HP hails partner-branded services move

Rollout of new engagement model will hand resellers more control over their accounts, says ESSN channel boss Kevin Matthews

The advent of HP partner-branded services will allow resellers to build more value into their business, the vendor has claimed.

HP unveiled the new services engagement model last week at its Global Partner Conference. It will initially be available for its storage technologies, including 3PAR, LeftHand, StoreOnce and EVA, but could soon be rolled out to other areas of HP's portfolio, including networking.

Previously, HP's service engagement with partners was limited to its Carepack warranty services, with partners given the choice of either delivering the services themselves or backing off the work to HP.

But now there is a third option: partner-branded services sees the partner sell and deliver their own-branded installation, support and maintenance services, while embedding an element of HP's services offering such as spares and logistics.

Kevin Matthews, UK and Ireland channel manager for HP ESSN, said partners had been "crying out for" such a concept.

"There is a group of partners out there who are changing their business model and going more to annuity-based services – we want to accommodate them," he said.

"The benefit to the partner is account ownership and control, and the fact they are building value into their business by selling their own services rather than someone else's. The obvious next one would be HP Networking, as it is also a market where partners are looking to provide a complete wrap."

The announcement follows the launch of HP's ServicesONE programme in November.

Sam Routledge, solutions director at HP Gold partner Softcat, said the new model could help simplify the service engagement for partners.

"We have been a services partner for quite a while, selling HP-branded services but delivering it with our own engineers. It can be a bit unwieldy."

Matthews added: "I think we have gone a long way to dispelling the unfair criticism we have had that we are a threat to partners in services."