SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg) — Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest personal-computer maker, wants to capitalise on a three-year overhaul of its technology operations by persuading customers to follow its lead.

The company held events for more than 1,000 customers over the past 18 months to explain how it cut technology expenses by $1 billion a year, said chief information officer Randy Mott. More than 400 employees are part of an "IT Swat Team" that answers customers' questions about the project.

The effort complements chief executive officer Mark Hurd's plan to expand Hewlett-Packard's computer-services business, which is almost twice as profitable as the PC unit. The company's technology overhaul will reduce computer-related expenses to less than two percent of revenue next year, from about four percent in 2005, savings that other companies could achieve.

"If you think about the way Mark thinks about cost, it's really now about making sure we're investing the right amount of that expenditure in the right things," Mott said in an interview from his office in Austin, Texas.

Mott earned a reputation for his work setting up computer systems and networks at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Dell Inc. Hurd hired Mott away from Dell, Hewlett-Packard's main rival, in 2005. Hewlett-Packard's new computer systems give executives access to more accurate and timely information, in addition to saving money, Mott said.

The overhaul, first announced in 2006, included merging 85 data centers into six and paring the number of information- technology staff to 8,000 from 19,000. Hewlett-Packard also cut the number of programs it uses to 1,500 from more than 6,000.

The changes left Hewlett-Packard with six modernized and expandable data centres — in Austin, Houston and Atlanta —that are more energy efficient and pack more processing power into fewer computers.

Hewlett-Packard's computer-services business almost doubled to $8.64 billion in sales in the quarter ended October 31, driven by the $13.2 billion purchase of Electronic Data Systems Corp. The services unit, which accounted for about a quarter of revenue, generated operating profit margins of 10.6 percent, compared with 5.5 percent in the PC group.

The company will continue to refine its systems while working on about 1,000 new technology projects each year, Mott said. They range from adding a factory to reorganising the supply chain, he said.

"It's certainly driving the cost elements as low as possible, but then there's the investment side that says, 'How many projects do we want to do and what's the return on them'?" Mott said.

Hewlett-Packard's shares have lost 34 percent this year.