HPE unveils nine more partner competencies
New digital marketing programme among new perks unveiled at HPE Discover 2017
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced the addition of nine new competencies to its partner programme during Discover 2017 in Las Vegas this week.
The programme's additions centre on hybrid IT, data and analytics and HPE's intelligent edge offerings. New competencies joining the group established in September include cloud automation, software-defined infrastructure, high-performance computing and edge and mobile networking.
"We are going to work on our partner programme to align compensation benefits to the partners that are delivering critical business outcomes for our customers," Denzil Samuels, chief channel officer at HPE, said during the keynote of the event's Global Partner Summit. "This approach we're taking is going to recognise partners who are building capabilities and practices in solution areas that are rapidly growing and critical to our joint customers' needs and future success. We call these capabilities competencies, and our overall partner compensation will now take those investments into account."
HPE's Partner Ready programme also gained competencies for data and analytics infrastructure, object storage, business continuity and data protection, workplace experience and Industrial Internet of Things.
The exec noted that since launching competencies for its Partner Ready partner programme in September, HPE has seen progress from "50 or so" partners. Samuels added that HPE will provide incentives to help accelerate adoption.
In addition, HPE added a Silver datacenter specialisation to cut partner training time from nine days to five days and drives sales across HPE's product portfolio, namely Arista, SimpliVity and Nimble Storage.
Further, the vendor announced the HPE Partner Ready Digital Marketing Programme, which includes channel marketing content, campaigns, education, tools and other resources.
During the event, Samuels said the programme looks to aid channel partners adapt to a "fundamental shift" in the buyer's journey, which includes buyers having more control and 70 per cent of buyers conducting their own research before speaking with a salesperson, according to data the exec cited.
"You have to be present and deliver engaging content everywhere where customers are doing their research in a way that aligns with how they want to consume content," Samuels told delegates. "If you're not present…you may even lose existing customers. Digital marketing is no longer a ‘nice to have'; it's become a strategic imperative."