We’ve all been living through this pandemic for many weeks now. Wherever we are in the world, we’re all impacted by COVID-19 in one way or another, and we’re all developing our own ways to cope, stay healthy and stay connected.
We may not be together physically, but we can all draw inspiration from one another. I’ve enjoyed seeing thousands of our team members interacting and sharing stories across our various digital and social channels. I was particularly moved by a video that our team in Dalian, China, created to reassure us all that we can make it through this.
China is recovering, and while we are still encouraging our global team members to work from home, in China some team members are beginning to return to work. It’s a good reminder that we are one HPE family, and we will get through this together.
Stories like this inspire us and give us optimism, while we continue to assess developments and adapt to the current situation. One area where we’re adapting is with our annual HPE Discover event for customers and partners. After careful deliberations, we have made the decision to convert HPE Discover 2020 from an in-person event to a virtual event with a global audience. We will launch the HPE Discover 2020 Digital Experience on June 22, and I’m excited by our team’s vision.
We’re designing a unique, engaging virtual experience that allows us to reach a global audience unlike ever before and will empower our customers and partners with knowledge and insights to look ahead, evolve and emerge from this period even stronger. While I will miss the opportunity to spend time in person with our customers and partners, I know the virtual experience we deliver in June will be best-in-class, and our audiences will find it tremendously valuable.
In the meantime, we continue to be inspired by our customers and partners who are demonstrating admirable resilience, and we are focused on delivering in new ways for them. Today, HPE Financial Services announced that it is designating more than $2 billion in financing specifically to help customers with their financial challenges stemming from the COVID-19 crisis. Many businesses today have an immediate need to preserve cash, defer or reduce expenses, and relieve capacity strains and delivery delays. Our new Payment Relief Program lets customers acquire new technology and defer over 90% of the cost of their acquisition until 2021. HPE is here to help.
And we’re here to help not just our customers – but our communities, too. Through our HPE Gives program, our team members have been volunteering for a range of virtual roles, including supporting New York State’s COVID-19 Tech SWAT Team, mentoring students who no longer have a formal school structure, mapping data for first responders, and providing mental health support. It is so gratifying to see our team members living HPE’s mission to advance the way we live and work.
We are living through challenging times, but I am optimistic that we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. In Europe, for example, governments have begun planning to lift “stay at home” measures. We are developing recovery plans so we can return people to work on a country-by-country basis in a thoughtful manner when the time comes. However, this situation will not end overnight, and we all need to remain steadfast in our resolve. The video from our Chinese colleagues is proof that eventually our lives will evolve from the current state. While “normal” will be different, and we’ll be changed by this experience, let’s remember the lesson they shared:
“As long as hope remains, we will be unbeatable.”
- Antonio Neri is President and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Other Stories of Interest
- Are Schools at Risk From Cybercriminals? by Derek Walborn, 05 Sep 2021
- News you can use as the world doubles down on data centers By Mike Syiek, 23 Mar 2020
