HPE to give SimpliVity partners 'white-glove service'
HPE acquired SimpliVity earlier this year and is in the process of integrating the hyper-converged vendor's partners into its partner programme
SimpliVity partners can expect "white-glove service" when being moved into the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) partner programme, according to HPE EMEA channel boss Carlo Giorgi.
HPE snapped up SimpliVity earlier this year, and quickly followed this up with the acquisition of Nimble Storage.
The two takeovers come as HPE announced changes to its partner programme, introducing a revamped deal registration system and an overhaul of its compensation programme.
Speaking to CRN Giorgi said that the process to integrate SimpliVity partners is well underway, creating an opportunity to tap into channel partners that previously didn't carry HPE products.
"We are super excited with these acquisitions," he said. "The Nimble one is not closed, and therefore we need to wait for a few weeks to comment, but SimpliVity is going well.
"For the partners we are focused with onboarding partners that were not working with us, and maintaining their status - that is important.
"Partners can expect we'll have a white-glove service for this acquisition, especially for ones that don't work with us. They'll be onboarded and we'll continue to do business and enlarge the selling of our portfolio, not limited to SimpliVity."
HPE has not yet fully disclosed its plans to take SimpliVity into the channel but Westcoast managing director Alex Tatham said that, once integrated, SimpliVity will present a huge opportunity for HPE partners that are not yet in the hyper-converged market.
"SimpliVity will open doors," he said. "I never count my chickens but we very much hope [that we'll distribute SimpliVity] and I think we have every chance of taking it to market.
"Hyper-convergence is an outstanding story to have with any customer, it'll massively reduce your reliance on VMware licensing and I think there's a huge opportunity to do some work here.
"At this point our focus will be to make sure we're geared up to take SimpliVity, with all the HPE story, to market. People are very interested in it but obviously it's very early days and hasn't yet been integrated into the channel. When it does that'll be marvellous and hopefully we'll be one of those partners."
New compensation programme
Following changes to its deal registration system in January, HPE has now introduced a new compensation programme.
The vendor will now calculate the rebates it offers partners based on the net price of their sales, not on list prices, bringing HPE in line with other tier-one vendors across the industry.
"[Previously] we paid rebates based on list prices, unlike others vendors where it is an industry practice to give rebates in percentage of net business," Giorgi said.
"This allows us to align with the industry practice because we were the only one not doing the same.
"We were hearing from different feedback and surveys that we had the most attractive partner programme in general compensation, but we couldn't actually calculate it because we were having percentages based on list prices which are not comparable when others are compensating on net prices.
"Now we've moved to net prices so everything is very comparable and with the rates we are introducing it is clear why we have an advantage in the partner programme compared to the competition."
Giorgi claimed that, now the structure can be compared to other vendors, HPE's compensation is "two or three" percentages points better than its major competitors.
I can tell you generically that when you look at our top competitors, without given their names, our rebates are typically between two-to-three times higher," he said.
"[It is] depending on the product and what you then add to it, but no matter how you look at it - even if you include any type of deal registration or accelerator - you still get to HPE being two-to-three times higher in any type of product."