur. So we are working with partners and helping them to help their customers say, “What are your real needs? And then how can we get creative to solve for those needs within the confines of budgets or other things that might be at play?”

ROBERT DUTT: Do you find partners are doing a good job of optimizing that bundling playbook opportunity with Poly and displays and printers and services and software and all that good stuff? Or that’s still something that needs to be… Or where there’s an opportunity to take better advantage of that?

MICHELLE BIASE: I think we’re seeing some good progress. There’s still opportunity for sure, but we are starting to see partners lean in to the One HP strategy. And our team has moved to a sales structure that is now One HP focused. And so as we’re co-selling with our partner ecosystem, we’ve made a lot of changes in our sales organization. And so when we’re selling with our partner ecosystem to customers, we are selling through an entirely One HP lens. And so that helps to drive that conversation forward. And partners are embracing the value of the One HP ecosystem, especially with the introduction of HP IQ and WXP runs across our entire ecosystem as well. So some of those solutions that we’re bringing forward really drive that further. So we’re seeing some good progress there and always more opportunity to drive that conversation with customers and partners as well.

ROBERT DUTT: You guys are currently, as far as I know, doing 30 day price quotes. No shade on that. I was at a partner conference this week, literally. The biggest cheer line of the event was that pricing quotes were going back up to 30 days. It’s kind of the state of the world. But where customers are still wanting 60 or 90 day sales cycles, what’s the guidance for partners right now? I suspect a big part of it is that, don’t wait and see side of things, but what else are you telling partners about best taking care of their margin and best taking care of their customers in this pricing environment?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah, there’s a couple things we’re doing. I think one is obviously working very closely with our partners to accelerate the sort of demo to close conversation. So how quickly can we get the customer to move from, I think I need some PCs. Here’s the demo to here’s my PO. You don’t have the luxury anymore of allowing that sales cycle to take now 90 days. So we’re working closely to try to accelerate that sales process. One of the other things we’re doing is really making sure that we have a good level and assortment of product in our channel. So our distribution partners are really playing a key role right now in making sure that we have product available. And so we are, in certain cases, steering demand towards what’s available in channel and having more of a buy what’s available strategy versus customized CTO units that might take longer to arrive. And by the time they arrive, there’s maybe cost changes or product availability issues and things that come up during the configuration cycle. So we’re really leaning on and working closely with our distribution partners to make sure that we have a lot of inventory in channel and then that we have a good assortment and then asking partners to work with their customers to say, hey, is there something available in channel today? That would meet needs. It presents an opportunity as well if they can get the components for partners to do some configuration work for their customers as well. If the spec is not 100% aligned to what the customer needs, then we’re working with them as well from that perspective.

ROBERT DUTT: On that point, given your background at D&H, you’ve seen the other side of supply chain issues and pricing pressure and those sorts of things. How does that inform how you’re managing this whole situation with both your partners and the distis right now?

MICHELLE BIASE: Yeah. As I mentioned, our distribution partners are playing a very critical role in our success at this period in time. And so we’re working with them closely to make sure that they have inventory on hand and that we have the strongest assortment that we can to make sure that we have the right mix of product and that it’s close to most of the common CTO units and then steering partners and customers to a buy what is available approach. We’ve made sure that our distribution partners are well aligned with our teams internally so that their risk is minimized in terms of making those types of investments as well. And then making sure that we have an assortment across our entire ecosystem. So not only on PCs, but on some of our what we call attached products. So headsets and accessories and those types of things. So that both the distributors and the channel partners can fulfill that One HP ecosystem together through the channel and not having to wait for different components of products to become available to fulfill the customer’s needs. So they’re really our distributors are critical to our business right now. And we really appreciate them leaning in and are working very closely with them.

ROBERT DUTT: This time last year, it felt like the big drivers that everyone was betting on for PC refresh was the AI PC, obviously, which we’ve talked about a fair bit and Windows 10 end of life. Curious how that, which is now in the rear view mirror, played out, especially given the cost environment that we are in today, you know, has it sort of played out the way you expected or are customers kind of holding steady a little bit.

MICHELLE BIASE: You know what, I would say the first half of this fiscal year for us, so starting in November, I mean, we’ve had very strong results in the first half. And I think customers are not holding back. As I mentioned, they are, you know, realizing they have to be future ready and future proof their business. And so, you know, there was a lot of customers who made the decision to buy early as opposed to waiting. And so they were sort of leaning in and saying, how can I get ahead and, you know, look at my refresh cycle and buy up for the next X number of quarters, you know, to get ahead of it. The Windows 10 obviously is a requirement for some customers that they couldn’t wait depending on how their environment is managed and the support that they get. And so it really drove, I would say, accelerated refresh cycles, not delayed refresh cycles. I think customers were like, okay, let me get ahead of this and get what I need for the next, you know, three to four quarters. And then we have enough to keep us going. Again, those that were deploying WXP are looking at sort of alternate ways to manage their refresh. Might not have done a one for one for one refresh for everyone, but they certainly bought up inventory and then were like, okay, we can stretch the assets on some of these folks and refresh more people in other areas where the refresh is more critical. So it’s been interesting because I think it’s created a more creative refresh conversation than we’ve sort of been stuck in that typical, you know, three year refresh cycle that everybody has managed for a long time. It’s created some interesting dialogue around alternatives.

ROBERT DUTT: When you came into this role in December 2024, I don’t think, AI PC was just kind of in the early days of conceptualizing. I don’t think we could have foreseen the memory spikes we’ve seen. We couldn’t have seen something like HP IQ necessarily coming down the tubes. A lot has changed in that period of time. I’m curious, you know, at this point where you’ve been in the job the time you have, what’s kind of been the biggest thing about running HP Canada that’s different now than what you expected to look like when you took the job?

MICHELLE BIASE: Well, that’s a big loaded question. So I’ve been in the role for, I guess, just over 18 months now. And for sure, a lot has changed in terms of what you reference. AI PCs were just getting launched. You know, the One HP strategy was just being released, the whole better together concept. So, you know, from the technology perspective, I would say, you know, it has moved very quickly. I wouldn’t say surprising to me. I think, you know, I always sort of believe that AI was going to drive a rapid transformation in our industry pretty quickly. And so I think, you know, that has played out as I would have expected in terms of technology advancement. I think the thing that is most significant internally for HP Canada is we have made a very significant investment in transformation in our go-to-market strategy. So we, as I mentioned before, have moved to a One HP go-to-market strategy and invested heavily in resources in Canada. So our sales team is 50% larger than it was when I joined. We’ve added several resources in Canada. We’ve added a whole new layer of sales management. And we’ve added several specialists in the areas that we believe are important to our customers in terms of driving their growth strategies. So, you know, around workstations and print and, you know, software and solutions. And so we are going to market now with a whole new approach around selling the One HP value proposition wrapped and layered in our software solutions like WXP and HP IQ. So it has been a big transition. When I joined, we had PC sellers, print sellers, Poly sellers going to the same customers and having those conversations. And now we are elevating our conversations with customers and getting higher up inside the organization because we have a more strategic value proposition to offer around our One HP strategy and the value and benefits of the software and solutions that we’re bringing to market. So it’s been a really interesting time because I get to have, you know, very cool conversations with customers about what they’re trying to do with their technology. There’s a lot of factors around their people strategies and security strategies and all the things that we lean into from an HP perspective, you know, environmental impact of AI. So there’s a lot of HP, you know, long standing strategy, security and environmental, you know, focus is not new for us, but those things are being heightened yet again, because of the advancement of technology. So it’s been a fun 18 months. We have done a ton in that time in terms of transforming our whole team and upskilling our team and adding a lot of resources and then supporting our partners and customers through all the transition that is happening in the market right now. So it’s been fun and there’s a lot more good stuff to come.

ROBERT DUTT: With any vendor that’s got a lot in the organization, and that would include you guys, there’s always that, you know, message of we’d love you to cross sell more. We’d love you to, you know, the better together message in whatever form that may take. And I think with One HP, that’s even driving that more. I’m curious at this point, is there any one place where you’d like to, you know, in the portfolio that you’d like to see partners pay a little bit more attention, give a little bit more love towards part of the business, maybe because it’s an untapped opportunity for partners right now.

MICHELLE BIASE: I think it depends on the partner. We certainly have some partners who are selling across the One HP ecosystem successfully. Other partners are more focused on print versus, you know, other areas of the business collaboration. So I think really leaning into, you know, the software and solution side of the business, because when you think about Workforce Experience Platform, it is a single pane of glass that provides that management and manageability across our entire ecosystem. And so leaning into selling from a solutions perspective changes the conversation from being sort of a transactional hardware conversation to really more of a value added solution conversation that we believe we’re bringing to market today. And so having more partners lean in and sell that way, if you start with WXP, then selling all of the products that fit in our portfolio under that just bring a greater value. So I think, you know, thinking about HP, you know, as a software and solutions company, and really thinking about the value we bring from that better together in One HP perspective, when you wrap the solutions around it is really, I think, you know, the next great opportunity for partners in terms of them adding more services and growth to their business and what differentiates us as we bring our One HP strategy forward.

ROBERT DUTT: All right. Well, good luck on getting that actualized and realized in the market. And once again, thank you so much for taking the time.

MICHELLE BIASE: Awesome. Thanks so much. Great chatting with you.