From The HP Garage To AI PCs: How HP Is Rethinking Work Technology

[00:00:05] Welcome back to the Tech Talks Daily Podcast. It's a story that began in a legendary garage in Palo Alto to present day where AI is running locally on devices right in front of us. The story of work has always been shaped by the tools that we build and how human they feel to use. And my guest today is Corey McElroy. He's Vice President of Commercial Product Management at HP.

[00:00:32] And he's joining me all the way from Houston, Texas. And we're going to talk about the shift that goes far beyond faster processors and thinner laptops. Because we're living through a moment right now where our relationship with work is being redesigned in real time. Hybrid working is now the default. Friction is the real productivity killer.

[00:00:54] And according to HP's Work Relationship Index, only a small percentage of people would actually describe their relationship with work as healthy. Somewhat of a sobering stat, but also a huge opportunity. Because Corey will explain today why the PC is no longer just a standalone device. But we should look at it as the front door to an entire ecosystem.

[00:01:18] And he will also discuss how on-device AI is changing expectations around privacy performance and personalization. And why fulfillment at work is becoming a measurable business advantage rather than just a nice to have. And we'll also be talking about rethinking form factors. Thinking differently. Including putting a full AI PC inside a keyboard. Which sounds like something from a sci-fi movie.

[00:01:46] Until you realize it's designed for hot desking, mobility and the way that work actually happens today. Not the way it used to happen. So whether you are leading a workplace transformation. Wondering what an AI PC actually enables in the real world. Or just trying to remove a little daily friction from your daily workflow. There's plenty in here. There's plenty in today's episode for you. But enough scene setting for me. Let me officially introduce you to Corey right now.

[00:02:17] So a massive warm welcome to the show, Corey. Corey, can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do? Thanks Neil. Happy to be on. Appreciate the opportunity. So name's Corey McElroy. I lead our commercial PC portfolio and AI experiences. So my team and I are responsible for notebooks, desktops, thin client and our education offering. So we work across internal, external partners to bring AI experiences to the portfolio and to our customers.

[00:02:44] I've been at HP just over 15 years. So a range of product strategy and general manager roles supporting commercial PCs and also some industry solutions across verticals like retail, hospitality, healthcare and such. And it is such a magical moment at the moment in the history of tech. And if we go right back to the beginning, I am fortunate. I go to Palo Alto a couple of times a year and I think it was last year I made that journey to the HP garage where it all began.

[00:03:13] It's just something magical about that. And fast forward to present day. We're in a moment where work, technology and expectations are all shifting at once. We've come such a long way. But from your perspective, what feels fundamentally different about the future of work today compared to even five years ago? Oh, my goodness. You're right. It's exciting times as you talk about the kind of the garage. We think about where a lot of Silicon Valley started, right?

[00:03:38] We're kind of somewhat in another kind of inflection opportunity in the space now. And it's unlike anything we've seen in the PC industry. If you think about five years ago, you know, remote work was maybe seen as an option, whereas now hybrid. It's just the way that work gets done for hundreds of millions of people. But it's not just about where people work. For us, it's really around kind of the evolution of expectations of work. And so this is it's an area that we focus on. We have a body of work.

[00:04:08] We call the work relationship index. It's some pretty sobering statistics. Only about 20% of employees say they have a healthy relationship with work. So on one hand, it sounds concerning, but it also points to something really important in that a lot of what drives fulfillment at work is actually within an organization's control. So it creates an opportunity. And one of those big opportunities is around technology and technology.

[00:04:33] It doesn't just enable work, but it's really we see it as a foundation of the employee experience. And people expect that technology to adapt to them, not the other way around. And so employees, they want tools that can kind of move seamlessly across spaces, take friction out, and they want to be able to use AI in ways that really make them more productive. So we're seeing this evolution of the PC and the technology from productivity into really a fulfillment platform.

[00:05:00] And as part of that, you know, we're seeing AI is just an accelerant. Maybe five years ago, it might have been seen as aspirational, but now we're just seeing the power of AI and bringing it more locally into our portfolio, being able to run models on the PC now that rival kind of what a frontier AI model been just last year. And so that's impacting workflows and creating opportunities to really kind of redefine how people interact with that technology in a more natural, but also secure and private way.

[00:05:30] So as we said, HP Story began, I think it was July the 2nd, 1939 at 367 Addison Avenue. But fast forward to present day, what is your North Star now that drives how you operate every day and building towards a new future? Yeah, you know, and I hit upon this word around fulfillment. So I'll kind of come back to it a few more times just throughout our conversation as we think about like our North Star and the future of work.

[00:05:57] It's really around that relationship that people have with the work that they do every day and the opportunity for technology as a catalyst to make that possible. And, you know, back to a sobering statistic, you know, work can take up to a third, maybe in some cases more than a third of our lives. And so, you know, the opportunities are North Star is really around how do we help people make the most of that time that they spend with work.

[00:06:23] And it's not just from a fulfillment perspective thinking about fewer hours, but it's making the most of the hours that we do spend with work. And as part of the research that I mentioned earlier, it's consistently showing that when you have a fulfilled employee, they're more productive, more innovative, more likely to stay at the company. And again, it's back to that fulfillment is largely within the control of the organization.

[00:06:46] And so when we think about our opportunity with technology in the North Star of what we deliver, it's around intent and removing friction, helping people focus, helping people stay in the flow and do their best work. And so we, as part of that in the North Star, we're working towards at a company level is what we call our OneHP strategy, which is really embedding AI across the portfolio.

[00:07:09] You think about the portfolio at HP across PCs, printers, and all the accessories that people use throughout their day. When we can embed AI and really unlock the power that comes from hardware, software services that are really designed to work better together, it creates significant opportunity. So that's around this connected ecosystem where all the devices help employees and devices move across spaces, again, in kind of a secure and private way.

[00:07:39] And I think many people still tend to think of the PC businesses, just devices, hardware, et cetera. But we're really talking about an entire ecosystem now. So how do you think about that today? No, it's right. And it's a really important shift. So when we think about the PC today, we're absolutely not just kind of thinking about the PC as a standalone device, but instead it's really an entry point and part of a more integral ecosystem.

[00:08:06] And part of that ecosystem is how we work with our industry partners, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Google, and many others. And we don't just view them as supplier relationships, but instead it's how can we co-engineer and kind of test real world workloads to make sure that the portfolio that we deliver delivers value through productivity gains or longer battery life or performance that really adapts to how people work.

[00:08:32] And so having this multi-partner approach as part of the ecosystem helps give our customers choice where they need that. But also it helps us tap into this incredible breadth of technology and innovation across the ecosystem. And that extends into, from a software perspective, a growing ecosystem of partners that help deliver applications and productivity, collaboration, security. And some of those might be more well-known like Adobe, Zoom, Microsoft.

[00:09:01] But then also there's newer companies that are driving incredible innovation applications from companies like AI Producer and Guide. And some of these really help us kind of optimize the applications for the AI PC and build use cases that help drive better experiences for the users. So you bring all that together across the hardware, software, services, and these partnerships. It really kind of gets to something much bigger than just the PC itself.

[00:09:26] And that's the key point is that customers aren't just buying a PC for today. They're really buying into an ecosystem that they know will and they're confident will deliver value over the next three to five years during the life of the product that they're buying. And so it's important for us that we make sure that ecosystem keeps getting smarter, more secure, more aligned to really the way that work is happening for the users that we serve.

[00:09:51] And we're recording this podcast in March, but the tech year always begins in January with the CES event, doesn't it? And there's no room to rest or ease yourself into the new year. It's just straight to Vegas. And at this year's event, HP introduced new form factors that seem to be rethinking what a PC even is, like the HP Elite Board, for example, which integrates AI directly into the keyboard. So why do you think now is the moment to rethink form factors?

[00:10:21] And how do you see all these things changing the way that people work? Because it feels like there's so much up for grabs, so many opportunities, and we're starting to think differently. But tell me about that and what excites you. Yeah, absolutely. You're right. The year does kick off fast and furious in Las Vegas at CES, but it's always fun. It's kind of a family reunion of sorts for those that are in the industry. We had some exciting launches on the commercial side, a couple of key introductions.

[00:10:49] One was our EliteBook X lineup, which is an entirely new redesigned family of premium notebooks with a set of new experiences, all really harnessing the power of local AI, hybrid AI, connectivity. And then, as you mentioned, the HP Elite Board was a bit of a star of the show and generated a lot of excitement at the show and has since with customers and partners. And it's really a good example of how we're rethinking what a PC can be. And the timing of it was very intentional.

[00:11:18] You know, we're at a moment when there's some major shifts that are happening at once. And a few of those that were coming together as we were designing the product were user flexibility, AIs we've talked about, and also an evolution of the workspace. And so, this created a unique opportunity for us to rethink the PC form factor and then integrate a PC into a keyboard. And so, from a flexibility perspective, it's not optional, right? People are moving constantly between their home, their office, and shared spaces.

[00:11:46] And so, as we're able to take desktop class AI performance and integrate into the Elite Board, which is a thin form factor, lightweight and adaptable, it enables users to just plug into any monitor or desk setup, and they instantly have a full capable AI PC. That's very different than current models, maybe in a more traditional desktop form factor. The second is when we talk about AI, you know, it's also driving a lot of hardware and device design implications.

[00:12:15] And so, we need high levels of performance. And so, we had to think very differently about how do we cool and drive power into that in terms of how we place the components to also keep the form factor compelling. But when you put a PC inside a keyboard, you know, one of the questions or concerns that comes up is around durability, reliability, and usability. So, we wanted to be quiet, spill-resistant, still be serviceable, which matters for our commercial customers, and built to last.

[00:12:41] And so, we designed it sustainably at its core to support longer device life cycles and serviceability. And then I mentioned the third really around the desk itself and how we think about the workspace being reimagined. And so, when you can take a PC and pair it with a display or a dock over a single cable, it gives you a cleaner, more adaptable space that can support hot docking or shared workspace environments, something that maybe a traditional stationary PC might not be able to. And so, you know, as I mentioned, we're getting a lot of strong interest.

[00:13:10] Customers are starting to evaluate it in environments like call centers, shared offices, or in frontline environments, you know, hotel environments and things like that, where an employee can carry the lead board, plug it in, instantly have a secure, personalized environment with all the goodness of local AI capabilities. And when they're done, disconnect and go. So, and so it's just, you know, one of the examples, the intentional shift that we're driving around, how do we enable this more kind of seamless experience across spaces?

[00:13:38] And ultimately, it's about taking friction out of the user experience. And if we put the tech to one side, just for a moment, a word that you've used several times in our conversation today is fulfillment. So why do you believe personal fulfillment is such a critical driver for your business growth? Yeah, you know, and I mentioned some data points earlier around fulfilled employees being more productive, more innovative, more likely to stay. And that matters. In today's environment, acquiring talent is difficult, right?

[00:14:07] It's competitive, it's expensive. And so when you do acquire that talent, retention is important. And so when so much of the fulfillment is within an organization's control, and a big part of that is technology, you know, we do believe that when people have the right tools, their likelihood of having a healthy relationship with work improves. In fact, the data even shows that in some cases it can double. But, you know, fulfillment is not just about perks or amenities. It's really around, I want to do my best work.

[00:14:36] And so part of that is taking friction out and then enabling people to do that work. And so technology collaboration, both near and dear to us are two of the biggest levers, and they account for roughly about a third of the workplace fulfillment. And so as we think about the products I mentioned earlier that we're designing, you know, the EliteBook X or the EliteBoard, delivering good experiences for the users matters as part of them feeling like they're getting the support from their organization.

[00:15:05] So they want beautiful OLED displays, all day battery life, integrated 5G, AI capabilities that give them superpowers. And then also, you know, we're focused on providing tools more broadly than just the PC. And so we have a platform called the Workforce Experience Platform that helps IT proactively solve some of the challenges that employees may have before they even notice them.

[00:15:31] So it's really about uptime and just helping people stay in the flow, give them their time back, take the frustration out, take the friction out so they can focus on the meaningful work that really drives fulfillment. So, as I mentioned, we're seeing a lot of data that supports the opportunity, knowing that we still have a lot of work to do in partnership with the customers that we serve. But when you get it right, there's less turnover, more productivity, innovation, ultimately strengthening the brand.

[00:15:56] And then that battle for talent, people are going to gravitate to where they feel like they're in an environment where they can do their best work. And so it's not really nice to have. It's truly a competitive advantage, and we see it as a driver of business growth. And I'm curious, how do you see the shift towards local on-device AI changing the value of an interconnected ecosystem of sorts where PCs, collaboration, peripherals, software and services are all designed to work better together right from the outset?

[00:16:26] How do you see this? Yeah, so I mentioned the fulfillment word a few times. Another one that, you know, common is around friction. And the truth is, technology still has way too much friction. There are times that devices just don't work together in ways that intuitively they feel like they should. And collaboration breaks. And when you have to switch between tools and devices, sometimes it can disrupt the flow of work. And now in a world of AI, being everywhere, that friction actually stands out even more.

[00:16:53] And so we do see the opportunity around local on-device AI as one of the key shifts that can help us solve for some of this. When you can run that intelligence locally, everything can get more faster. It can be more private and more seamless and contextual to the user. And that's where kind of building this interconnected ecosystem we've talked about really matters. So we call this journey a better together journey. It's a foundation.

[00:17:20] And so we're focused on how do we, across the devices I mentioned earlier, design them in a way that they can discover each other automatically and connect instantly. That we can have local AI orchestration to really kind of help deliver the right insights and the right workloads without depending on the cloud. But leveraging the cloud as needed, depending on the workload. You know, a recent example where connectivity matters.

[00:17:45] I was on a flight, you know, I'm used to using AI tools and Wi-Fi down, which unfortunately still happens more than I'd like for it to. And still being able to stay in my workflow, running some of these advanced models on my PC kept me productive. And so it's an example of when we bring all these things together, we bring the AI together, we bring the better together experiences together across PC displays, headsets, and collaboration tools.

[00:18:10] It can start to unlock really exciting opportunities that are in our near future, which I can walk into a meeting, content's ready, environment adapts, everything stays local. And I can be productive right away between the PC and the room technology as one example. And so that's the future that we're working towards is we're going to kind of bring AI to the edge, amplifying it with an ecosystem that helps users stay in the flow. And really, again, focus on the meaningful work, not just trying to get their technology to work.

[00:18:40] There is a lot of hype around AI. And I think there are many consumers out there that are still unsure on what exactly an AI PC is, what it means to them, do they need it, et cetera. Then we have the big ROI question that seems to be in the shadow of all things AI at the moment. So, again, if we take a quick break from talking about the tech itself, for every listener, every consumer, all those people listening, what can they do today that they couldn't do before? Or as they say in the corporate world, what's in it for me?

[00:19:10] How do we take that part? Yeah. You know, and again, I mean, I'm personally using it, my team's using it, you know, family using it, but all to different degrees. And so, it can very much relate to the journey and the open discussion and the dialogue on it. And so, it's one we have often. I mean, I think if you think kind of about the core of what it enables, it's really around saving time from an end user perspective.

[00:19:35] If you think about the things that used to take hours analyzing documents, and there's a lot of repetitive things that we do, a lot of systems that we go into kind of time and time again, kind of do a lot of the same activities. You know, some of these can happen in real time and really free up people to focus on higher value work pretty quickly. The approach that we take on is because, you know, you can't do a one-size-fits-all approach because it's very specific to people. It's specific to what they do.

[00:20:00] It's specific to what we call workflows and the tools and applications that they use. And within that, there's pain points. And so, we kind of go through that journey and we understand those and then we just work to solve as many as possible, whether it's with internal, you know, HP capabilities. And again, partnering with third parties I mentioned earlier. So, maybe an example I'll share just to make it real is of a sales professional.

[00:20:24] And if you think about without AI, a sales individual spend much of their day with manual tasks like scoring leads, building playbooks, logging data in the CRM system, and building personalized proposals for clients. And then if you think about those same tasks, but in an AI-powered workflow, then you can have predictive late scoring and streamline the qualifications. And those playbooks can optimize and adapt in real time. And the CRM is updated automatically.

[00:20:51] And so, you know, this whole journey that I mentioned actually isn't theoretical because this is actually the one that we went through internally. We call it HP on HP, where we go through this journey and learn internally. And so, we did this as we deployed AI PCs and some of the right AI applications and tools to our own HP sales team. And the sales people, we asked them, you know, as part of it, the benefits and value that they got. And the data was pretty staggering that they were saving up to four hours per week.

[00:21:20] And that matters if you think about that time that can then be spent building deeper relationships and delivering more value. So, it's really not about the technology, to your point. It's really about how do we unlock those new capabilities and empower the employees to give them the tools and, you know, the things that they need to succeed in ways that really weren't possible just a few years ago. So, we started this conversation today talking about how much our world has changed in the last five years alone.

[00:21:48] And how working from home went from something that was just for the privileged few to hybrid working today becoming the norm and AI everywhere, of course. So, if I was to ask you to look into my virtual crystal ball and look ahead two to three years, what excites you most about where the future of work is heading? And where do you think the most successful organizations or what do you think those most successful organizations will be doing differently from everyone else? How do you see this playing out? Yeah.

[00:22:18] By the way, a lot of things excite me. I love what I do and get excited about a lot of the opportunities. You know, again, I'll come back to the friction. I've talked a lot about it and we're obviously focused a lot on how do we remove it. But I think the next two to three years are going to create incredible opportunities to remove so much more of it. And again, come back to giving people superpowers. There's a lot of things we take for granted. And our relationship with the PC has been very utilitarian traditionally, right? I need to find a file.

[00:22:47] Okay, I go search for it. I need to create a document. I open up a program on it. I need to finish a project. Okay, let me go to the four or five programs that it takes. And by the way, none of those are connected. And so, I have to go kind of stitch those together and to get something done. And we're entering a phase, right? Maybe not even two to three years. Some of it's happening now. But it'll just get better and more significant. But we're entering a phase where I can naturally ask, whether it's through typing or talking. And my PC can start to do those things for me. It lets me focus on what matters.

[00:23:15] If I think about kind of physical environments that we're in, right? And I've got a camera on my PC. And I'm using it for video calls, Zoom, or Teams maybe today. But in the not-so-distant future, that camera can capture and make sense of my physical environment. When I'm converting a whiteboard sketch or have Post-it notes from a brainstorm, I can instantly turn that into a collaborative digital file that can bridge immediately with colleagues on the other side of the world.

[00:23:41] And so we're at this very exciting kind of inflection point in space where the physical world, the data, the users, and technology all kind of come together. And it gives us an incredible opportunity to rethink how work gets done when we can really bring those together. So I think the next two to three years, it's going to be super exciting. You'd ask around what I think the most successful orgs will do differently.

[00:24:03] And I think the most successful ones will be those that truly see and invest in technology as a strategic asset. And that strategic asset is all around unlocking the superpowers within their org. And that'll help them separate from the rest. And we covered so much in a short amount of time today. But for anyone listening wanting to dig a little bit deeper, see more about some of those big announcements at CES,

[00:24:27] and some of the future announcements will be coming from HP as well, where's the best place to point everyone, whether they are a personal user, a consumer, or a business user? Where should they go for everything? Absolutely. Well, for me, please connect on LinkedIn. I'm active on it. Would love to continue the conversation with the listeners and get feedback and connect. So please find me on LinkedIn. And then for the products and the things I mentioned, those that are, you know, the CES introductions

[00:24:56] and some of the other areas that we're working on, just checking out hp.com. We have an HP newsroom. So any announcements that we make from CES or other events and upcoming launches that we have planned later this year, you'll be able to find all the latest and greatest. And anything else that you want to talk about that you don't see on hp.com, just send me a note on LinkedIn and would love to connect. And thank you again, Neil. Really appreciate the opportunity to join and thoroughly appreciate our conversation. Well, as I said, we quite literally covered so much today.

[00:25:25] So thank you so much, Corey, for not only talking about where we are now, but taking us from that famous garage on 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, where it all began to where we are now, a future of AI devices and services that are all coming together to help reshape how we experience work. So many big talking points. I'll have links to absolutely everything. But just thank you for starting this conversation today. Really appreciate your time, Corey. Thank you. Appreciate it as well.

[00:25:54] One of the many things that I enjoyed about our conversation with Corey today was the reframe the future of work away from buzzwords and back towards something far more human. And that is, if technology takes up such a huge portion of our day, then surely the quality of that experience should shape the way we feel about our jobs, our productivity and even our creativity.

[00:26:18] And this idea that the right tools can give people back hours every week is powerful. But the biggest story, I think, is what people do with the time once they get it back. And we did hear a clear argument today for why the next competitive advantage will not come from simply deploying AI,

[00:26:38] but removing friction across an entire ecosystem because that's when workflows will begin to flow naturally between devices, spaces and applications. And maybe the organisations that do start treating technology as more of a strategic enabler of focus, fulfilment and collaboration. Maybe they will be the ones that attract and keep the best people. These are a few things that I thought about.

[00:27:04] But if today's conversation has sparked a few ideas about your own workplace setup, your own workflows, or even how your devices talk to each other. Remember, you can find more about Corey on his LinkedIn. I'll add links there. Also, everything else that he mentioned. And over to you, techtalksnetwork.com. Leave me an audio message. Leave me any kind of message or connect with me on socials. I'd love to hear from you on how you see all this evolving, adapting and playing out.

[00:27:33] But until next time, keep asking how technology can work for you rather than the other way around. And on that note, I'm going to walk off into the sunset, but I will return again tomorrow with another story. Speak to you then. Bye for now.