TORONTO – HP PartnerOne has been supporting channel partners since 2002. Going forward the program will also separate on company lines: PartnerFirst for HP Inc. and Partner Ready for Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
PartnerOne has been redesigned and renamed PartnerFirst to focus on PCs, printing and imaging equipment, supplies that can track volume, solutions, specialization, system integrators and alliances, compensation metrics, while introducing the PartnerFirst ServiceOne program.
PartnerFirst will also have a new approach centred on sales, speed to market and becoming simpler to use.
Meanwhile, the PartnerReady plan has three pillars: profitability, demand and enablement. The reimagined PartnerOne will also on focus HP Enterprise’s four transformation areas:
- Transformation to a hybrid infrastructure, which will be centered on cloud;
- Protection of digital enterprises, which will have a heavy focus on security;
- Empowering the data driven organization that will be the company’s big data and analytics play; and
- Enabling workplace productivity that will look to address mobility.
Patrick Eitenbichler, the director of marketing, PartnerOne strategy, based in the Denver area told CDN that the channel wanted HP Enterprise to create the demand and pass along the leads with an opportunity to move up to a services model helped by HP.
And, Eitenbichler admitted that HP wanted to become easier to work with for partners. One area that has become easier inside PartnerReady is how partners achieve Platinum status, which is HP’s top tier. In the past, partners had to get gold level in four areas: servers, storage, networking and services. Under PartnerReady, solution providers have to achieve three gold levels in servers, storage and services, but have a choice for the fourth that can be networking or cloud or automation on the software side.
“We are doing this because those partners can delve into hybrid IT,” he said.
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Also the recent Aruba Networks acquisition will enable Aruba partners to see HP networking benefits. HP Enterprise will keep the Aruba program in place for another year and then work to amalgamate it into PartnerReady. HP Enterprise will also recognize Aruba partner certifications.
Also next year expect HP Enterprise to introduce a Platinum tier on security and Big Data. “There are enhancement even now and around information management, but security with the TippingPoint technology is coming in a year’s time,” he said.
PartnerReady will also have a streamlined pricing plan for national and multi-national solution providers.
“If a Canadian solution provider with multi-national customers submit a request for a deal that is in multi-locations, when it gets approved the special pricing kicks in using the currency of each nation. In this case they can leverage international deals and the pricing is synchronized within the geography of where the customer is based,” Eitenbichler said.
A new insignia will be made available and Helion partner marketplace for selling provisioning and build cloud services Office 365, backup as series and virus protection
PartnerReady will also have a new insignia for Helion cloud partners who are able to sell provisioning and building clouds. New services will also be available such as Office 365, backup-as-a-service and virus protection.
Look for new sales and marketing tools specific for partners at Partner.HPE.com portal site. Eitenbichler added that deal registration has also been streamlined, in terms of the process, and will be on the portal. There will also be a new partner locator on the HPE.com site.
“From an HPE perspective the focus is on investment protection for the partners. Though there are changes we are not touching the rebates itself. So if you are a Platinum partner you will be one next year and get the same benefits,” he said.
With PartnerFirst, HP Inc. is emphasising product specialization such as server specialists and mobile specialist for healthcare.
PartnerFirst will also have an alliance track for those solution providers who are developing their own IP or apps.
The company expects approximately $450 billion in transactions of which $20 to $30 billion of that are coming from new types of channel partners as opposed to transactional resellers.
PartnerFirst’s commercial area will have four tiers (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Business) and two tracks (Products and Integration).
In the Product Track partners should see volume categories such as PCs, printers, and supplies along with mobility, managed print services, product specialization and services delivery.
The Integration Track is about outsourced managed services and joint solutions with go-to-market activities.