Outsourcing Deal Gives P&G Clout With HP Execs

Therefore, he contended, you should make decisions about when meetings will be held and who should attend before a contract is signed.

At P&G, having HP manage the IT infrastructure allows data center personnel to focus on other tasks. They're currently developing tools designed to simulate the in-store tendencies of potential customers. Simulation "is really big for us," said Fortner.

For example, the company has created a Second Life-like environment where users can interact virtually with simulated displays of products on store shelves; they can even take items off the shelves and read their labels. The simulations are coupled with back-end analytics to assess the impact of changes to displays.

This version of this story was originally published in Computerworld 's print edition. It's an edited version of an article that first appeared on Computerworld.com.

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