HPE updates partner programme to improve -aaS uptake

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has made enhancements to the HPE Partner Ready programme that allow partners to customise their approach to developing enablement, achieving profitability and establishing differentiation in the market.

These programme updates empower partners to further accelerate engagement and growth of HPE GreenLake.

The new HPE Partner Ready programme is based on partner feedback and is designed to deliver consistency through a stable and predictable programme framework, compensation model and membership acceleration.

The FY20 programme enables partners to personalise how they engage and leverage resources with HPE.

With HPE, partners can invest in what matters the most to them – pursuing new business, accelerating growth with existing customers, or both.

The expansion of the HPE Partner Ready programme includes the following benefits to partners:

• Maximise partner experience: A full suite of programmes and tools help partners close deals faster, including easily accessible HPE demo capabilities, competitive and instant pricing from first request with the option for differentiated pricing via deal registration, and faster time to partner onboarding. 
   
• Enhanced enablement opportunities: Partners can further develop solution mastery through self-selected, progressive continuous learning paths, competency curricula, and new technical certifications.
   
• Accelerated rewards and recognition: Partners will receive special pricing from the day of onboarding and protect margins while selling across the whole HPE portfolio. Increased benefits are available to partners selling into new customers and/or selling innovative solutions to existing customers. Partners will also work towards new HPE Tech Pro Community rewards and continuous learning badges.

"We recognise partners as the heroes of our business and appreciate the important role they play as an extension of our own sales and technical teams," says HPE ANZ Channels, Distribution and Alliances director and general manager Marina Fronek.

"Together, HPE and our partners are seizing on the unique opportunity to deliver transformative as-a-Service solutions to customers worldwide. The HPE partner community has become a powerful force in driving the terrific growth of HPE GreenLake, and our updated Partner Ready programme is designed to provide them with an unmatched combination of sales and field enablement, and financial incentives and rewards, to help them continue to serve customers and grow their business.

HPE GreenLake is an as-a-Service offering that provides customers with greater agility, flexibility, control and choice in driving their digital strategies and is one of the fastest-growing businesses in HPE, with over 740 customers worldwide.

The GreenLake channel business has grown over 300% and 500 partners have active deals.

To further accelerate this growth, HPE is adding a full range of resources, tools and benefits in FY20 to ensure partners can navigate customer conversations, and rapidly convert HPE GreenLake opportunities:

• New sales resources and specialists dedicated to pursuing new HPE GreenLake opportunities with channel partners. This will significantly increase the accessible support from HPE sales specialists across geographies and industry verticals.
   
• HPE GreenLake Quick Quote tool to allow partners to easily adjust workloads to meet the cost and performance needs of clients, and cut the time to generate a proposal to just a few minutes.
   
• New competency curricula that allows partners to go beyond validating their solution knowledge, to developing solution mastery and building solution practices. The new HPE Master Accredited Solutions Expert (Master ASE) Hybrid IT Solution Architect certification enables IT Architects to develop and validate skills to architect and deploy an optimised hybrid IT infrastructure for key industry solution workloads.

HPE Tech Pro Community continues to provide valuable technical enablement and solution selling capabilities to the channel globally.

To deliver a more robust and collaborative enablement journey, the FY20 benefits and learning options for members include expanded membership, best-in-class certification and training, just-in-time continuous learning, exclusive events, and targeted rewards and recognition.

HPE Tech Pro Community is now open to all partners with advanced levels of the tool available as partners complete learning activities.

To complement faster and more transparent onboarding experiences for new partners, and predictable and automated pricing with simplified deal registration, HPE is enhancing a comprehensive demo programme that provides a full set of offerings to meet the needs of partners, and their customers, and close deals faster.

To provide customers with ample time with HPE offerings before installing full solutions, the updated demo programme gives all HPE Partner Ready Partners discounts and easy access to equipment across the entire portfolio, both hands-on and remotely, and via HPE innovation centres.