Financial Practice Set at HP

While the public has been watching the internal battles over the fate of Hewlett Packard's Compaq (Houston) acquisition, the companies have been been working to integrate the two financial services groups into into one unit. Although the integration is far from complete, report Tam Seto, insurance industry segment manager, Americas, for the new HP (Palo Alto, CA), some decisions have been made.

Seto, formerly Compaq's North American insurance leader, will have his role expanded to include both North and South America. "Now I just have a lot more traveling and work to do," Seto quips. Seto will report to Chip Greenlee, HP's head of financial services, Americas. HP will also have a financial services consulting group that will work closely with Greenlee's team. John Wallace will lead the consulting group.

For the new HP's customers, Seto says, there shouldn't be any impact on services as a result of the merger. In fact, he adds, the company's complementary products will give customers a broader range of services. "If there is a tie to be made on the account, the customer decides," Seto says.

Also, since HP tended to focus on back-end infrastructures while Compaq concentrated on many customer-facing technologies, the new HP will offer the best of both technologies, adds Seto. "HP has a lot of solutions and partnerships for things done in the backroom, such as their partnership with Sherwood International London," he says. "Compaq partnered with companies such as InSystems Markham, ON for document-assembly automation." Compaq also has a partnership with Accenture (New York) for a claims-processing product.

Ready for Web Services

Another important integration will be the merging of Compaq's Microsoft .NET world with HP's predominantly J2EE/Java focus. But this is not a problem, according to Seto. "With the large focus on Web services, we are very well positioned," he says.

Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio