HPE rolls out partner programme enhancements

HPE has announced a number of enhancements for its partner programme as it continues to encourage its channel to take the as-a-service approach.

The fiscal year 2021 HPE Partner Ready Programme is designed to provide more compensation for partners and give them access to finance and increased enablement opportunities.

The vendor has been pushing more of its business via the channel, which now accounts for 70% of the firm’s annual sales, and it has a channel base of 80,000 partners globally. GreenLake has been the vehicle to grow the as-a-service sales, and recent partner events have underlined that.

“Each year we design our Partner Ready Programme using partner feedback, thus providing our channel with an unmatched combination of sales and field enablement, and financial incentives and rewards, to help them drive joint success with HPE,” said George Hope, HPE worldwide head of partner sales.

“HPE’s as-a-service strategy is establishing incredible traction through our channel, and so it remains critical to bolster our partners with the strongest programme framework and breadth of opportunities to optimise their experience, help them establish differentiation and grow their expertise.”

At the heart of the latest enhancements are efforts to improve partner experience with artificial intelligence-powered proposals and more automation to speed up deals and FlexOffers that offer the channel the chance to pitch build-to-order product configurations at bundled discount prices. There will also be more sales certifications on offer and the vendor is making an extended demo programme open to partners.

GreenLake continues to be a focus, with the firm encouraging more partners to get up to speed with an “introduction and business planning workshop”. The vendor has also stressed that it believes it continues to offer one of the most generous compensation packages for those that sell across its portfolio.

Partner programmes are also an opportunity for vendors to drive and reward partner behaviour and it is clear from these enhancements that HPE is also keen to get its business in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) space ticking over more rapidly. The firm is offering up-front benefits and price protection for those partners that generate new logos and those that co-sell across the ecosystem.

It has been a difficult time for vendors releasing partner programme updates because the coronavirus has stalled many traditional processes around recertification and targets. With that in mind, HPE has maintained core requirements of the 1H FY20 HPE Partner Ready Programme through FY21.

As a result, the vendor has informed partners that they will experience no change to revenue thresholds, sales and technical certifications, continuous learning requirements, or competency requirements.