Most calls or emails we get from analysts fall into two categories. First, most contact us to get information about something specific going on within HP. Second, a smaller group of communications are from folks trying to sell a report or service to HP. The communication we miss and would like to see is a note saying “I’ve been thinking about…”

The bulk of the interactions between HP and the analyst community revolve around data and opinions about what happened, what is now happening, or a short-term forecast of what might happen. To paraphrase a much maligned quote, these interactions are about what we know and what we know we don’t know.

For instance, if HP is working on a new Power and Cooling data center offering, staff within TSG generally know which analysts to contact to get information about what customers want, what the market looks like, and for opinions about market take-up. If we don’t know which analysts are covering this topic, we can search the firms’ web sites, talk to account reps, and look at other sources to find out who among you are writing about P & C.

But, a good number of people within HP Labs and various incubation programs are working on projects which are beyond what exists now, and may not have a direct link to what exists now. Others within the Office of Strategy might be blue skying what might be new markets in 2013, or the M & A group might be looking for a company similar to the one you just stumbled across.

In these and other instances, we have little insight into which analysts we should be talking to. More importantly, since we flunked mind-reading courses given by our children, if you have ideas or information that may be useful, we have no way of knowing that. We don’t know what we don’t know.

So, communicating with us may not always be productive J, but not pro-actively contacting is guaranteed to be non-productive. We’re listening.