HP dangles $50,000 partner collaboration carrot

Converged Infrastructure partners offered 10 per cent bonus for buddying up with HP Software partners

HP is offering its Converged Infrastructure resellers bonuses averaging $50,000 for bringing software opportunities into its partner network.

Partner collaboration was a key buzzphrase at HP's annual Global Partner Conference in Las Vegas this week.

A new social collaboration tool, Interchange, was unveiled to help partners collaborate on large deals where they lack the full gamut of skills. HP is particularly keen to see its top server, storage and networking (ESSN) and software partners buddy up.

As an added nudge, HP is offering a 10 per cent rebate to ESSN partners that hold its top Converged Infrastructure badge - of which there are 125 in EMEA - if they secure a software opportunity for an HP Software partner.

Hayley Tabor, HP's vice president of worldwide partnerships and field excellence, said: "Our average deal size is about $500,000 for new software licenses. A $500,000 opportunity that you bring forward and work together from an account planning perspective with an HP Software partner will generate an additional $50,000 in your pocket."

HP said Interchange will be fully operational in EMEA within the next two to three months and is in the process of populating the tool with HP Software and ESSN partners.

Tabor said: "Interchange is a way to connect all of you to be able to drive solutions to customers. We developed it because you asked us to do that, and you asked us to do that because there is complexity in the enterprise. Sometimes partners need to partner."

Barbara Hallmans, cloud channel manager for ESSN in EMEA, said it may take partners a while to habituate to Interchange.

"It's like dating," she said. "You have to get to know each other. The first deal can be a bit shaky but by the second and third deal they are working closely together and all of a sudden finding joint business opportunities."