HP shakes up partner programme
Vendor unleashes new schemes, including new joint marketing tools to help partners sell from both HP companies post-split
HP has today announced a refresh to its partner programme ahead of its impending split, claiming it remains "laser-focused" on its channel partners.
The changes will see the introduction of the Partner Navigator Programme to aid partners with continuity, Partner One Alliance to help partners with offerings from both companies, and its HP Helion Partner Marketplace - a public services cloud marketplace.
Reflecting on the partner programme refresh, HP chief executive Meg Whitman said: "As HP continues its path toward becoming two new Fortune 50 companies, we remain laser-focused on maintaining the same commitment to the channel that our partners have come to trust."
Within the Partner Navigator Programme, HP's partners will be provided with resources to help them adjust to the separation, scheduled to be completed by the start of November. These resources include support centres, access to the HP Unison Partner Portal, which will provide support and information to partners, as well as Regional Escalation Centres.
Thomas Jensen, HP's vice president for worldwide channel sales, said: "Really what we are aspiring for with the Navigator Programme is to make sure our partners know exactly what they need to be doing with the split.
"We are working on multiple levels - some partners have more complexity with us so they will have dedicated people working at the partner side as well as our own operations managers who will work with them. At the same time, we are educating our distributors to take care of our reseller community so they will act as navigators towards our reseller community. Then the third thing we are going to do is have inbound call centres for partners who have questions."
With the Partner One Alliance, HP's Platinum Gold, Silver and distribution partners will be provided with joint marketing and business resources to help them to sell from both HP companies following the split.
"We will be working together in numerous areas [with the Partner One Alliance]," Jensen said.
"Joint deals with partners, supporting those deals, making sure we have attractive configurations and pricing. For virtualisation, for instance, which covers both companies, we will be developing joint marketing campaigns and then we will continue to work as two companies but operate in industry events and join the industry events together so our partner community will continue to see two strong allies even though there will be two separate companies."
HP has not yet finalised how much investment in marketing there will be with the Partner One Alliance.
Jensen said that although partners will face challenges with the divide, he remained confident that HP is adequately equipped.
"When we do business there will naturally be speed bumps on the road during the separation," he said. "But the close relationship we have with the partners right now is what gives us the confidence that we are in control. We know what will happen and we have prepared for the contingencies with the Navigator Programme, the feedback and the testing of the systems interlocks."
Also announced today was the HP Helion Partner Marketplace, a public services cloud marketplace which HP claims will enable resellers to "easily and efficiently sell, provision, maintain and invoice a comprehensive suite of public cloud services for small and medium-sized businesses".
The marketplace is available now for US partners, and will be accessible later this year in EMEA.
About 70 per cent of HP's business goes through the channel, and Jensen said he expects this to increase following the split.